Les Miserables is returning to Toronto and Justin Bieber is being considered for one of the leading roles.
Legendary producer Cameron Mackintosh told The Star in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that “you’re going to have a completely new, all-Canadian production opening at the Royal Alex in July, 2012.”
Mirvish Productions will be working with Mackintosh on the musical, as they have done on all prior presentations of the show in Toronto, from its initial run in 1989, starring Michael Burgess and Louise Pitre, right through to the last touring company that played here in 2005.
As for Bieber’s possible involvement, Mackintosh was asked if he would follow through on his London casting of Nick Jonas as Marius by replicating it here with our own home-grown pop superstar and his answer was, “I would love to hear Justin Bieber sing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.’ Please spread the word that he’d be more than welcome in the show.”
As Mackintosh indicated, this is the all-new 25th anniversary production of the show which toured the British Isles before returning to its original home at the Barbican in 2010.
It features new staging and a totally new design, inspired by the actual paintings of Victor Hugo, who also wrote the 1862 novel on which the musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil was based.
“I was inspired to do a new version when I realized that the show was going to be 25 years old,” said Mackintosh. “You always have a different point of view on something after 25 years and just for my own sanity’s sake, I had to see it fresh again.
“And it’s a hideous thing for me to have to admit,” he chuckles, “but 80 per cent of the cast currently performing it in London weren’t even born when the show was first produced. Ah yes, every success has a grey lining.”
Mackintosh is also in pre-production for the film version of Les Miserables, which is expected to go before the cameras in March, 2012, starring Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe as Javert.
“I think the main reason people keep finding the show so popular is that the material stays so current. The characters are as alive today as they were when they were created. Victor Hugo had an amazing grasp of human nature and the themes of the story are being reiterated around the world.”
Mackintosh’s intention is that the show will remain in the Royal Alex for “a substantial period of time” and that the same company will then go on a cross-Canada tour.
Another company is currently touring the new version across the United States, but Mackintosh says the timing of the Canadian tour will also have something to do with the release date of the film.
“After all,” he says, with the wisdom that has kept him so successful for so long, “I don’t want to be competing with myself.”
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