Theater Fans Petition to Bring LES MISERABLES to Manila

New York--In August last year, about 700 Filipino theater fans' Facebook-based petition to bring the smash Broadway musical "Wicked" to Manila was deemed successful; the "Ozian" stage spectacle opened at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) five months later, which ran 42 performances. Apparently, these fans are at it again: a newly created Facebook-based petition page to bring the critically-acclaimed reimagined production of Sir Cameron Mackintosh's LES MISERABLES to Manila is up and running--engaging every visitor to like its cause!

Check out the petition page HERE.

"LES MIZ changed me. I watched its videos on YouTube and saw the movie adaptation; I fell in love with it and I had this desire to watch it live," Yvonne Russell, one of the petitioners emailed BroadwayWorld.com. "When I read that 'Wicked' was brought here because it was petitioned, I instantly thought why not petition for the staging of LES MIZ in Manila. It would be a dream come true if it were officially announced that LES MIZ would be coming to Philippine shores."

Historically international touring productions that were staged at the CCP came from either Australia or New Zealand such as "Cats" (2010), "The Phantom of the Opera" (2012), and "Wicked" (2014), and were arranged by United Kingdom-based Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Australia-based David Atkins Enterpises, and Manila-based companies Concertus Manila and 105.9 Radio High.

Of note, a new production of LES MISERABLES will be reopening after 17 years at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne in June this year, which could probably be eyed by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions et al. to be exported to Manila after some time.

However, do not discount the possibility that a professionally licensed local production of LES MISERABLES may also occur like what Repertory Philippines did in 1993, which had the stamp of approval of Sir Cameron Mackintosh himself.

The reimagined version of LES MISERABLES, which premiered in the U.K. in 2009, grossed more than $160 million in its recent U.S. Tour, and recently broke box office records at the Prince of Wales in Toronto, Canada.

This new production of LES MISERABLES, which has set design inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, who wrote the classic novel of the same name, also inspired the making of the film adaptation helmed by Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper.