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
Bellissima Opera Bellissima Opera Bellissima Opera is a non-profit opera company based in Oak Park, Illinois. It was founded in 2006 by Christine Steyer, Paul Geiger and Franco Martorana. Founded in 2006 as Bellissima Opera Productions, the organization changed to Bellissima Opera LLC in 2009 and was incorporated as the non-profit Bellissima Opera in 2010. Over that time the company has given dozens of concerts and produced and performed in abridged versions of "La Traviata" and "Madame Butterfly". In 2008 the company, in partnership with Sounds True, recorded a CD of sacred music entitled Caroline Myss' "Voices of the Sacred". In 2014,