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>> Since opening in 1985, "Les Miserables" has become something

of an institution here in the West End.

Not only is it the world's longest running musical it's

been seen by more than 60 million people in 42 countries

and in 21 different languages.

>> If somebody had told you that way back when,

would you have believed it?

>> I'd have laughed.

Absolutely no way.

>> You say you knew you were working

on something good though.

>> Yes. I absolutely -- I loved it but there was no way

that anyone can imagine something running this long.

It's crazy isn't it?

It's probably going to long -- it will probably outlive me.

>> I think it's one of the great stories of the triumph

for the human spirit and it's got --

because it's got so many characters,

it's got so many ways in.

You know, you've got the story of Valjean,

which advances the discovery of virtue and the discovery

of faith, the discovery of love for a child

and what it's like to be a parent.

What it's like to let a child go out into the world.

Then you've got the kind of more teenage love triangle story.

The story of unrequited love with Eponine, kids who,

you know, enjoyed Gavroche and little Cosette's stories.

And any obsessive policemen can enjoy Javert.

>> Jean Valjean's crime was stealing a loaf of bread.

>> Help me please.

>> It was the beginning of a lifelong confrontation.

>> "Les Mis" miraculously is the longest running musical

in the world and it's -- I mean, I'm as surprised as anybody.

You know, I mean, I, you know,

I always thought it was a very terrific musical

but I never had any thought that a show

of such serious note would actually run as long

but it seems to touch every generation everywhere

in the world.

I mean Victor Hugo's story, you know,

is about contemporary people, even though it's set

in another period setting.

And every country in the world seems to react to it.

And of course Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel's music,

Claude-Michel Schonberg's music.

I just -- is -- the songs are absolutely fantastic

and they're timeless and it speaks

to an audience of any age.

>> Let's not forget though

that Victor Hugo was already an international celebrity

by the time he got to age 30.

He was known as the prince of poets

and was shall we say massive within the Romantic Movement.

More importantly, of course, he was what you would;

I suppose assume today, just a huge celebrity end of.

Who would have thought though

that so many years later his name would still be synonymous

really with the world of musical theater.

Not just really in his home country or even indeed

in Britain but worldwide.

>> Take him up.

>> A dual of wills with the fanatic police inspector Javert.

>> Continue.

>> The hope of escape was his only reason for living.

>> Halt or I'll shoot.

>> It is the decision of the military tribunal

that five years be added to your sentence.

>> You must have been asked many times but can you

in any way put your finger on what it is

that has made it the longest running show ever?

>> Well I personally think it's the story.

>> Victor Hugo's masterpiece "Les Miserables."

>> You mustn't cry.

You must be very brave.

>> With all the power and spectacle

of those turbulent years leading to the French Revolution,

it is a story of incredible courage and relentless pursuit.

>> Join us.

>> An exciting panorama that captures the spirit

of a rebellious generation.

>> It's the most interesting universal story

and it touches everybody.

I remember watching some of the scenes that I wasn't

in way back before it went on, you know, during rehearsals

and I was sobbing my heart out and then I had --

I thought, oh my God, it's my scene coming up next and I had

to pull myself together.

I mean this show -- well, it makes men cry, put it that way.

>> It's a beautiful story.

I mean whether you're into musicals or not,

it's one of the greatest stories ever told.

>> The crowning point really for Victor Hugo's masterpiece

"Les Miserables" really started way back in June 1832.

He was sat in a park, relaxing,

heard a rather strange noise at first.

Found out that it was gunfire, which then led him

in to the June revolution, which of course then formed the basis

of possibly his best and most famous idea.

>> You join us today.

Together we will lay our hand on the sword held of God and shout,

down with the war bonds, down with the Monarchy.

>> It was the first lesson I learned is

that it doesn't matter how good the songs are.

If the book isn't really strong and the songs don't grow

out of the book, you don't have a good musical.

>> Victor's first full length novel was one that we know

by a better title now, but when it first came out, it was known

as "Notre-Dame de Paris", which then in turn became,

of course more famous as "The Hunchback

of Notre Dame" being remade so many times, most famously

of course by Hollywood in the late '30s with Charles Laughton.

But that really did open many doors for Victor

and he became even more celebrated

if that were possible.

Now just to put this in sort of a bracket if you like,

Paris and France in particular were already in the grip

of something rather dramatic themselves.

There had been a massive outbreak of cholera

where over 19,000 Parisians died.

Now some people thought that this was really set

up by the government as one of those mad theories,

you know because they were trying to poison off for want

of a better word some of the lesser desirable residents

of Parisian Society, the underdogs.

And this of course then fascinated Hugo himself giving

him even more spark to an already dramatic story.

Now not many people will know that Victor Hugo wrote

"Les Miserables" in his long years of exile

in the Channel Islands and to get inspiration for this,

he would write naked at his desk every day.

Shocking some people who would actually turn up to take tea

with him and things like that.

I think what is interesting to note

as well he really didn't rush this particular masterpiece.

He went through many, many different rewrites

and for a while it sat around.

By himself, you know, he changed plot.

Decided to pick it up, go back to it again.

He was known as a perfectionist and I think of course

like anybody who'd enjoy huge success it would be

like today releasing a Bond movie.

You know, everybody's going to criticize.

