On Feb. 25, 1999 the tenor Colm Wilkinson returns to the role that put him on the map, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, in an exclusive engagement at the Point Theatre in Dublin. This will be his "farewell" performance in the role. Wilkinson, who was born in Dublin, played Valjean in the original Royal Shakespeare Company production of the Boublil-Schonberg musical at the Barbican Theatre in 1985 -- and went on to star in the subsequent Broadway production in 1987.

Aside from performing in the 10th anniversary concert version of Les Mis at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1995, Wilkinson has not played the role of Valjean since leaving the Broadway company. Prior to the Dublin engagement, he is scheduled to appear in the summer 1998 Les Mis revival in Toronto (which will begin performances July 15 and run for three months).

The show is scheduled to be performed in Dublin through May 1999, and rumor has it that ticket sales are already brisk.