Les Miserables is WJ S*T*A*G*E’s spring production, which opens on April 20 and will show on April 21, 27 and 28. The play follows the life of Jean Valjean, who has recently been released from prison, and is on a quest to find God. Valjean makes a promise to a dying character that he will look after her daughter, Cosette. The play follows the characters’ lives; Cosette becomes a woman and Valjean becomes a dying man. Getting a closer look at some of the main characters, here is a Q&A with seniors Bea Owens (BO), Eddie Simon (ES), Sam Cummins (SC) and junior Felice Amsellem (FA).
What was the audition process like?
BO: We waited the whole weekend [for the cast list], because it was a three-day weekend. We got back and they needed to do a second set of callbacks for Cosette and Marius. So it was only four girls and four boys that got called back, so everyone else had to wait until Friday. So it was the most nerve-racking process.
FA: The guys were pretty clear-cut but the girls seemed to have more [of a] grey area.
SC: For me auditions were relaxed; I kind of get into my zone. I know for some people auditions are a very stressful, nerve-wracking experience but for me it was kind of just chill.
Who is your character and what is your opinion about them?
FA: My character is Cosette and she is the love interest of the show. I think that she is a sweet character and she’s a lot of fun.
ES: My character is Jean Valjean. The story follows his life and his trials to find God. [He is] somewhat Cosette’s father. What I love about the character it’s an unbelievable role to play. It is also going to be incredibly difficult because you just see he goes from these bass notes to these huge tenor notes and he does it in about five seconds so it’s incredibly vocally demanding, so if I don’t learn to sing correctly, I’m going to be done by the first song. But it’s going to be a lot of fun.
BO: My character is Eponine and she is the unloved character in this show. She’s definitely one of the lower class, one of those most-featured poor characters. She really just is continuously trying to find love and hope, especially because she’s hopelessly in love with Marius, who ends up falling in love with Cosette. She’s just that typical girl that all of the guys hang out with but never really see as anything more than that. I love the part, and I’m really excited. It’s going to be interesting to play one of the characters who really just struggles to find any sort of relationship the entire time.
SC: My character is Javert and he has a very strong set of morals. He is a very grounded person but he just is misguided in the way that he has such a concrete definition of what is it right and what is wrong. He is not a very tolerant person.
What was your reaction when you found out your parts?
ES: I was ecstatic. You can never truly predict roles. Crazy things happen. Obviously that was the role that I wanted to play and I was just going to wait and see when the cast list came out. It’s a role that I think every male Broadway performer wants to play and is dying to play at some point in their life. I get to play it in high school, so it’s unbelievable.
FA: I was extremely happy. . . I am a very high soprano, and to be able to play the character who sings the highest notes is so cool. Also, I mean, she is so pretty. First of all, I get to wear a wedding dress which makes me happy. It’s a really exciting role to be able to play. I get to wear a wedding dress, I get to get married, and you know I love it! It’s my dream.
BO: For me, I know I probably almost had a nervous breakdown waiting for the cast list to go up on Friday. Just because it is my senior year and I have never regretted any part that I had ever played in a production, but I was like, “It’s the last show! Let’s see if I can get a lead [rather than] just being a part of the show.” I remember being on my way to the airport for a college audition and I was just checking it and the cast list went up and it was just unbelievable. . . . I was jumping up and down and was screaming and it was just amazing. They are very well-known roles. So to have a chance to be able to play this part is amazing.
SC: I don’t want to say that I didn’t feel surprised, [but] I didn’t feel surprised. It was a feeling of relief because I felt that if I didn’t get that part, for my vocal range, [there was not another suitable part]. So it was a feeling of relief and excitement because it is one of my favorite parts of musical theater.
How do you connect with your characters?
ES: It’s a little tough for me because I’m supposed to be playing a 50 year-old guy. He goes from being 40 to 60 [years old] throughout the show. It’s definitely a character that I just don’t look like or understand right off the bat, but I that’s the fun in theatre, and that’s the fun of high school theater, that you very rarely are going to be playing someone your own age.
BO: I think the female characters are easier to connect with. I think every girl understands liking someone who just doesn’t like you back. Definitely getting to that level of desperation where [SPOILER] she does end up basically dying for him is going to be different, because I don’t think any of us have really been put in situations [that] are that drastic.
FA: Being the girl who does get the guy, everyone’s been put in that situation too. No, but I mean it’s fun to be a character who really doesn’t have those problems who really gets to be like, “Cool, I get to be in love and it’s fun and nice and sweet and I like it.”