Everybody's going to say whether they like it or not and he was

under immense pressure to make sure what he came

up with next was of course an international smash

and of course when it first came

out that wasn't necessarily the case.

Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" really was the most anticipated

publication in years.

And New York society was a gag waiting

to know how it would be done.

And to give you just an insight really as to how

that even back then they were very clever.

They decided to mount this massive PR campaign.

And so they would drop in little teasers rather like what they do

with say like the "Harry Potter" movie in today's decade.

So they just drop a little bit in and they came

up with the first sort of take, the second take and by the time

of course that the final volume was released it was a momentum.

Everybody wanted a copy.

Everybody needed to be seen with a copy of their book.

It was the coffee table equivalent

of gold dust if you like.

And once again, of course, he was looking at a mega smash hit.

>> Cameron Mackintosh was sent a demo tape based

on Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserables."

The two French composers Claude-Michel Schonberg

and Alain Boublil worked closely with him developing the score.

>> We never go ahead with anything unless all three

of us absolutely agree on every step of the way.

>> I think that whole da, da, da --

>> I can't do without the first part.

>> Because you can't do da, da, da, da, da, de, de.

>> It's like a safety break that if two --

if two like something and the other doesn't,

it means that actually we haven't got the right solution

and we then carry on until we find a third solution.

>> When Victor Hugo passed away in May 1885,

he was considered a national hero.

Over 2 million people mourned at his funeral,

but this is the interesting thing.

The theme of course throughout "Les Miserables" is all

about social injustice and he'd requested

that he wanted a pauper's funeral.

Suddenly though for him, that wish was not carried out

and he became, if possible, an even bigger cultural literally

and of course celebrity icon.

>> When I first heard it was called "Les Miserables",

I thought hum, I thought, I don't know

if that name's going to work.

And so we called it "The Glums."

And now,

you know, "Les Miserables" is the name

that everybody knows worldwide and even

if you don't speak French you know the name.

>> Since the publication of "Les Miserables" there's been no less

than 48 operatic versions, but the version really that we know

and love today actually started out way back in 1980

as just a simple concept album.

>> Can you not actually get that with a different --

slightly different rhythm because that's got --

that's got the menace that we're talking about.

>> I think a producer shouldn't write for writers.

I don't think directors should do that.

>> The writers and lyricists

of the wonderful concept album were allegedly inspired

by another British phenomenon that of Lionel Bart's "Oliver",

the record breaking musical.

Apparently they were sat down watching it in a theater

and particularly taking interest in the artful dodger

and as they were watching Oliver unfold on stage,

they decided how they could almost see

"Les Miserables" taking shape

in their own musical opera themselves simply

by just watching "Oliver."

Now who would have thought that a simple project

like Lionel Bart's "Oliver"

which also had its own problems just like

"Les Miserables" would explode from just an afternoon matinee.

>> We are there to compliment the writer's imagination

and to bring -- bring that writing to its best fruition.

What I'm very good at is saying this bit's dull.

This song does not sort of come to a proper climax

and I'm just fascinated about how -- how the writing develops

and how that you take a basically good story

and you make sure that the graph

of the motion throughout the evening is hit exactly right.

>> Three months after the concert album had topped the

charts in France, someone decided

to take the rather risky venture of taking it to the stage.

Once again the critics were less than nice

about this particular new musical but word

of mouth took off once again making the three-month run

a sellout.

Of course by this point, other people were taking notice,

not just in France, but around the world.

>> That's the thing that I always aim

for for my productions.

Once the audience settles down, the first thing you've got

to do is in the first five minutes is

to tell them the language of the evening

that you're going to use.

>> Way back in 1980, the first original concept album

of "Les Mis" was released.

It topped the charts without really much promotion.

And three months later they decided

to stage the very first musical version based

on the concept album.

This just broke box office records

with over a million plus people wanting to see the production.

Then, of course, this was brought to the attention

of who we know now to be the super producer,

none other than our very own Cameron Mackintosh

but it would take him quite some time before he could turn it

into the British phenomenon that we know and love

and take it around the world.

But when he first heard the concept album,

he thought there could be something in it.

Of course he had no idea just

that something would make him very, very rich indeed.

>> Okay. One, two, three, whoa.

>> I knew from the beginning I wanted to do the singing live

and I was so passionate about it I wasn't willing

to make the film unless I could do the singing live and this is

because I always find singing to play back,

to lip sync to prerecorded however it is done

to be an artifice.

At its worse, it makes you embarrassed.

The best just forgive it and in the light

of a comedic film it's easier to forgive.

I wanted there to be no barrier between the audience

and the experience and those emotions.

In terms of how it was made it was a truly British production.

Internationalism was, you know, really in the cards

because I wanted some of the best people

in the world to do this.

That doesn't mean the British are the best singers but,

you know,

>> I think what's personally interesting to take note

of is the fact that when the show launched in October 1985,

nobody really could have foreseen just how big it was

going to be.

And you know the critics as I say loathed it.

Rather cruel in fact.

Not really just about the length of the musical,

you know the fact that we're getting a free ticket

and the fact that they had to sit and endure it

but they didn't really understand even when it started

to take off and become a huge box office phenomena.

They couldn't understand why the public liked it.

>> The posh papers said that we had trivialized one

of the greatest works of western literature.

The tabloids agreed between themselves

that we had perpetrated a gloomy, dull, endless evening,

which wasn't what musicals were about at all.

