{"id":206011,"date":"2026-04-22T13:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206011\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:55:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:55:22","slug":"samantha-barks-will-be-fantine-in-london-les-miserables-prior-to-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206011\/","title":{"rendered":"Samantha Barks Will Be Fantine in London Les Mis\u00e9rables Prior to NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samantha Barks<\/a>, who played\u00a0\u00c9ponine in the film adaptation and West End production\u00a0of Les Mis\u00e9rables, will return\u00a0to the London staging\u00a0of Alain Boublil<\/a> and Claude-Michel Sch\u00f6nberg<\/a> hit musical at the Sondheim Theatre\u00a0prior to joining the cast of the show’s Arena World Tour.<\/p>\n

Barks\u2014who has also had\u00a0leading roles in Pretty Woman on Broadway, Frozen in London, and\u00a0the world premiere of The Greatest Showman\u2014will play eight performances as\u00a0Fantine May 18\u201323 at the Sondheim before joining the international tour\u00a0at Birmingham Utilita Arena, London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall, and New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Alfie Boe, Killian Donnelly, Samantha Barks, More Will Lead Les Mis\u00e9rables at Radio City Music Hall<\/a><\/p>\n

First discovered by Les\u00a0Mis\u00e9rables producer\u00a0Cameron Mackintosh<\/a> in the I\u2019d Do Anything TV search to play Nancy in his West End production of Oliver!, Barks\u00a0says in a statement, \u201cReturning to Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a> in
\n the West End feels like a true full-circle moment. Sixteen years ago, I
\n first stepped into \u00c9ponine\u2019s shoes, with so much still to learn. Now, I
\n return with a deeper understanding of the story and its heart, to take
\non Fantine\u2014I always wanted to return one day as Fantine, and it feels even more meaningful in this chapter of my life as a mother. This
\n show has shaped so much of my journey, both on stage and on screen, and
\n I\u2019m incredibly grateful to revisit it with fresh perspective. London is where it all began for me, and to be back here telling this story again is incredibly special for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barks will join a\u00a0West End cast that\u00a0includes\u00a0Ian McIntosh as Jean Valjean, Sam Oladeinde as Javert, Harry Hepple as Th\u00e9nardier, Lizzie Bea as Madame Th\u00e9nardier, Thiago Phillip Felizardo as Marius,\u00a0Izzi Levine as Cosette, Jess Folley as \u00c9ponine, and Joe Griffiths-Brown as Enjolras. Martha Kirby will return as Fantine May 25.<\/p>\n

The company is completed by Hollie
\n Aires, Hazel Baldwin, Ella May Carter, Nicholas Carter, Matthew Dale,
\nIrfan Damani, Lily De-La-Haye, Lila Falce-Bass, Sophie-May Feek, Jessica
\n Johns-Parsons, Se\u00e1n Keany, Chris Kiely, Sam Kipling, Mia Lamb, Sarah
\nLark, Ollie Llewelyn-Williams, Matthew McConnell, Aaron-Jade Morgan,
\nAdam Pearce, William Pennington, Jordan Simon Pollard, Lewis Renninson,
\nDanielle Rose, Georgia Tapp, Noah Thallon, Imaan Victoria, Danny Whelan,\u00a0and Ollie Wray.<\/p>\n

This production officially opened January 16, 2020<\/a>, following previews that began December 18, 2019.<\/p>\n

Les Mis\u00e9rables is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch\u00f6nberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo<\/a>. It has music by
\nSch\u00f6nberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer<\/a>, original French text by
\nBoublil and Jean-Marc Natel, additional material by James Fenton<\/a>, and an
\n adaptation by Trevor Nunn<\/a> and John Caird<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Brand-New Trailer for West End’s Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a><\/p>\n

Directed by James Powell<\/a> and Laurence Connor<\/a>, the Cameron Mackintosh
\nproduction also features orchestrations by Stephen Metcalfe<\/a>, Christopher
\n Jahnke, and Stephen Brooker<\/a> with original orchestrations by John
\nCameron, designs by Matt Kinley<\/a> (inspired by the paintings of Victor
\nHugo), costumes by Andreane Neofitou<\/a> and Christine Rowland<\/a>, lighting by
\nPaule Constable<\/a>, sound by Mick Potter<\/a>, musical staging by Michael
\nAshcroft and Geoffrey Garratt<\/a>, and music supervision by Stephen Brooker
\nand Alfonso Casado Trigo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Les Mis\u00e9rables has
\n been seen by over 150 million people worldwide in 55 countries, 452
\ncities, and has been translated into 22 languages. It has won over
\n270 major awards around the world, among which five Olivier Awards
\n(including a
\n special recognition award in April 2025), eight Tony Awards and five
\nHelpmann
\nAwards, and the movie won three Oscars.<\/p>\n

The international hit musical last played Broadway in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samantha Barks, who played\u00a0\u00c9ponine in the film adaptation and West End production\u00a0of Les Mis\u00e9rables, will return\u00a0to the London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-206011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}