“Les Misérables” is perhaps one of the oldest and most epically sweeping stories in musical history. Based on the 19th Century novel by Victor Hugo, the story of a French ex-convict’s search for redemption covers decades and numerous locations throughout Paris and its outlying towns. First showing in France in 1980, the adaptation has been consistently popular for more than 30 years; and now it’s playing in Issaquah’s acclaimed Village Theatre.

“It’s one of the biggest shows we, as a theater, have ever tried,” director Steve Tomkins said. “We have a (14-piece) pit orchestra performing one of the greatest scores among musicals. In addition we have a revolving set… there are many different set locations in the show. There’s 40 scene changes in Act One alone, and 20 in Act Two. A character says a few lines and we’re somewhere else. They sing a song, and then we’re somewhere else again.”

Village Theatre’s production of “Les Misérables” opened Thursday. The theater will produce consecutive nine-week runs in Issaquah and Everett before the Broadway revival begins in March and the window on off-Broadway productions closes.

Tomkins has waited a long time for that window to open. In 1993, he directed stage actor Greg Jones as the titular character in “Jesus Christ Superstar.” He found the recent college graduate to be a talented and energetic performer, but it was three years later, when he watched Stone as Jean Valjean in a traveling production of “Les Mis” – Stone also played the role on Broadway – that he knew he wanted to repeat the casting in a local showing.

“‘Les Mis’ takes a special kind of performer to play Jean Valjean,” Tomkins said. “It’s a role that goes from a baritone to a screaming tenor, so you need a singer with a remarkable voice. And he just has an amazing stage presence.”

Obtaining the rights to a popular stage show can be tricky business. A production can have exclusive show rights when it debuts on Broadway – as will be the case when the latest revival begins in March – and a touring show will preclude productions by stationary theaters in the regions where it stops. Village Theatre could not have performed Les Mis in 2012, when a tour stopped in Seattle.

“We knew it probably would become available in 2013,” Tomkins said. “So we contacted the licensing agency and found out the rights would indeed be available.”

Planning has taken “at least a year,” he said. In addition to the set changes, virtually every actor outside the core cast plays multiple roles, adding up to more than 200 costume changes over three hours.

The core cast includes local performer Beth DeVries as Fantine, Eric Jensen as Inspector Javert, Victoria Ames Smith and Alexandra Zorn as Cosette and Nick DeSantis as Thenardier.