Musicals should be light and frothy and frivolous evenings

and sent everybody away happy and humming the tunes.

>> It took two years for Cameron Mackintosh and his team

to make the English language version of what we know

as "Les Miserables" today.

But in October 1985, it opened at the less

than glamorous location off West End in the Barbican.

>> Although his father is Scottish,

Mackintosh himself was brought up in the Home Counties.

His mother is Maltese and his parents met

in ANSA during the war.

>> When he was young, he was always standing on chairs,

with a stick in his hand

as if he had a great orchestra in front.

And I thought he was going to be sort of a bandmaster, bandleader

or something like that.

Then he started with a puppet show.

>> I know a lot of people do puppet shows

but they don't normally drive the family entirely batty

all year.

>> The first thing he used to tell us,

"If you're late, you won't come in."

So we used to say, "Well, we don't come

in you'll have no audience."

He'd said, "Never mind.

Every show you must be on time."

>> I just finished playing a performance,

imaginary performance of sadder days

and the stage door keeper came to my dressing room and said,

"Excuse me sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a lady

at the stage door with a little boy and she says

that he absolutely insists upon seeing you.

So in you came, Cameron, and was it your aunt

that was with you, I think?

>> It was my aunt, my mother and my kilt.

>> Yes.

I remember your kilt very well.

>> And Julian instead of sort of patting me on the head

and giving me some candy floss actually took me terribly

seriously and showed me backstage of how the --

he mimed with mini the magic piano from the pit

and how the flying saucer worked.

It was attached to wires.

And I just remember sitting on the stage or standing

on the stage looking around and thinking yes,

I'd like to do this when I grow up.

My nickname at school was Darryl F. Mackintosh.

After Darryl F. Zanuck who was having lots

of successful films then.

And again, I used to start the first day

of the autumn term preparing for the Christmas review.

If people booked in advance they could get the tickets

for a shilling.

And if they got nearer the date,

they had to pay two shillings.

I was like a Hoover.

I sucked up any information about the theater.

I got magazines from America.

From every newspaper article I could

about anything about the theater.

I was a walking encyclopedia at school and drove everybody mad

who was much more interested the football results.

>> When he left school Cameron Mackintosh decided

to try the stage management course

at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

But he left after only a year to get proper backstage experience

at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

In the mornings he also cleaned the theatre to earn extra money.

>> I took great pride cleaning that theatre.

The dresser at the bar was my domain

and I'd very carefully polish all the brass

and wash the glass.

>> So it must be rather nice for you to be back

at Drury Lane in "Miss Saigon."

>> It's -- oh it's like coming home.

I've always had -- that's the one dream I've had is

to have a show on at Drury Lane.

>> He did have a variety of jobs backstage including a spell

up in the flies hauling scenery up and down.

>> As I undid the ropes, they caught around my hand

and I was flown the weight of this huge piece

of scenery took me right up to the grid

and it stopped literally six inches from the grid.

I would have -- only because it was a very tall piece of scenery

that had landed on the stage and they had to cut me down.

>> You know people think it's pretty easy

to be an .

Believe me it ain't.

It ain't easy at all.

>> Choreographers and directors always argue.

The book writer tends to argue with the composer and lyricist

and it's very important to have a strong producer at the top

because in a sense he is the one who has

to balance all the elements and control all the elements.

>> I knew the moment I started to talk to Cameron in detail

that there was a man after my own heart.

He had just the same enthusiasm.

Just the same care that he must be glamorous

and beautifully done.

That you don't save pennies on the costume

or save pennies on the scenery or something.

You do it properly.

You don't try and scrape into a smaller orchestra.

>> I'm not a great musician though I can tell

when the music's right or wrong.

I can overlap into his area by sort of prodding him here

and there and thinking don't we need something like that or is

that mood right or whatever in his scoring.

>> Cameron is really much more than old-fashioned producer

in the sense that he does have strong creative views

and sometimes the team he works

with don't share them but he has a very strong opinion

practically about everything.

In fact one of his qualities is that you could be two minutes

into a song and he'll come up and say, "I don't like that.

It doesn't work."

And then you go, "Cameron just wait a minute.

Let's just get through to the end and we'll work it out."

>> Well I can't help myself.

I mean, I'm one of these people

that just says what I feel even if it isn't right.

I just have to get it out of my system but I've got a sort of --

I sort of like sort of truffle hound sort of smelling spots

in the show which aren't -- that I don't think are right

and I just keep on and on and on until they just to shut me

up they'll go away or at least think about it.

>> He had one complete set of orchestrations made

and then he decided that he didn't like them.

It wasn't right for the show.

He got rid of that orchestrator and hired another orchestrator

who then did two more dummy runs of orchestrations.

>> I had to scrap an entire concept album,

which cost over 300,000-pounds, which went down the Suwannee

but it was worth it in the end.

>> Have you ever seen a zebra or giraffe in the jungle?

I mean they --

But I have last year and I can tell you --

>> To a certain extent now we live

in a world that's divided into two.

Stephen Sondheim gets all the critical acclaim and the shows

that Cameron Mackintosh

and Andrew Lloyd Webber do are derived as tourist schlock.

Producers reign as kings of the theatre coincide for the amount

of time that the public's taste.

Also happens to be the producer's tastes and when

that changes then no matter how successful you are,

you go out the window.

