Production of "Les Misérables" coming to Boston's Lyric Stage Company this spring

It may be months away, but Boston's theater community is buzzing about something big coming to a Back Bay theater. In the spring, The Lyric Stage Company will stage a production of "Les Misérables."

Artistic director Courtney O'Connor said, "I never thought I'd have an opportunity to direct this show. It's like the white whale, right?"

O'Connor has been planning this production for months.

"One of the questions that people have sort of started asking us is, 'How are you going to pull it off?' And I think that that's actually the wrong question. It's not about pulling it off because we're not trying to replicate the experience that you have with the larger productions. Instead, it's saying what does it look like in this space, at this time with this group of actors?" O'Connor said. 

Broadway veteran and local performer De'Lon Grant, who will portray the iconic Jean Valjean, said, "A lot of greats have done it, and that is intimidating to be sure."

"I was fortunate enough to work with [Grant] on 'Our Town' this past September, where I think it was after the first performance, I pulled him into my office and offered him the role. The poor man was so startled," said O'Connor.

"Boston has really given me opportunity after opportunity that I just never saw for myself," said Grant.

Two other Lyric Stage veterans, Kristian Espiritu as Fantine and Christopher Chew as Javert, will join him in the cast. 

O'Connor explained, "I love working in Boston. I love knowing this community of actors. And I love doing a show like this where we get to show people's talents in ways that might be unexpected in roles that they never thought they would get a chance to do."

Seeing this piece inside a 244-seat theater will be a very different experience for fans.

"When people think about 'Les Miz,' a lot of times they think about the turntable. They think about the Barricade. I don't want them thinking about that. I want them thinking about these characters, what they are going through, what the people are going through," O'Connor explained. 

Grant added, "When you're on this stage, the audience is right there with you, right? It is a tiny, tiny space, and you can see them, and they can see you. "

For O'Connor, working on this show is a "pinch me" moment.

"I would have never believed that I would be able to have anything to do with it, let alone direct it and have it be at the theater that I love best, with some of the people that I loved best. It's just. It's beyond a dream come true."

Over the next few months, WBZ-TV hopes to follow the 'Les Miz' journey at the Lyric.

Individual ticket sales open in mid-August and subscriptions for the entire Lyric Stage season are available now.

"Les Misérables" will run from April 30th through June 20th, 2027.