A new UK-wide amateur theatre project to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Boublil and Schönberg’s musical Les Misérables will visit Birmingham in June 2025.

The initiative, called Let the People Sing, will feature 11 community-wide productions across the country.

For the first time, amateur groups in the UK have been invited to stage the full show while it continues its successful run in London’s West End. Alongside Birmingham, other cities on the tour include Brighton, Leeds, Nottingham, Norwich, and Swansea.

Each of the 11 amateur societies will act as lead producers in their respective venues, collaborating with other local groups to produce community-wide productions. These groups will receive support and guidance from the West End and international associate creative teams to develop their original, non-replica productions. Producer of the West End show, Cameron Mackintosh said:

“The phenomenon of Les Misérables continues to break new ground, just as Victor Hugo’s novel has since it was first published in 1862.

“As we approach the extraordinary landmark of the 40th record-breaking year of the iconic musical’s London run, alongside countless productions around the world, we are delighted to invite 11 of our leading amateur companies in the UK to stage, for the first time, the entire show in their own productions. This will involve many hundreds of amateur performers around the country, becoming part of our own yearlong celebrations.

“The success of this much-loved musical was famously made by the public – not the early critics – so what better way to enjoy this unprecedented event!”

Sean Gray, Managing Director of the London office of Music Theatre International, who licence musicals for performance, added: “MTI cherishes our amateur theatre companies. Many great shows live on in amateur productions, often decades after their initial productions in the West End or on Broadway.

"Although we have been able to license thousands of productions of Les Misérables School Edition to schools and youth groups, the remarkable success of the West End production in London and on tour means it hasn’t been possible to offer the show to our major amateur companies.

"But for one year, we are thrilled to have this opportunity to invite amateur theatre companies across the UK to produce eleven local productions, which we hope will be genuine local community projects.

"We already know how much excitement the project will generate, and we are really looking forward to guiding everyone towards a great national amateur celebration of Les Misérables in 2025 to mark the 40th anniversary of the London production!”

The project will be staged at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham from 10th to 14th June 2025. Further details and open casting calls for all 11 productions will be announced soon.