This has happened to David Merrick.

This has happened to Harold Fielding,

which one day will happen to Cameron Mackintosh too.

>> One thing when I started off I was given a book

about Cochran called Shaman Looks On.

It's an autobiography.

And one thing stuck early on in my life.

It was his advice to aspiring young producers.

He said never put a show on for the audiences.

Always put it on for yourself and do it as best that you can

and then maybe an audience will come and see it.

And I think that's pretty good advice.

>> It's not just a West End phenomenon that continues

to be a box office hit around the globe;

a staggering 56 million people have now seen "Les Mis".

That's almost the equivalent of every man, woman,

and child living in this country.

>> Michael Ball sings with Lea Salonga, but this is not a scene

from the hit show's "Phantom of the Opera" or "Miss Saigon."

It's another hit both have shown in separately "Les Miserables."

But everyone here's being very jolly because it's

"Les Mis'" 10th birthday.

And hundreds of the cast from its productions

around the world are giving a gala concert on Sunday

but without props or costumes

and new cast members it can get confusing which way

to go off stage but everything should be smoothed out by Sunday

when thousands of adoring fans descend on the Albert Hall.

>> The seal of making this successful was the fact

that it won best musical at the Lawrence Olivier Awards in 1985.

For them that suddenly really had a bit of a clout

and suddenly people decided to take notice.

They shot out of the Barbican and into the West End,

where it has basically remained for the last 25 years.

And when you think about it, you know, it just goes to show

that even though, you know, people would say oh no,

you know, the theme is not really good

and it's not a warm sort of topic.

Of course it's not.

Victor Hugo wanted to get social injustice out there

and that's what he did.

But the songs are so memorable and have been recorded

from everyone from the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey right

through to some of our most celebrated opera stars

including, of course Luciano Pavarotti,

but I think what really cemented it in the end was

that the public pushed this through.

And as someone who attends many sorts of opening nights

in the theaters, "Les Mis" fans are nothing

like I've ever met before.

They're very loyal.

Some people, in fact, actually book the same seats every

matinee and turn up week after week after week.

They know the show backwards.

They know everything about you know

when the lights should come on, the scene changes,

if somebody's feeling ill in the cast.

They become like friends and one of the connecting factors

that I think Victor Hugo would really love is the fact

that of course the cast then connects with their fans,

their audience and then actually brings some sort

of social connection.

I'd like to think it's something he really would admire.

>> Well it started at the Royal Shakespeare Company

and the first performance was five hours long and so they had

to condense this amazing story into three hours

and in fact they cut out a lot of fantastic things.

There should be another show, "Les Mis" the out cuts

or whatever you call it

So Royal Shakespeare Company, we did it there for eight weeks

and we had no idea it was going to transfer to the West End.

>> It's back to its roots; the Barbican Theatre

where it started two and a half decades ago to some bad reviews

and was just about to go to the West End.

>> Of course we were all a bit depressed having seen

such a fantastic reception the night before

and so I thought I'll get rid of all the bad news at once

and ring through the box office and it took me several goes

and that was where the story came from.

When they said how did you get through, we've taken --

we've had 5000 calls it's a record at the Barbican.

>> I knew it was going to be a big hit years ago

but I didn't know it was going to last 21 years.

It's fantastic.

>> It's overwhelming.

Absolutely overwhelming and I don't necessary know that any

of us truly understand the significance of it

and ultimately and hopefully the impact.

>> It's actually quite fantastic though

because the piece is really about age and youth and to think

that I did it 21 years ago when I was the youngest adult

and now people are playing my role

that weren't even born back then.

>> But it is really interesting because of Nick --

>> Yeah.

>> -- to see so many young people

who probably have never a musical ever, you know,

coming in tonight being completely enthralled.

I mean, you could hear a pin drop through the story.

You know? And they just reacted to the show and the fact

that he was incredibly good in it as was Camilla you know

in their baptism fire tonight but I was really very happy.

>> It is nice being back on stage.

I was Gavroche when I was in it last back in 2003

and about seven years later I came back to play Marius.

It's been a dream of mine for a long time

and to see it coming true is an amazing thing.

>> Nick's done a couple of shows on Broadway, I think he was

in "Beauty and the Beast" but the first time I met Nick was

when he was the last Gavroche which is the little kid

in "Les Miserables" on Broadway

when I closed the show the first time after 18 years

and he did the last nine months of the run and I was reminded

by his father at the after show party.

I'd gone up to him and I'd obviously had a few drinks

because I didn't remember saying, you know, to Nick,

you know, you are really terrific and I hope

when you're older you'll come back to see us for Marius.

Well even though I didn't remember it, he did and I'm

out of the blue, I mean I'd heard that he was interested

in going to the theatre

so through another way I actually approached him

and then I spoke to his father and he said no,

this is something they would really

like to try and make happen.

And then it's a great credit to the family

that they have moved heaven and earth to allow him to come

and be here and he's having a great time.

>> You know, I actually wasn't as nervous

as I thought I would be.

I don't think I was nervous at all.

I think that I was really comfortable and just happy to be

on that stage and really trying to become the character.

>> Well what's interesting is

that he's actually got a very mature voice

for somebody who's still 17.

And he's not quite 18 yet and

yet the voice sounds much older than you'd expect.

