Musical theatre responsible for "Les Misérables", which became the longest-running international musical hit in history. The team, in collaboration with Richard Maltby Jr., continued to produce hits, including "Miss Saigon", inspired by the Puccini opera "Madama Butterfly". The British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber saw similar success with "Evita", based on the life of Argentina's Eva Perón; "Cats", derived from the poems of T. S. Eliot (both of which musicals originally starred Elaine Paige); "Starlight Express", performed on roller skates; "The Phantom of the Opera", derived from the Gaston Leroux novel, "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra"; and "Sunset Boulevard" (from the classic film of
The Icelandic Opera the new director of the company in April 2015. The company's first performance was Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" in March 1979. Since then, it has performed classics by Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Verdi, Puccini and others. For the first 30 years of its existence, the organization performed in the cinema on Ingólfsstræti in downtown Reykjavík. The Icelandic Opera The Icelandic Opera ("Íslenska óperan") is an opera company based in Reykjavík that produces operas and concerts. Its productions emphasize Icelandic artists, but regularly involve foreign artists as well. The company performs between October and May every year at the Harpa concert hall, their home