Dates have been confirmed for opera star Alfie Boe’s bow in the London production of Les Misérables. He will join the production along with Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and West End regular Hadley Fraser on 23 June.
Boe and Lucas reprise the roles they previously performed at the long-running musical’s 25th anniversary concert at the O2 last year, man on the run Jean Valjean and dastardly innkeeper Thénardier. Fraser will play Valjean’s nemesis Javert.
Boe, who will star in the French revolutionary tale until 26 November, is one of the country’s leading tenors. He won a Tony Award for his performance in Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme on Broadway, starred in a sell out production of The Merry Widow for English National Opera and his latest album, Bring Him Home, has sold over 100,000 copies.
Lucas is better known for his screen work – which includes Come Fly With Me, Shooting Stars and Alice In Wonderland – than his stage work, though he appeared in the West End production of Prick Up Your Ears in 2009. He plays Thénardier until 10 September.
Fraser, whose most recent West End outing came in The Fantasticks, returns to the production where he previously played the student Marius.
Les Misérables, which currently stars Gareth Gates, Lucie Jones and Samantha Barks, opened at the Barbican in October 1985 before transferring to the Palace theatre two months later. It moved to its current home at the Queen’s theatre in 2004, where it continued to break records, becoming the West End’s longest running musical in 2006 and celebrating 10,000 performances in 2010. It is one of 18 long-running shows eligible for the 2011 BBC Radio 2 Olivier Audience Award. The public can vote for their favourite show to win at www.olivierawards.com.
MA