By Reina Factor

Monday through Thursday, 42 students gather in the choral room or Rugby stage with scripts ready, anticipating their first entrance.  As the music begins to play, a choir of voices rings out, and another rehearsal for the fall musical “Les Misérables” begins.

In addition to rehearsals during the week, the cast also meets on Sundays.

Rehearsals in Rugby began this week, and technical rehearsals will begin at the end of October in preparation for four performances on Nov. 9, 10 and 11.

“‘Les Misérables’ is an extremely popular show and a favorite of many of our students and our audience base,” Director of the Theater Program Christopher Moore said. “It is also a large show with many parts and great opportunities for our talented student actors, singers and musicians. It is a challenging show to produce and we the department as well as the students are always looking to challenge ourselves.”

The musical chronicles the lives of French citizens during the 19th century, primarily the life of ex-convict Jean Valjean, played by Julian Hicks ’08. 

The play has very few speaking lines, therefore there is a large amount of music for the cast members to learn. 

“‘Les Misérables’ is an entirely musical play, so we have been spending all of our time learning music,” Laura Barati ’08 who plays Madame Thenardier said. 

“I like that it is all singing because I am more of a singer than an actress, so it is actually easier for me than it would have been to memorize speaking lines,” Lucy Singleton ’08 said.

Two middle school students are also part of the cast.  Matthew Goldhaber ’11 was cast as Gavroche, and Bella Hicks ’12 will play Young Cosette.

Performing arts teachers Michele Spears and Ted Walch are co-directing the musical with accompanist Mark Hilt as the musical director. Set designer  Alex Kolmanovsky created the set.

“He has come up with a brilliant set that will be original and not one simply copied from other productions of ‘Les Misérables,’” Moore said.  “The set design along with our lighting and sound design shepherded by performing arts teacher Adam Howarth will be truly exciting and help express the myriad of stories this musical tells.”

 Many students are involved in other aspects of the production.  Annie McGrath ’08 is the stage manager and Rebecca Title ’08 and Arielle Zakowski ’08 are the assistant directors.