And he's also got, I mean, a tremendous focus all the way

through rehearsals and when I first met him.

I mean he really, really knows what to go after

and he just does it with no problem, great ease

and the whole cast adore him.

>> The crowd was great tonight.

So incredible to be back on the "Les Mis" stage.

Obviously a bit of a different role this time but still

that same energy and the same excitement.

>> Tickets for the concert sold out in two and a half hours.

They'll have 17 different versions

of the main character Valjean to choose from and the comic relief

of Alan Armstrong and Jenny Galloway.

>> How many thousands of people?

>> About 5.

>> About 5000 people.

And --

>> Are you nervous?

>> No.

>> No. No.

Not at all.

>> I think once you see all the people and know

that everybody's rooting for you and know

that there is not a hostile soul in the stalls or in --

anywhere it's just going to be fun.

>> You know, here and there I'm picking up the accent.

I sing with one now in the show, which is kind of funny,

but it's very interesting to be here and pick

up the lingo along the way and make some new friends

as well, which has been great.

I'm really enjoying my stay.

>> They can come and see the show here

in the morning at 10:00.

They can go

to the matinee at the Queen's and then the following day turn

up with the other thousands and tens of thousands of people

at the O2 for that extraordinary concert

that now has a cast of over 500.

>> Recently they've started doing celebrity casting

in "Les Mis" in London and we've been lucky enough

to see possibly some of our better greats

that what I call the greats that are going to come forward

in the next ten years.

The Lancashire tenor Alfie Boe has undertaken, not just one

but three stints in "Les Mis"

and claims it's his very favorite role.

>> I've done the "Les Mis" role.

I'm going to go back into "Les Miserables" next --

this year in June to do a six-month run.

But I'm wanting to really break the genres a little bit,

you know, people call it crossover.

People call it all sorts of things,

but I want to just break the genre and cross

over to a new audience not the repertoire so much

or sing different repertoire but make sure it's legitimate

for my voice, you know, that I'm legitimate enough

to sing it, you know.

And still sing it in the same quality and the same standard

that I would an operatic aria in a way.

>> The comedian, Matt Luke as is possibly better known for shows

like "Little Britain" and "Come Fly with Me"

and he's actually begged the producers Cameron Mackintosh's

company for a part in the musical,

which of course did nothing to dent the box office.

It shot it through the roof and it was like a new injection

if you like of vitality and once again, of course,

make it one of the biggest take musicals of all time.

Cameron himself said that well he's had many,

many hits he never thought that he would be known as the man

who brought "Les Mis" to the British and Broadway public

but how lucky we are that he took that chance.

>> I mean I was very lucky because they took me to Broadway

as well and every musical performer wants to go

to Broadway so my dream came true

when I was 21, which was amazing.

And also my daughter Eliza also played Cosette at some point

and I went back into the show

and I played the same role Eponine with her.

So it's emotional for me.

It's like it's my whole life.

I mean, I think -- I have to be honest, you know,

it's the best role I've ever played and it did --

you know it gave me an incredible --

well people still know me today from it

and the album is still selling that I made 21 years ago.

So, you know, I -- for me it's in the heart.

It's really personal for me.

>> Now amongst many of the awards that

"Les Miserables" has picked up,

this to me would be the biggest compliment.

In 2004, her Majesty, the Queen, asked the cast

and everyone connected to the show

to stage a very special version at Windsor Castle

for then President -- President Jacques Chirac.

Now can you imagine how nerve racking that must be first

of all, but apparently the Queen thought this was a great idea.

It was an official visit.

Lots of people were going to be invited and apparently,

sadly there's no record.

There's no recording of this particular night.

I think that this really should have been recorded

and taped because, you know,

just to see our Queen enjoying this musical

and she's already been we can tell you, unofficially,

many times to see this.

It's one of her personal favorites.

>> You don't expect to win a Tony when you're

that age you've seen it on the TV

and suddenly you're told you're going to be

up for one and then you win it.

It's just bizarre.

I mean, I just thought this is ridiculous.

I'm here with all these stars that I've heard about.

You know, it's just amazing.

I used to sort of go oh no, awards don't mean anything

but now, I look at it and I'm quite proud.

>> Every year it picks up more and more awards.

There was a special 10th anniversary show

at the Royal Albert Hall and a recent BBC radio poll,

it was picked out as the best musical of all time

and it's hard to imagine that, you know, when he wrote it,

whether he would have thought

that his celebrity would have carried on.

I think Victor Hugo would have thought he wouldn't be known

in his time but his name is now plastered across the world.

It's been seen in over 30 countries.

It ran for over ten years on Broadway.

You know, when you think about it in those terms, you know,

it is something of a phenomenon.

>> And I'm just about to start on the film where, where --

we're now working on -- somebody is working on the screenplay

and I'm doing it with Working Title, which is, you know,

the great British company that's one of our best film company

and I'm really looking forward to finally getting

"Les Miserables" out on the big screen.

>> "Les Miserables", of course is now a new smash hit mega

movie looking at all sorts of gold dust,

from Baftas to Globes to Oscars.

But it's not the first time.

There are already ten silent versions made

of this particular story.

There's been a radio version.

There's been a television version

with Anthony Perkins no less,

which was kind of warmly received.

