Beginning with the events of Victor Hugo's personal life, this book conveys the excitement surrounding the conception of the musical. It brings together interviews with casts, directors, producers as well as set and costume designs and the complete libretto. The author who offers an historically informed and challenging thesis of this musical venture also wrote The Last Emperor for which he won the Gutenberg Prize in France and Hirohito: Behind the Myth. Edward Behr is a documentary film-maker and editor of Newsweek.