The answer: Wait until the fall. The "third national company," as it has been known since 1988, isn't going away — just on vacation. The staging will be on hiatus for only three months, and will reconstitute in September, continuing as an Equity company, a spokesperson told Playbill On-Line.

The troupe will play large and small markets, including repeat venues where fans have made the show an annual or biennial tradition.

A spokesperson told Playbill On-Line the troupe will still be referred to as the third national despite the fact that there aren't other Cameron Mackintosh-produced versions of the musical playing the U.S. This layoff is the first in the 15-year history of this touring company, which launched November 1988.

Les Miz returns to the road Sept. 9, for an engagement at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, to Sept. 21. Bookings continue to July 2004.

The final stop before the summer break is the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, June 4-15. For information about the engagement, call (801) 355-ARTS or (800) 259 5840. For the record, the current national tour company includes Ivan Rutherford (as Valjean), Stephen Tewksbury (Javert), Tonya Dixon (Fantine), Nicole Riding (Eponine), Dallyn Vail Bayles (Enjolras), Scott Hunt (Marius), Amanda Huddleston (Cosette), Michael Hayward-Jones (Thénardier), Jodi Capeless (Madame Thénardier), Skylar Harden, Erika Kiyomi Johnson (Young Cosette/Young Eponine), Justen Steinagle, Erik Tolman Ward (Gavroche), Alex Lubliner (Montparnasse), Daniel Bogart (Babet), David Michael Felty (Brujon), Stephen Colella (Claquesous), Brian Neal Clark (Combeferre), John-Andrew Clark (Feuilly), Steve Gannon (Courfeyrac), Matthew Teague Miller (Joly), Paul Truckey (Grantaire), Michael St. John (Lesgles), Jerry Jay Cranford (Jean Prouvaire), Linda Pierson Huff (Factory Girl), with Anne Buelteman, Leslie Henstock, Linda Pierson Huff, Ashley Jarrett, Melina Marie Kalomas, Stella Lee, Melissa Lyons, Victoria Oscar and swings Matt Clemens, Kip Driver, Lisa Morris, Shahara Ray.