It's one of those stories that time

and time again people re-look at and think they can retell

but nobody really could have even predicted

or had the slightest hint that the stage and Broadway version,

the West End Broadway version would be

so phenomenal.

And of course, you know when people said first of all

when it opened in London,

how can you possibly think you're going to have a smash hit

with a title which is basically all about being miserable,

"Les Miserables", how wrong they were.

>> The film will actually use the music, the wonderful music

from the show but tell the story in cinematic terms.

I mean what we have here is a wonderful theatrical version

but you know, the cinema we will reinvent it yet again

to tell it for the cinema.

>> What was fantastic on this was the chance

to reunite the original creative team that created the musical.

So, you know, I wanted to create a new song for the film

that talked to -- that was inspired by the novel

which talks about the extraordinary epiphany

of what Jean Valjean has when he feels this incredible love

for this child that's come into his life

and so I asked Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil

if they could come up with a new song and I had Alain Boublil

and Herby Kretzmer the lyricist, you know, writing a new piece

for me and that was incredibly exciting to get to work

with the original composer on the music.

>> I'm Poppie what a pleasure to meet you.

>> What's your name?

>> Poppie.

>> Hi Poppie.

How are you?

>> I mean the film was truly beautiful.

I cried all the way through it.

I loved it very much.

Now what was your first experience of "Les Mis"?

>> I saw it here in London but I didn't see it until Cameron

and Tom were already making the movie and they talked to me

about it and so I was on my way to Italy actually

for a friend's wedding.

And so I stopped in to see it

and we had a couple of meetings about it.

>> What was the biggest challenge going into the parts?

>> Well I think the challenges actually unfolded

as we went along, you know.

It wasn't quite clear how challenging it was going to be

in the beginning because it's very easy to say oh

and by the way you're going to sing every take.

But then the actual reality of doing that and the discipline

that has to come into your life

to keep yourself available every day and your voice available

and Tom as the director is greedy.

You know, he'll shoot and he'll shoot and he'll shoot and,

you know, and every take we did was the full length

of the song as well.

So yeah, I mean, you know, ultimately though,

this was an incredibly enjoyable experience.

>> I grew up with the -- my mom performing in the show

in the first national tour.

She understudied Fantine.

It's actually one of my first memories

of seeing the show is seeing my mother play the part

that I play in the film.

>> I saw it when I was beginning to think about making the film

and then I saw it four or five times

and what was extraordinary is that after the second time,

the melodies were just in my head and that was it.

I mean, for the last year and a half it's been going around

and around and around.

I mean they were extraordinarily addictive.

>> Isabelle Alan.

>> A year ago she was performing on stage at school.

>> She's just so gorgeous.

It was her first movie.

She has no idea how brilliant she is.

She's just so natural.

>> It may be a lot for a ten-year-old to take in,

but Isabelle looks set to walk many more red carpets

in the future.

>> We did everything in one take.

Tom, Tom left a few of the songs the solos kind

of in one long continuous take.

Did very few cuts in it.

What he did was he filmed most everything

from a multi-camera approach,

which meant that you could do a whole take knowing

that the entire performance was captured

because it would have been very hard, I think especially

with the singing being live to go from one take to another

like an hour can change your voice, you know?

It's the time of day, the barometer.

There's so many factors.

So Tom needed to be able to capture all

of the performances live in order to edit in a way

that wouldn't become distracting.

>> I didn't want to make the film

if I didn't have my Jean Valjean and Hugh came in

and made me realize that I could make this film.

I mean because I'm short just this one person.

I mean who else could sing at that level act

in such an extraordinary way.

He's a bona fided film star in the old sense can carry a film.

Has a requisite strength to play a famously strong man

but also has the grace and kind of the spiritual gentleness

that the character needs.

It's Hugh Jackman.

>> Tom who at first day of rehearsal said I need you --

actually before then he said I need you unrecognizable.

He said if people recognize you, I want them to think you're sick

in real life so I did my best.

>> He went on a really hard-core journey to try

to physically capture what it'd be

like to be a convict of 20 years standing.

He lost 30-pounds of weight and we shaved his head.

I mean we talk a lot about shaving or cutting Annie's hair

but Hugh Jackman's hair was shaved very brutally.

And then in the opening scene, I mean this is

where he's kind of quite eccentric.

He went on a 36-hour water fast,

which means no water for 36 hours.

And then was willing to stand up to his chest

in seawater putting a massive on a rope

so that your skin kind of went back against his cheeks.

You know, a lot of us don't recognize him

in the opening scene.

I mean he's so kind of broken looking by this thing.

I mean and then when his character kind

of flourishes he then put on weight and he changed again.

And I mean like his commitment to this was total.

>> Yeah. My trainer on this movie incredible guy David

Kingsbury has at one point in his life was a bodybuilder

and he knew of this water restriction thing

which is what bodybuilders do before a show and you can lose

up to 10-pounds of body weight.

And right off the surface, do not do this at home.

Trust me and so it really sinks in your --

I was already quite skinny but it makes it quite drastic.

Your eyes get sunken.

I look like hell basically and trust me the headache

after about 20 hours is something I don't want

to repeat.

>> I was up in Stratford doing

and I received a phone call from my agent telling me

that I would be playing the hero Thenardier

singing master of the house.

>> Just like all the singing, all the tears were done live.

They were -- they weren't mine.

I mean I was definitely in a fragile place that day

because my hair was going to be gone.

