Les Misérables is one of the most popular musicals of all time, as demonstrated by a successful Broadway run lasting more than a quarter of a century, eight Tony Awards and the title of the longest-running show in London’s West End. Among its innumerable cinematic and theatrical incarnations, Les Misérables has a special connection with the capital of neighbouring Croatia, since it was first staged in Zagreb before it became famous around the world (1982), a mere year and a half after its Paris premiere. That production at Zagreb’s Komedija Theatre was even seen by the original French librettists Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, who are on record as being extremely pleased with the performance.

Yet more than 40 years would have to pass for this story – encompassing the relentless police persecution of the social outcast Jean Valjean, his moral dilemmas, parental love, student revolts and the challenges faced by those at the bottom of society – to return to the Komedija stage. In the intervening years, the Komedija Theatre has continued its artistic mission and become famous for its first-rate productions of comedies, operettas and musicals. It was, in fact, this theatre that was responsible for the success of the famous Yugoslav musical Yalta, Yalta. We may be sure, then, that one of the most important specialised theatres in the region will provide a top-flight musical spectacle, interwoven with unforgettable musical numbers such as “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Do You Hear the People Sing?”