What can you tell me about the plot?
ES: What basically happens is you start with this story about Jean Valjean and then you break off into all of these side stories and you’ve got some typical stuff. Marius and Cosette is the very typical lover story, whereas Valjean’s situation is kind of unique. What it does is, you do have that main story and that main character, and [then] it just breaks off into these back stories of all of these different people and every character kind of carries their own theme in the music . . . so it is hard to sum up the plot, but it’s really one time line of Valjean’s life with all of these little side stories.
What are your expectations for the show?
ES: It’s going to be the best show I’ve ever been in at WJ. I actually didn’t know that much about the show when I first heard we were doing it. [But] after hearing it I mean it’s just one of those shows where you can listen to the entire CD in your car and never skip a song. So I expect that it will hopefully sell out the theatre and people should really regret not seeing it.
FA: I think a lot of people will enjoy the show. One of our expectations is being able to put on a show that not a single soul in that audience will go out saying, “That was great, but…” We don’t want them to have any ‘buts.’ We want them to come out saying that entire show was phenomenal, and especially people who have seen it on Broadway and at the Kennedy center and say that was up to par if not better.
BO: I went home and I was listening to all the music. It’s one of those things where I have chills every time I listen to the entire soundtrack. People are going to have those expectations; they’re going to want to walk out with chills. I think even the very first rehearsal we had just the amount of sound and the quality of the sound that came out of our entire cast was really shocking. I don’t think any of us were expecting it to sound that good the first day. So I think it’s going to be unbelievable and I can’t imagine a better way to go out of my senior year.
SC: I think it is going to be a great show because we have a really strong cast of singers. I think that is a strong point about WJ S*T*A*G*E, that we always have a really good ensemble. We have a good base of singers. Since the whole show is singing, it is going to be phenomenal.
How do you feel about S*T*A*G*E?
FA: S*T*A*G*E is my life. It’s literally when one show ends, [in] those awkward few weeks [before the next show] I don’t really know what to do with myself because I don’t have rehearsal every day. It’s almost like you’re most stressed out when you’re not in a show. There is something about being in a show where it’s like home. You’re surrounded with all of your friends and you keep yourself busy, but you have a goal. That final show is the most redeeming feeling.
ES: There is the gossip and there is the crying when the cast list comes out, but you know that’s [a given in] any theatre group. The reason I don’t want to think about this being my last show is because [in S*T*A*G*E], you kind of get separated from the rest of the school and the rest of the world when you really get involved in [the show]. You start to think, “What does anybody do but S*T*A*G*E? How do these other people live their lives?!” Especially as you get closer to the show and you’re in hell week and you’re there every day, your teachers kind of ask you why you’re sleeping [in class], and you’re like, “Duh I’m in the musical, how do you not know that?”
BO: It’s a family and it’s also addictive. Those weeks in-between, it feels like you’re going through withdrawal. You get home and you’re like, “What am I going to do with my time?” You just sit around and there is nothing to do. But yeah, there are all the hardships [with] the cast list [when] people are disappointed and everything.
SC: Just the feeling of community [and] how we are all there for each other, and how there is really no judgment there. You can really be yourself and no one is going to ask questions.
ES: We are spending hours and hours with the same people, so we are going to yell at each other. We are tired, and we are hungry and we barely slept over the weekend and we have to go home to homework so you’re going to [be frustrated], but we have a common goal. You know when you get on stage opening night it’s all worth it.
How do you feel, now that this is your last WJ production?
BO: I’m absolutely thrilled. I think this is my sixth show and I have loved every show that I have done. I have gotten to play tons of ensemble roles and take on understudy parts and . . . [I’m just excited about] the fact that I have the opportunity to have one of the leads in the show. Just the opportunity to be a [lead] part of the show as my final show is unbelievable. I‘m so excited and it’s just going to be amazing.
SC: Well, on one hand I am excited because it is my first lead role in a show. On the other hand this is my last show and I will not be able to do it anymore. [I am also looking forward to] next year [when] I will be off at college doing my own thing, singing and singing and singing.
ES: I’m waiting to think about that until closing night, but I mean [with] seven shows, the stage has been pretty much my life for three and a half years. The thought of not having S*T*A*G*E is kind of unrealistic right now and I’m going to focus on making Les Mis the best show I’ve ever taken part in. We will get to the end of S*T*A*G*E when we get there.
