<Li> Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music </Li> <Li> Helpmann Award for Best Musical </Li> <P> Les Misérables (English: / leɪ . mɪzəˈrɑːb (l) /; French pronunciation: ​ (le mizeʁabl (ə))), colloquially known in English - speaking countries as Les Mis or Les Miz (/ leɪ ˈmɪz /), is a sung - through musical based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo . Premiering in Paris in 1980, it has music by Claude - Michel Schönberg and original French - language lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean - Marc Natel, alongside an English - language libretto with accompanying English - language lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer . The London production has run continuously since October 1985, making it the longest - running musical in the West End and the second longest - running musical in the world after the original Off - Broadway run of The Fantasticks . </P> <P> Set in early 19th - century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister's starving child . Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert . Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade . </P>

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