Warsaw’s Roma Music Theatre premieres tonight Les Miserables, one of the most successful musicals which has proved a hit in many cities round the world since its premiere in 1985.

This is the second Polish production of the work Les Miserables – the first being in Gdynia in 1989. But the current production is the first so-called non-replica production, devised  by the  director and designers of the Roma Theatre and approved of by Cameron Macintosh, the British producer of the show.

On the eve of the premiere, a surprise visit to the Roma theatre was paid by Michael Ball, the star of the London premieres of Les Miserables and of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, who has developed a spectacular solo career in recent years and has his own show on BBC TV.

Members of the Roma company were stunned when Michael suddenly asked them ‘Have you got a mike anywhere here?’ And, having had a word with the conductor, he sang Empty Chairs and Empty Tables, one of the hits of  Les Miserables .  

Les Miserables is directed by Wojciech Kepczynki, the company’s Managing and Artistic Director and the main architect of its numerous successes, including Miss Saigon, Cats, Crazy for You and Grease.  (mk)