John Caird

Les Miserables is the world's best-loved musical. It has been seen by 57 million people and in 2010 celebrated its 25th anniversary with its two largest ever productions at London's O2 Arena. Matt Lucas, a lifelong fan of 'Les Mis', was invited to fulfil his dream of performing in these shows alongside more than 300 stalwarts from previous productions. This documentary tells the story of a musical that many thought would fail, but which became a worldwide phenomenon with unforgettable songs like I Dreamed A Dream. We follow Matt as he prepares for the performance of a lifetime, we hear from those involved with the show's creation, including Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Ball, and of course we enjoy wonderful moments from the show itself.

An interview with the production team behind the hit Broadway musical as they discuss the conception and development of Les Miserables as a pop-culture phenomenon.

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family. The film version of the stage production was shot during the play’s 2022 run at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.

Lee McQueen, alone and troubled in his beautiful townhouse, is trying to come up with his new collection. He must pitch to his investors the next morning, but he’s got nothing: inspiration has deserted him. Dahlia, a mysterious young woman, breaks into his house. She wants to steal a dress but also to escape from her own troubled life. As McQueen is about to call the police something in her raw honesty, her boldness, intrigues him. He changes his mind, puts down the phone. (Filmed at the St James Theatre, London, in May 2015.)

Play's 2024 version.

Adapted from Roman Polanski's 1967 film The Fearless Vampire Killers; an eccentric professor and his assistant travel to Transylvania and try to save an innkeeper's daughter from a powerful vampire count.

Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, regain his father's good opinions and help suppress the uprising.

Estella Scrooge is a Wall Street tycoon with a penchant for foreclosing. A hotelier in her hometown of Pickwick, Ohio has defaulted on his mortgage and as a Christmas gift to herself, Estella decides to deliver the sad news in person. Arriving at the Harthouse Hotel on Christmas Eve, Estella discovers that the mortgage holder is none other than her childhood sweetheart, Pip Nickleby. Always the humanitarian, Pip has generously transformed the property into a refuge for the distraught, disabled and displaced. A freak snowstorm forces Estella, much to her dismay, to take refuge at Harthouse. That night, as it happened to her ancestor Ebenezer long ago, she too is haunted by three visitations. And oh what uninvited overnight houseguests they are!

A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thwart their intentions.

The first ever concert of Les Misérables, performed in Sydney. In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee relentless policeman Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

A production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" filmed for television. After the overthrowing of the old duke by his tyrannical brother, the duke's daughter Rosalind disguises herself as a man and sets out to find her banished father while also counselling her clumsy suitor Orlando in the art of wooing.

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, set it in a fairy forest, with a lot of games and romance.

Orpheus sings his way to the underworld in pursuit of his wife Euridice, overcoming all obstacles by the power of his voice. He finds her but loses her again. How long do we grieve a loved one? How long do we hear their voice echoing after they have gone? In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi created his Orfeo, for the Carnival opening at the Court Theatre of Duke Vincenzo I in Mantua. Billed as a ‘musical fable’, here was a new form where characters are brought to life with poignant human feelings. Orfeo’s dramatic power gave birth to what we call opera today. As in the original performance in an intimate space in Mantua, Garsington’s summer 2022 production sees the singers and musicians very close; the instrumentalists are part of the action, onstage and visible.