Little Britain’s Matt Lucas to join Les Miserables tour Down Under

Beloved musical Les Miserables will come to Melbourne in 2025 with Little Britain legend Matt Lucas in a starring role — so you’d better believe it will be different to the shows you’ve seen before.

The Les Miserable The Arena Spectacular ensemble. Picture: Danny Kann

London theatre royalty, and Little Britain star Matt Lucas, will co-headline Les Miserables: The Arena Spectacular across a five week season Down Under in April-May 2025.

West End superstars Alfie Boe and Killian Donnelly will share the role of Jean Valjean, and Michael Ball and Bradley Jaden will alternate as Inspector Javert.

Lucas will join the show in Australia to play the comedic villain Thenardier, and local legend Marina Prior has been cast to play Thenardier’s wicked wife.

“I love playing dastardly characters,” Lucas told the Herald Sun.

“There is something liberating about it, because I’m quite timid and jittery in real life, and usually bewildered by how the world works. But when I’m on stage or screen playing a confident character, it taps into a side of my personality that rarely comes out.”

The show promises to be unlike any Les Mis before.

Les Miserables will open at ICC Arena, Sydney, on April 30, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on May 14, then Brisbane Entertainment Centre on May 25.

Lucas said he is looking forward to finding the funny with Prior

“I’m excited to meet and work with Marina, and learn from her, too,” he said.

“To some extent we have to direct ourselves, once the show is up and running, because we’ll be constantly searching for laughs.”

James D. Gish as Enjolras. Picture: Danny Kann

Boe said the arena version of Les Miserables makes the beloved musical more epic.

“I think, for the audience, the story becomes clearer; the words, the lyrics, the melodies, the emotion.”

Michael Coppel, chairman of Live Nation Australasia, which is co-producing the show with British theatre boss Sir Cameron Mackintosh, said: “These shows are a once in a lifetime opportunity for Australian audiences to see the peak of English theatre.”

The mega-show travels with 65 cast, including a 28-piece orchestra, which expands to 120 people, including production crew and local actors, in each city.

“If you’ve seen Les Miserables before, I guarantee you’ve never seen it like this,” co-producer Louise Withers said.

“We’re creating history in Australia with this show.”

Based on the Victor Hugo novel, with music and lyrics by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, Les Miserables follows several characters through early-to-mid-19th century France as they seek redemption for their sins and an escape from poverty.

Ticket information and waitlist: lesmisarenatour.com.au