Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables has seen many, many adaptations of his work hit the stage and screen. The next will take the form of a six-part miniseries for TV.
Fans of Les Misérables, prepare yourselves! You’ve seen the movies, the concerts. You probably know the score forwards and backwards. Maybe you and your friends even spent your vacation in Mexico listening to numerous versions of “One Day More” at 2 am. (No, just me?) The musical adaptation is one, albeit famous, take on Victor Hugo’s 1500 page masterpiece. But don’t expect any show-stopping musical numbers in the latest Les Misérables adaptation which will be brought to life by the BBC.
That’s only part of the story, though. “Les Misérables is a huge iconic title. Most of us are familiar with the musical version which only offers a fragmentary outline of its story. I am thrilled to have the opportunity of doing real justice to Victor Hugo at last by adapting his masterpiece in a six-hour version for the BBC,” says writer Andrew Davies of the project.
Adapting large works for the small screen is an area in which Davies has some experience. Last year Davies penned the BBC and A+E miniseries of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace which aired earlier this year. The networks also recently worked together to bring The Night Manager and And Then There Were None to British and American networks.
Harvey Weinstein described the miniseries as, “An intense and serious drama that will find contemporary relevance to what’s going on in the world today.”
The musical is currently running on Broadway, which is due to close on September 4, 2016. There is no information on when we can expect to see the latest incarnation of Hugo’s work. Until then, we are happy to provide you with arguably the best rendition of the musical’s “One Day More,” from the 10th anniversary concert.
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