MTI Makes LES MISERABLES Available for Licensing for First Time in Full-Length Version

For the first time ever, the full-length version of LES MISÉRABLES is available to license, for a limited time, for performances starting in June 2013 announced theatrical licensor Music Theatre International today.

Due to the unprecedented success of the first-class productions in the West End, on Broadway, on tour and in over 40 countries around the world, the opportunity to license and produce Les Misérables has not previously been available generally to professional and amateur groups.

Based on Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Misérables holds the record for the longest-running musical in the world and continues to thrill and captivate audiences around the world. Epic, grand and uplifting, Les Misérables is a treasured tale about the survival of the human spirit. The score features classic songs that are now staples of any musical theatre audition including, "I Dreamed a Dream," "On My Own," "Stars," "Bring Him Home," "Do You Hear the People Sing?," "One Day More," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "Master Of The House" and many more.

From the wrongfully accused hero Jean Valjean and his loving daughter Cosette, to the misunderstood heroine Eponine and the relentless Inspector Javert - Hugo’s characters have proved themselves timeless and contemporary in every country and society in which the musical plays. Les Misérables is truly an emotional and uplifting story.

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Boublil and Schönberg's Les Misérables is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer based on the original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with additional material by James Fenton.

The idea for Les Misérables began when author Alain Boubil saw a London production of Oliver. The Artful Dodger brought to his mind a singing Gavroche, the young revolutionary from Hugo’s classic novel. After years of work and months of rehearsal, Les Misérables opened at the Barbican Theatre on October 8th, 1985 and was a success from the beginning. Despite mixed reviews, the public was drawn to the powerful emotion in the production, and by the morning of the second night of previews, the box office had already sold a record-breaking 5,000 seats.

“The opening night of Les Misérables at the Barbican Theatre on October 8th, 1985 was one of those extraordinary occasions when against all the odds a theatrical alchemy took place that made everyone forget the years of work and months of rehearsal – racing against the clock – that went into adapting Hugo’s sweeping masterpiece for the musical stage,” noted Cameron Mackintosh. “After only a week of previews the show simply soared, and both the audience and the cast were elevated to a state of powerful emotion rarely seen in the theatre. Back in 1982, when I first heard the French concept album, a dream of what the show could be flashed through my mind – that dream was fulfilled beyond my expectations.”

Les Misérables has been performed so many times and in so many places that its statistics are always changing. The LES MISÉRABLES Official Website has some of the most up to date statistics about the production. Here are just a few.

• When Les Misérables celebrated its 21st London birthday on October 8th, 2006, it became the world’s longest running musical, surpassing the record previously held by Cats in London’s West End.

• In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performance.

• Les Misérables has been translated into 21 different languages. (English, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, French, Czech, Castillian, Mauritian Creole, Flemish, Finnish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Mexican Spanish).

• Productions have played in 43 countries and over 300 cities.

• The production has played over 47,000 professional performances giving a total audience figure of more than 60 million people worldwide.

• Les Misérables has won over 70 major theatre awards including an Olivier, Tony & Grammy.

• There have been over 40 cast recordings of Les Misérables including albums, singles and the symphonic.

• Largest Single Live Audience: 125,000 people at the 1989 Australia Day concert in Sidney

• Largest Broadcast Audience: 400 million viewers in 197 countries during the 1996 European Football Championship starring 250 cast members

• The original production, still running in London has approximately 101 cast and crew directly involved in every performance (not including front of house staff, ticket sales, wardrobe staff, set contractors, maintenance, office staff, advertising and publicity.) Each performance entails 392 costumes consisting of over 5000 items of clothing and 85 wigs.

• Les Misérables gave 6680 performances on Broadway from February 28, 1987 to May 18, 2003. The production grossed $406,258,901.00 with an average ticket price of $46.00

The feature film version of LES MISÉRABLES hits theatres December 25, 2012 and stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. It is produced by Cameron Mackintosh with Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title and Universal Studios and is directed by Tom Hooper. Check out photos, videos and more here: www.lesmiserablesfilm.com.

In May 2001 the LES MISÉRABLES SCHOOL EDITION was launched in the USA. Since then over 3000 school’s productions by over 150,000 school children in the US, UK and Australia have made it the most successful musical ever-produced in schools.

Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theatres from around the world the rights to perform the largest selection of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 60,000 theatrical organizations in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide.

MTI is particularly dedicated to the idea of theatre as education and has created special collections for younger performers. The MTI Broadway Junior Collection® includes JR. titles, 60-minute musicals for performance by middle school children; and KIDS titles, 30-minute musicals for performance by elementary school children. MTI School Editions™ are musicals that have been annotated for performance by high school students, and the Theatre For Young Audiences (TYA) Collection are 70-minute musicals designed for adults to perform for children.

MTI ShowSpace.com is the theatre world's online community where practitioners and fans from around the world share advice, photos, videos, sets, props, costumes and more, to help bring their next productions to life.

For more information about MTI and licensing, call (212) 541-4684 or email licensing@mtishows.com.