Les Misérables at a glance

Show
Les Misérables
Venue
Sondheim Theatre, West End
Address
51 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6BA
Nearest station
Piccadilly Circus (3 min walk)
Genre
Musical (epic / historical)
Running time
2 hours 50 minutes, including one interval
Age guidance
7+ (under 3s not admitted; under-16s must be accompanied)
Dates
Currently booking until 13 March 2027
Schedule
Mon–Sat 7:30pm; matinees Thu and Sat 2:30pm
Price range
From £30 (typically £30–£300)
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Herbert Kretzmer (English); Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (original French)
Book
Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (based on the novel by Victor Hugo)
Directors
Laurence Connor and James Powell

Expert Review: Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre

4.7
★★★★★

LTH Expert Rating

Reviewed by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 30 April 2026.

The Verdict

Forty-one years into its run, Les Misérables is still the gold standard of the modern epic musical. The score is one of the most consistently high-quality ever written — there is barely a weak number across nearly three hours of stage time — and the show's emotional engineering is brutally efficient. By the time the barricade rises in Act Two, the production has earned every tear it asks for. Cameron Mackintosh's reimagined 2009 staging sharpened the storytelling without losing what made the original work. The 2026 company is one of the strongest in years.

What's striking on a return visit is how complete the show feels. The score moves between intimate solos (I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, Bring Him Home) and the kind of full-company anthems (One Day More, Do You Hear the People Sing?) that almost no contemporary musical attempts any more. Ian McIntosh's Valjean has the vocal weight the role demands, Sam Oladeinde gives Javert genuine moral authority rather than caricature, and Lucie Jones — back for her fourth turn in the show — handles Fantine's collapse with extraordinary precision. Harry Hepple and Lizzie Bea bring fresh comic energy to the Thénardiers from February 2026.

What Makes It Special

  • The world's longest-running musical. Les Misérables opened at the Barbican on 8 October 1985 and has run continuously in the West End ever since. 41 years, over 150 million tickets sold worldwide, 57 countries, 22 languages. The numbers are remarkable; the show holds up to them.
  • One of the great scores. Schönberg's music and Kretzmer's English lyrics produce song after song that have entered the wider cultural memory: I Dreamed a Dream, Stars, On My Own, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, Bring Him Home, A Heart Full of Love, One Day More, Do You Hear the People Sing? Few musicals in history have this many genuinely memorable numbers.
  • The 2026 cast. Olivier Award-winner Ian McIntosh leads as Jean Valjean. Sam Oladeinde (Hamilton, Come From Away) brings serious credentials to Javert. Lucie Jones returns for her fourth Les Mis run — this time as Fantine, until 11 April 2026, with Martha Kirby taking over thereafter. Harry Hepple and Lizzie Bea joined as the Thénardiers in February 2026.
  • The reimagined production. Laurence Connor and James Powell's 2009 reimagining replaced the original revolving stage with Matt Kinley's brilliantly cinematic set design, drawing on Victor Hugo's own paintings. It's been the standard production worldwide ever since — and it works particularly well in the Sondheim's restored auditorium.
  • One Day More. Some Act One finales in musical theatre simply aren't matched. Hearing the show's nine principal voices weave together at full volume, with a full orchestra, is one of the experiences live theatre still does better than anything else.

You'll love Les Misérables if you...

  • Love an epic, emotional, full-orchestra musical
  • Want to hear the world's most famous musical-theatre score live
  • Appreciate strong storytelling and historical setting
  • Are introducing teenagers (9+) to grand musical theatre
  • Are visiting London and want a definitive West End experience

It might not be for you if you...

  • Find sung-through musicals hard to follow
  • Prefer light, escapist evenings — Les Mis is heavy
  • Are sensitive to themes of poverty, prostitution, war, and the death of children
  • Are bothered by gunfire, smoke, and flashing lights — the show uses all three
  • Need to leave at 10pm sharp — the show is just shy of three hours

Best for

  • Musical theatre fans
  • Tourists
  • History buffs
  • Date night
  • Teenagers (9+)
  • Special occasions

Not the strongest fit for very young children or audiences seeking light entertainment.

Critical Reception

Les Misérables has been praised consistently by UK critics across its four-decade run, with the 2009 reimagined production receiving a fresh wave of strong reviews. The musical has won over 180 major theatre awards worldwide, including 4 Olivier Awards (with the Olivier Award for Most Popular Show in both 2012 and 2014, plus a special recognition award in April 2025), 8 Tony Awards on Broadway in 1987, and 5 Helpmann Awards.

  • The Guardian ★★★★
  • The Times ★★★★★
  • The Telegraph ★★★★★
  • Evening Standard ★★★★
  • Time Out ★★★★
  • WhatsOnStage ★★★★★
  • The Stage ★★★★

Source: published reviews of the West End production at the Sondheim Theatre and earlier London venues.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in Les Misérables?

Les Misérables follows Jean Valjean, a French peasant released on parole in 1815 after nineteen years of hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving child. Embittered by injustice and unable to find work, he is taken in by a kindly bishop — and stunned when, after stealing the bishop's silver, he is shown unexpected mercy. The act of grace transforms him.

A new life — and a relentless pursuit

Eight years later, Valjean has reinvented himself as Monsieur Madeleine, a successful factory owner and the mayor of a small town. But when the obsessive police inspector Javert arrives, suspecting that Madeleine is the missing convict 24601, Valjean's old life threatens to catch up with him. Meanwhile, his factory worker Fantine — sacked, destitute, and dying — begs him to look after her young daughter, Cosette, currently in the care of the cruel innkeeper Thénardier and his wife.

Cosette and the rising storm

Valjean rescues Cosette and raises her in secret, fleeing Javert across years and cities. Act Two jumps to 1832, with Cosette grown into a young woman in Paris. The city is in turmoil, students preparing for revolution, and the streets full of unrest. Cosette falls in love with Marius, a young revolutionary — but Marius's friend Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter, loves Marius from afar.

The barricade

The 1832 Paris Uprising — a real historical event in which students and the urban poor briefly took to the streets — forms the backdrop to the second act. Valjean joins the rebels at the barricade to protect Marius for Cosette's sake, finds himself in a position to kill Javert, and instead spares him — a decision that destroys Javert. The barricade falls. Most of the students die. The revolution achieves nothing immediately and everything in the long run.

Forgiveness and grace

The final scenes follow Valjean to the end of his life, where he is granted a peaceful death surrounded by Cosette, Marius, and the spirits of those who shaped his journey. The show's closing question — "Do you hear the people sing?" — is the same it asks throughout: whether dignity, mercy, and solidarity can survive systems built to deny them. The answer, the show insists, is yes.