But no I really did try to kind of stay with Fantine

and Victor Hugo has this wonderful passage in the book

where he talks about Fantine really didn't want

to cut her hair and how she receives a letter

from Thenardier saying that Cosette doesn't have a skirt

for winter, she's going to be cold.

And she sat there crumbling the letter in her hand

for an entire day and then just like around sunset goes

down to the wigmaker and says take it -- how much for it?

He said 10 francs and she says cut it off then.

And she sat there and trying

to be stoic thinking I'm clothing my hair with --

I'm clothing my child with my hair.

And I just kind of tried to bring some of that grace into it

and not just have it all be about me.

>> For me like any physical transformation

that you undergo is obviously going to be difficult

but I couldn't take it too seriously because it was my idea

to lose my hair and it was my idea to go

to the extreme physical place that I did for this

and I did it for my job.

And a lot of people don't have a choice about it.

A lot of people get sick and they lose weight.

They get sick and they have to lose their hair.

>> Tom Hooper who's not a musical theatre director before

he went to see the show and really fell in love with it

and he said how do I recreate that feeling

that you get in the theatre?

And so he wanted to sing live

and what he does actually he's enhanced the

theatrical experience.

For example, Anne Hathaway, her song "I Dreamed a Dream",

which of course everybody feels they know, is a single shot

without cutting for three minutes of her in close up.

It's one of the great performances ever given

and I think and you never cut away from it so it's like being

in the theatre with the best seat.

You couldn't even get that seat in the theatre it's like sitting

in her lap and listening to it, you know.

>> There wasn't anything about this job that wasn't daunting.

I mean we were all just kind of this mixture of anxiety

and gratitude and excitement and nerves and -- but you know --

and then of course you show up on set and you're just like --

because we've all been working in our own lives on the music.

And you show up and you hear Hugh Jackman,

and of course we kind of all knew

that Hugh could sing but not like this.

And then Eddie Redmayne with the most gorgeous voice just coming

out of nowhere so I mean, so it was exciting to work

with everybody to hear what they were doing but I think,

you know, hearing how talented everyone else was kind

of pushed us all on -- me on at least.

>> So many auditions.

Six in total.

Three on tape, three in person.

Two flights to London.

>> You know 60 million people have seen it around the world.

London has taken it to their hearts in the very beginning.

I wanted to protect what it is people love about it

and somehow take that and intensify it on the big screen

and I think it's how it makes people feel and how people --

you go back to re-experience these strong emotions.

I wanted to make the emotions they feel even more intense

on the big screen.

>> I don't think I think about it in terms of hard or easy.

It's just my job.

So you know, it's not like it all kind of a feeling comes

to you in one great moment and you're like, oh, I'm quite good

at this or oh, I'm terrible at this.

You're so far removed from it and at that point I'd done

so much preparation that I was so into it,

it wasn't really about performing.

It was more about just honoring what I had learned

in the research that I had done and just trying

to open myself wide enough to let all that come out.

>> Really amazing to be up there.

It's so cool.

>> Well John Valjean, for actors it's a bit

like a Hamlet or something.

It is a kind of role you dream of playing

and also secretly terrified of playing

because it requires everything of you

and with John Valjean emotionally, physically

and vocally everyday it requires it usually all at the same time.

So it was an incredible opportunity and I'm just

so lucky to have been working with Tom Hooper

and all these great actors, you know?

>> You know, I used to go to the Empire Leicester Square

and the Odeon Leicester Square as a kid and dream

of one day having a film maybe in those cinemas.

I remember the ritual as I left I'd always turn back

and watch the end credits roll and make a kind of commitment

to myself to try to get a film on one of those screens.

To have both screens at the premier last night

with 3000 people was a kind of great, I don't know,

homecoming for me as a Londoner to have that opportunity.

>> You know he would have everyone over when we were

in London and it was great.

He has a very, very great estate over there and it was a lot

of fun and it was nice after long weeks for everyone

to come together and do that and he's just a great guy.

>> At the beginning, it's a very embarrassing thing

to actually sing to people.

It's very exposing thing to be like on the set

and so when you get -- you're allowed to get so relaxed

around each other and learn to -- and you didn't feel awkward.

>> There have been subsequently some wild singing parties.

We were down in a pub in New York the other day and Russell

and Russell's mate with a guitar

and we were all singing -- singing songs.

It's -- I've never quite gotten over the fear factor of it

but it is quite entertaining.

>> You know what?

I feel so proud to be part of this.

It was so odd last night, we had the premier and was ended

up driving back to -- there was a party afterwards and sort

of drove through Leicester Square and up past

where "Les Mis" is on.

And there in the Palace Theatre where it used to play I have

so many memories as a kid of walking up

and down there wanting to maybe be an actor but never was

in my wildest dreams I'd get to be a part of it so yeah.

I feel very privileged.

>> You dreamed a dream.

It came true.

>> Oh, that's so Jesus.

>> Yeah.

>> You may not have been the first person to say that.

>> See Russell loves a sing-along

and if you ever get invited to his place

for a party Lucrezia right

after you do David Letterman then make sure you take a song

because he gets everyone singing.

But it was a great way to let off steam.

I mean, we were all -- you were not allowed to sing any

of your songs from your repertoire in the musical.

That was the only rule.

