‘No one would touch it’: The creators of Les Misérables thought it would flop. Now the unstoppable hit is in Toronto for a seventh time

The writers knew what they created was unlikely material for a musical. “Les Misérables,” which tells the redemptive tale of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict turned businessman who is endlessly pursued for his past crimes by a police inspector, is epic in scale: more akin to an operatic melodrama than traditional musical fare. It was also unusual in how it married an acclaimed and seminal piece of French literature, so embedded within its people’s national identity, with a musical palette unmistakably drawn from contemporary pop sensibilities. 

Yet in spite of these factors, Schönberg and Boublil eventually found a willing partner in French director Robert Hossein. The show’s premiere played to sellout audiences in a sports arena in Paris in 1980.

And since then, the show that was deemed by so many to be an inevitable flop has turned into an unstoppable hit. 

The English-language premiere of “Les Misérables” in London some five years later, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, would go on to spawn dozens of productions worldwide. For Canadian performers like Louise Pitre, Rebecca Caine and Michael Burgess, the musical transformed them into stars of the theatre.

And in Toronto alone, the musical has returned seven times, if you count its current 10-week engagement at the Princess of Wales Theatre. 

“It’s one of the most important things in our lives,” said Schönberg, reflecting on the show.

Its success likely came because he and Boublil felt free with the material, he added: “We did everything ourselves without any education in musical theatre. So we didn’t know any of the rules and could break anything.”

Before writing the work, the only other musical to Schönberg and Boublil’s credit was “La Révolution Française,” their 1973 romantic rock opera set amid the French Revolution. Boublil, at the time, was a lyricist and librettist with few major works to his name, while Schönberg was primarily known in France as a pop songwriter and record producer. 

The collaborators met, Boublil recounted, after he heard one of Schönberg’s songs on the radio. 

“I thought the song was lovely: beautifully crafted, well written and very emotional as well. It was telling the story of a young girl and was more like a song from a musical than a pop song,” he said. 

So struck was Boublil by the work that he inquired about its composer. He later called Schönberg and they met to discuss their careers and aspirations. 

“We realized that we were both looking for something different to do than writing three-minute songs,” said Boublil. “Although we loved doing it, at the same time there was something in both of us calling for something more. We didn’t know what it was until later, when life would bring us the answers to these questions.”

The kernel of the idea that led to the musical adaptation of “Les Misérables” first came to Boublil as he was watching “Oliver!” the stage musical by Lionel Bart based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.”

Seeing the Artful Dodger onstage called to Boublil’s mind the character of Gavroche, the young street urchin in “Les Misérables” who joins the Parisian revolutionaries. He then couldn’t stop thinking about what “Les Misérables” would look like onstage. 

But he hesitated at first to share his idea with anyone, including Schönberg, thinking it was too crazy, too ambitious and out of proportion ever to be realized on the stage. 

“After two or three weeks, because the idea was sticking in my mind in a way that I was not going to get rid of, I started discussing it with Claude-Michel,” said Boublil. “And he said to me: ‘Why don’t we start working on it tomorrow?’”

Despite the show’s successful premiere in Paris, it was in London, at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s former home at the Barbican Centre, that “Les Misérables” was developed into its current form. 

“When Cameron Mackintosh met us the first time, he said: ‘It’s fantastic what you’ve done, but it’s a good draft.’” Schönberg and Boublil realized they needed to adapt their work for an audience that, unlike the French, might not be familiar with the Hugo novel. 

Following the musical’s London debut, no longer did “Les Misérables” begin in Valjean’s factory. Instead, the creators penned a new prologue, foregrounding their protagonist’s backstory and run-ins with the law. It was also in London where Schönberg and Boublil added “Bring Him Home,” Valjean’s second-act solo that has become a standard of its own. 

Initially, the English-language premiere was received poorly. Critics largely dismissed the show. (The Observer deemed it “a witless and synthetic entertainment.”) Even some members of the original company didn’t believe the show would have legs. But the production proved to be a success, transferring to London’s West End where “Les Misérables” continues to run to this day. 

Schönberg and Boublil continued their professional partnership, going on to write musicals such as “Miss Saigon” and “Martin Guerre.” In many ways, “Les Misérables” has inspired shows that have come after it. Lin-Manuel Miranda, for instance, has credited Schönberg and Boublil’s musical with inspiring “Hamilton.”

But the pair also acknowledge that musical theatre has moved away from the style that so many of their works occupy: the bombastic theatricals and sweeping storytelling inherent to mega-musicals like “Les Misérables” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”

They aren’t fazed by where the genre is heading. Both say they feel inspired by shows that play with theatrical form. The pair point, again, to “Hamilton” and newer works like “The Picture of Dorian Gray” starring Sarah Snook. 

“It’s a matter of imagination,” said Schönberg. “What we need now is a lot of young imagination to push (the musical genre) forward.”