The Complete Book of Les Miserables

New York: Little Brown & Co. - Arcade Publishing, 1989. First U.S. Edition . Hard Back. Fine/Very Good. 8 1/4" x 11 3/4. Guy, Victor -Design. 191 Pages. Blue cloth with silver lettering to the spine. No defects noted to book or dust jacket. Flap price $29.95 has not been clipped. Interior text and illustration pages are near flawless. Illustrations on almost all pages and most are in color. Les Miserables made musical history. It was a cultural, financial, and social phenomenon. In just three years, more than seven million people flocked to see it, and in ticket revenues alone it grossed 400 million dollars. It was performed worldwide, and in 1992 Alan Parker made it into a major feature film. It all began with the classic novel Les Miserables, which Victor Hugo started writing in 1836. Some hundred and fifty years later, in 1980, its musical potential was realized when two young Frenchmen - Alain Boublil and Claude- Michel Schonberg - adapted Les Miserables for the French stage. In 1982 the impresario Cameron Mackintosh happened to hear their recording and decided to produce it as a musical in English. Then the trials and tribulations behind the development of a major international hit began. The author goes right back to the novel and the fascinating events surrounding its genesis, not the least of which were the dramas in Victor Hugo's personal life. Behr conveys the full excitement and wonder surrounding the conception and production of the musical. This book includes firsthand interviews (with casts, directors, and producers), hundreds of photographs, set and costume illustrations (some of them never before reproduced), and the complete libretto for the show. It offers a historically informed and challenging thesis and makes a lasting record of a unique and unforgettable venture.