>> It's -- you know it's easy to see why Eponine loves Marius

when he looks like Eddie Redmayne, you know.

But then equally it's easy to see why he loves Cosette

when it's Amanda Seyfried to be fair.

>> Yeah, no, there was a lot --

the thing about this film because it's embarrassing

because we're all such aggressive "Les Mis" fans.

It's the first film I've seen when people would come in to set

on their days off to kind of see how everyone's doing.

No one to miss out so yeah,

we were all very supportive.

>> Well, I think it's, you know, when you --

I've always admired Hugh Jackman.

I've always respected his career and his work.

I think he's just got fantastic range in what he does.

I just think the world of him professionally and

so then, you know, I was thinking,

well you know you meet someone who's almost like an idol

and you think they're never going

to amount to that expectation.

Well here's the thing with Hugh Jackman,

he didn't match it, he raised it.

I just didn't think somebody could be so cool

with all the success he's had to be this --

the most levelheaded person.

He is so calm on set.

He's like hi.

He's lovely and then it's like action and this

like character busts out of his soul and it's like wow.

And for me that's inspiring at the beginning of my career

to meet somebody like that who's got that perfect balance.

I look at -- you know, he's inspiring to me definitely.

>> I spent the most time with Eddie, I think.

Yes.

>> And who did you bond with the most, would you say?

>> I guess Eddie.

I guess I bonded -- no.

I don't know -- yeah.

I guess Eddie for the most part I bonded with Eddie and Samantha

but we all kind of had -- I mean we all had scenes together

and throughout rehearsal we were able to kind of get

to know each other and bond through like the terror

of singing live and also the fact

that we were all major, major "Les Mis" fans.

And the fact that we all worked,

like our ass off to get the roles.

So but I guess I spent the most time with Eddie and Samantha

and it was a nice little group.

>> I think it was just the difference

in how you convey this emotion.

I think in the theatre you're projecting to 2000 seats

and everything is heightened

because there's no point having a little private moment

on stage you need people to connect with that story

and to sort of feel what your character's feeling

and on screen the camera's so close to you that you feel,

you know, it's so intimate you can be more truthful and that

that realism is amazing.

But then you can't beat the live buzz of theatre

so what I feel is exciting about this project certainly

from an acting point of view is combining those two together

so it's kind of that utter realism of film but with

that kind of live buzz you get in theater.

It's combining the two to create something that feels unique.

>> I had to sing.

Just had to sing.

I was completely, completely out of my comfort zone

and you know very, very insecure about my voice.

I definitely wish I'd had more time

to prepare the soprano technique but you know, I did my best

and I feel like, you know, this is the kind of the --

it's a new unique experience and the opportunity's not going

to come around very often so I definitely think this is,

you know, the coolest thing I've ever been in.

>> Well I didn't get a call.

That was the first step.

Basically I was performing as Nancy in "Oliver" on stage

and Cameron Mackintosh, the producer, walked on

and announced to a live audience, yeah, that I was going

to be playing Eponine -- that was my face.

Right there.

That was my reaction.

And it's on YouTube.

I've watched it since because I can't remember it.

I just remember hearing Eponine.

I remember my heart nearly falling out of my chest

and going -- because I've never wanted anything more.

I never -- this has been a part for four years.

It's a character I feel so passionate about and oh gosh

and to get that news in that way,

that was my reaction right there.

You did a really good impression of me.

>> It's like my inner, you know teenager.

You grew up with Ali G and all those things --

I was properly star struck by Sasha and he arrived onset

at a point that he Helena Bonham-Carter arrived at a point

which we'd being going through this rigorous quite sort

of intense process forever and they arrived in sort

of a lightness arrived and it made me very happy.

It was just -- I was a bit of a sort

of a lifetime aspiration was to --

I never thought I'd get the opportunity to work with him

but it was pretty wonderful to do so.

>> I think I was excited about there was a role I knew nothing

about at least I kind of -- I knew this girl.

I knew this piece, I felt so passionately about it

so to be -- that was the one comforting thing,

I think about entering it.

I wanted to work with these actors that I'd, you know,

admired for years, people like Hugh Jackman, you know?

And Eddie Redmayne I knew had been cast as Marius

and when I was auditioning

for Eponine there were posters everywhere with "My Week

With Marilyn" and I was like, remember being just

like positive thinking he could be my Marius and working

with people like that, that was such a highlight.

>> I was lucky enough to attend many of these gala nights

of "Les Mis" and they've always been magical.

You know, any musical

that celebrates a particular milestone is always sort

of like one of those moments where you think it's been going

so long can you really inject something into that?

And it does have that magical touch.

I think what's also interesting is the fact

that as somebody who's seen it as I say quite a few times now,

you go along and each time there's always something

that you don't quite remember

from the first time or the second time.

And you do come away it's what they call one of those musicals;

it's what they call a memorable musical.

Not just because of the story but particularly with the songs.

You do go out and days later you've got this fantastic melody

in your head and you're thinking to yourself, what is that?

What is that?

Because a with a lot of songs

from musicals you don't always know the title but you only have

to hear, you know, the sort of words of "On My Own"

and it strikes a chord to any generation and I do kind

of think that that's why it's been covered by so many people.

So many people resonate with the lyrics and the beautiful melody

of many of the songs from the score of "Les Mis"

and I think it will go on for many,

many years in people's minds.