It’s official! You only have until 13 July 2019 to get to the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue to see the original production of Les Misérables. So does this mean the show could lose its longest-running West End musical title?
The Original London production of Les Misérables will close at the Queen’s Theatre on 13 July 2019. The theatre will spend four months being rebuilt both backstage and in the auditorium as well as adding many much-needed new lavatories to the front of house. This work will restore architect W.G. Sprague’s original boxes and loges which, along with the entire front of house, were destroyed by a bomb in 1940 and caused the theatre to be closed for 20 years.
The restored Queen’s Theatre will reopen in December of 2019 with the new production of Les Misérables, continuing its phenomenal run indefinitely. The acclaimed new production was created for the show’s 25th Anniversary in the UK in 2009 and has gone on to enjoy huge success around the world all over again, including returning to Broadway. A brilliant company is now being put together and bookings will open in February.
While the Queen’s Theatre is being restored, Les Misérables will continue in performance on Shaftesbury Avenue with exciting plans being announced shortly for a four-month season at the Gielgud Theatre from the end of July 2019.
The interesting part of this announcement is whether the Gielgud Theatre season will commence straight after the closure of the original production to maintain the run or whether because it will be a new production it will not be able to retain the title. Phantom of the Opera is currently in second place having opened the year after Les Misérables in 1986 and currently holds the record for longest-running Broadway musical.
More will be known about the Gielgud Theatre season and the classification with future announcements.