Cameron Mackintosh announced today that Killian Donnelly will return to Les Misérables as Jean Valjean in the critically acclaimed production at the Sondheim Theatre from Tuesday 31 October 2023, for 15 weeks only.  Due to sudden family reasons, Josh Piterman, who is currently playing the role, will return home to Australia. His final performances will take place on Saturday 21 October 2023.

Killian Donnelly returns to the role, having previously played Jean Valjean to critical acclaim in both the original West End production and the sell-out UK and Ireland tour of Les Misérables. This will be his first time playing the role in the new London production at the Sondheim Theatre.  His other theatre credits include the role of ‘The Phantom’ in The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre.

First staged in 2009, the 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables was co-directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, with designs by Matt Kinley, based on the original 1985 production. Following a successful UK and Ireland tour, producer Cameron Mackintosh moved the 25th anniversary production into the West End in 2019, replacing the original 1985 production. At the time, the original 1985 creative team of directors Sir Trevor Nunn and John Caird, plus designer John Napier, expressed their feelings of “profound” unhappiness and betrayal: “Everywhere it is being advertised [as] a new production. It is not a new production.” Nunn and Caird are both credited on the 25th anniversary production as “adaptation”.

Boublil and Schönberg’s magnificent iconic score of Les Misérables includes the classic songs: “I Dreamed a Dream”; “On My Own”; “Stars”; “Bring Him Home”; “Do You Hear the People Sing?”; “One Day More”; “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”; “Master Of The House”; and many more.  Several of its songs have become real life anthems of revolution, wherever in the world people are fighting for their freedom. Seen by over 120 million people worldwide in 53 countries and in 22 languages, Les Misérables is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular and contemporary musicals.

Killian Donnelly plays Jean Valjean at the Sondheim Theatre from Tuesday 31 October 2023, for 15 weeks only.