Full cast announced for Les Miserables’ West End return

Cameron Mackintosh has announced four new additions to the principal cast of the full production of Les Misérables which is due to make its eagerly-awaited return to the West End in September.

Chanice Alexander-Burnett (Motown The Musical, Shaftesbury Theatre, Our House, Union Theatre) will step into the role of Fantine and Jordan Shaw (The Scottsboro Boys, Young Vic, Miss Saigon, Prince Edward Theatre) joining the cast as Enjolras with Charlie Burn returning as Cosette after making her professional debut in the role in the UK and Ireland touring production and reprising her performance in Les Misérables – The Staged Concert. The newcomers will also include Sha Dessi who will make her West End debut as Éponine.

They will join the productions acclaimed principal cast of Jon Robyns (Jean Valjean), Bradley Jaden (Javert), Gerard Carey (Thénardier), Josefina Gabrielle (Madame Thénardier) and Harry Apps (Marius).

The company also includes Kelly Agbowu, Emma Barr, Richard Carson, Cellen Chugg Jones, Rodney Earl Clarke, Danny Colligan, Matthew Dale, Matt Dempsey, Jessie Hart, Connor Jones, Jessica Joslin, Michael Kholwadia, Sarah Lark, Georgie Lovatt, Ellie Ann Lowe, Luke McCall, Leo Miles, Claire O’Leary, Kathy Peacock, Mark Pearce, Sam Peggs, Sake Wijers, Mared Williams, Phoebe Williams and Samuel Wyn-Morris.

Following on from the sold-out success of Les Misérables – The Staged Concert, the longest-running concert production in the history of Shaftesbury Avenue, the critically-acclaimed new full production will resume performances at the Sondheim Theatre on 25 September.

Announcing the full cast, Mackintosh said “After 18 long months of unprecedented shut down of the commercial theatre, it is thrilling to see the West End reopen with all its major productions and safely welcome back audiences who have been so supportive to our industry.

“The staged concert of Les Misérables has been uniquely able to keep the large scale theatrical flag flying on Shaftesbury Avenue, clocking up a record breaking 250 performance run. Many of the wonderful artists in the concert were drawn from both the acclaimed new West End and national touring productions which had opened just before the pandemic closed them down, playing to full houses.

“Spectacular though the staged concert (which will embark on a world tour in 2024) is, the fully staged new production of Les Misérables has become an international sell out sensation all over again, continuing to bring audiences to their feet as the longest running musical in the world.

“The famous barricades of this latest West End production will be manned by a brilliant and diverse company of new and established talents, that demonstrate why our training system is the envy of the world and our theatre practitioners both on and off stage are incomparable, despite the lack of support of the commercial theatre from this government.

“It is hugely gratifying, as the show celebrates its 36th birthday this October at the Sondheim Theatre, that Les Misérables continues to be one of the most popular and contemporary musicals of all time. As The Telegraph put it: ‘The perfect musical in the perfect theatre’.”

First conceived by Mackintosh in 2009 to celebrate Les Misérables’ 25th anniversary, tickets for the acclaimed new production in the West End are now on sale for performances up to 13 February 2022.

The original 1985 production of Les Misérables took its final bow at the Queens Theatre on 13 July 2019 when the theatre closed to allow for major refurbishing work including the restoration of architect W.G. Sprague’s original boxes and loges, which were destroyed, along with the entire front of house, by a bomb in 1940. The star-studded concert version of Les Misérables initially played to packed houses at the Gielgud Theatre in 2019 while the much-loved show’s original home next door, the Queen’s Theatre, was closed for refurbishment ahead of its reopening as the Sondheim Theatre.

Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel with additional material by James Fenton and adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird.

Angela Thomas

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