On December 6, the Sofia Opera House will host the Bulgarian premiere of the world-famous musical Les Misérables. The exciting story of Victor Hugo's most famous novel written in 1862 has been recreated many times in theatre, film and television productions. In 1978, composer Claude-Michel Schönberg wrote music based on Hugo's novel, which he published in an album, along with poems by Alain Boublil. Later, the two reworked the concept of the album into a musical-stage work that became extremely popular. Dubbed by some “the greatest musical of all time”, the first production of Les Miserables was in Paris in 1980. Shows followed in London and New York, and the musical became a hit for decades to come. Its appearance in Bulgaria was planned relatively soon after these world premieres, but it took years for the idea to finally materialize.

Plamen Kartalov, director of the Sofia Opera and director of the production, shares what the upcoming premiere means for him:

“This is the resurrection of an idea for which the right time has come. Producer Cameron Mackintosh gave us the rights back in 1987, we signed a contract and started a big audition. Over 200 performers from all over Bulgaria appeared - opera, operetta and pop singers, film and stage actors. We chose the two casts, but couldn't find the funds for the special microphones needed. It sounds ridiculous today, they are now accessible to everyone… It was as if we were ahead of time then. Decades later, I can say that I am very happy to work with my performers - pop singer Orlin Pavlov (in the role of Javert), actor and musician Vladimir Mikhailov (Jean Valjean), jazz, pop and musical singer Vesela Delcheva is cast as Fantine, actor Nikolai Sotirov as the Bishop, the beautiful young and talented Ani Vutova as Cosette. If I myself had to choose a character to play, maybe it would be Jean Valjean - a very emotional role. Although in my day-to-day routine as a director, I often turn into a veritable Javert who is strict regarding law and order... These two roles are conflicting but they also have the strongest impact on the audience.”

Here's how famous Bulgarian pop singer Orlin Pavlov views his involvement in the first Bulgarian production of Les Misérables:

“It is a great challenge for me to be on stage at the Sofia Opera and Ballet. It’s the first time for me working with Maestro Kartalov and also working with an opera director. This is the largest production of a musical that we can see in Bulgaria. We went through an extremely heavy auditioning, the singing material is also difficult. I think the selection of both casts is really good and the audience will have wonderful moments. I play Javert and that is another challenge for me. Javert thinks he is the chief authority, the chief prosecutor and judge, a soulless man whose purpose is to restore order and to pursue the hero Jean Valjean. He is an anti-hero. At one point he breaks down because he sees that the ex-convict has a kind heart and a noble soul.... This confuses him and disrupts his inner balance to such an extent that he commits suicide. My job is to be the dark one, the evil one, the unyielding one. It's hard because I'm not that kind of person in my life. I find very useful my work with the director Plamen Kartalov, with the conductor Igor Bogdanov, with Svetoslav Lazarov who works on our musical preparation, with all members of the crew who contributed to this long-awaited premiere.”

The interest of the Bulgarian audience is very high, so let's say that in December we will see a total of seven performances of Les Misérables, with six more coming in the first month of 2020.

English version Rossitsa Petcova