During 1995 he played the 'liebeslieder' in
Stephen Sondheim's
A Little Night Music at the National Theatre along with
Judi Dench,
Patricia Hodge, Joanna Riding and
Siân Phillips, and in
The Ladies Paradise at the RNT Studio. In 1998, he became the youngest person ever to play the role of Jean Valjean full-time when he took over in the London production at the age of 26. He had previously understudied the role, and had also performed the roles of the Factory Foreman, Feuilly,
Grantaire and
Enjolras. Owen-Jones also appeared in the choir of the 10th Anniversary Concert at the
Royal Albert Hall in 1995. In 2000, he was part of that year's season at the
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. He played roles in
The Pirates of Penzance and
Much Ado About Nothing. In 2001, he was chosen to succeed Scott Davies in the title role in
The Phantom of the Opera. He left the role on 26 February 2005, after three and a half years and nearly 1,400 performances, making him the longest running London Phantom. His last performance in this run was with
Rachel Barrell. In 2015 he agreed to play the Phantom again for a limited period of time – 7 September 2015 until Saturday 30 January 2016. His other theatre work includes Antipholus in
The Boys from Syracuse and Lorenzo in
The Merchant of Venice at Harrogate Theatre, Herr Zeller in
The Sound of Music, Cléante in
The Hypochondriac, Valère in
Le Médecin Volant at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and
Uprooted at the Tricycle Theatre, and he performed in a private concert version in London of the musical
Tomorrow Morning by
Laurence Mark Wythe. Owen-Jones reprised the role of Jean Valjean in
Les Misérables at the
Queen's Theatre in London, beginning 27 June 2005. He took a month off in May 2006, during which time he played the role of Gaylord Ravenal in
Show Boat, the first fully staged musical performed at the
Royal Albert Hall, which played for a limited season between 10 and 25 June 2006. He then returned to
Misérables in the West End until his contract expired on 6 October 2007. After finishing his London contract, Owen-Jones went to the US to perform the role of Valjean on
Broadway, trading locales with
Drew Sarich, who was playing the role of Valjean in the American production. Owen-Jones began performances on 23 October 2007 and returned in January 2008 when the show finished its Broadway run. Owen-Jones most recently played Valjean on the 25th Anniversary International Touring production of
Les Misérables, which opened 12 December 2009 in
Cardiff, and ended 2 October 2010 at the Barbican Theatre in London, where the show first played. He performed the role of the Phantom in London once again, as of 1 November 2010 and continued his run until 10 December 2011. His first performance back was with
Sofia Escobar. From March 2012, Owen-Jones played the title role in the show's 25th Anniversary UK tour opposite
Katie Hall. He left the tour that September and was replaced by
Earl Carpenter. On 16 December 2010, Owen-Jones appeared in the
Royal Variety Performance at the
London Palladium as part of the 'Valjean Quartet' alongside
Alfie Boe,
Colm Wilkinson and
Simon Bowman (Each of whom have previously played the role of Jean Valjean in various productions of
Les Misérables). Together they sang "Bring Him Home" just as they had performed at the 25th Anniversary Performance of
Les Misérables at the O2 Arena. Earlier that week, the recording of the song from the O2 Arena concert had been released as a UK Single. As part of the 25th anniversary of
The Phantom of the Opera, Owen-Jones performed the title song at
The Royal Variety Performance – held in
The Lowry,
Manchester – on Monday 5 December 2011. Performing alongside
Nicole Scherzinger, Owen-Jones was joined by three other former Phantoms (
Simon Bowman,
Earl Carpenter and
Ramin Karimloo). The performance was aired on
ITV1 on Wednesday 14 December 2011. He also performed it, along with
The Music of the Night, with Karimloo,
Colm Wilkinson,
Peter Jöback and
Anthony Warlow, at the 25th anniversary production
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2011. He also sang at the 25th anniversary gala of New York's production of the show with Ramin Karimloo, Hugh Panaro, and Peter Joback, the last of whom went on to reprise the role on Broadway for a short time. Owen-Jones also toured the UK with the Earl Carpenter production of The Three Phantoms, the highlight of which is a trio performance of 'Music of the Night'. In January 2014, he went to New York to record the concept album for a new Broadway show An American Victory with Hugh Panaro, Ruthie Henshall, Alexander Gemignani, and many other Broadway stars. The musical will be directed by Larry Blank. In 2015 from October to January 2016 he returned to Phantom of the Opera. Shortly after, Owen-Jones returned to Broadway to reprise the role of Valjean in the production's closing cast. On his return from Broadway, Owen-Jones appeared in a concert version of
The Hired Man at Cadogan Hall. ==Television==