VIDEO: LES MISERABLES Premieres at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Venezuela

The musical 'Les Miserables' premiered at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, the country's biggest theatre. The story hits close to home for many Venezuelans, the production echoing the country's crisis.

Les Miserables is based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name set in the years leading up to and following the Paris. It tells the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean, who repeatedly attempts to elude the capture of the uncompromising Inspector Javert. After a bishop's act of radical forgiveness, Valjean decides to make a new life for himself. He has finally started over when he encounters a factory worker named Fantine who has been forced into prostitution. As she is dying, he promises to care for her daughter, Cosette, who is living with an unscrupulous Innkeeper and his wife. Years pass, and the next generation of characters enter Valjean's sphere: the fiery Enjolras, who leads the revolutionary effort at the barricade, the young student, Marius, who falls in love with Cosette and must choose between romance and revolution, and the Inkeepers' daughter, Eponine, who is deeply infatuated with Marius even though her feelings remain unrequited.

The popularity of Les Mis is enduring: it has been seen by more than 120 million people in 52 countries, and it has been performed in 22 different languages. It was adapted into a movie in 2012, is the longest-running musical in the West End, and the second-longest-running in the entire world. While the story clearly resonates deeply across lines of nationality, it is truly the music that truly allows the show to transcend cultural boundaries so seamlessly. Les Mis runs for nearly three hours and there are almost no spoken lines. Originally conceived as a concept album, the musical's score was written by Claude-Michel Schönberg with original lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and English translations by Herbert Kretzmer. These lyrics serve the important purpose of pushing the story along and conveying the intense emotions of the characters, but the melodies themselves serve as the affective meat of the show.

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