Miss+Coleman's+adventures+in+miserables

=Week 4=

Well on we go with the rigours of Les Mis. It is certainly going to be a lot of work and a lot of fun which is saying something given the morbid plot of this tale and its non-too happy conclusion. This week I am afeared I am going to be typecast as I got myself an on-stage boyfriend for the pub scene. I also got to see some more of my fabulous costumes and for once I have the pick of the Wedding outfits ( think pink and poofy). I also had to tackle my solo lines this week which come out of nowhere and start impossibly high! yikes Here are some more pics and a short clip of ongoing rehearsals. Enjoy

One of the actors does his best ghost impression!


=Week 2= Okay so it has taken me a few weeks to get cracking on this whole blogging idea, but in my defense my camera wasn't functioning and I thought you would definately want snaps. So this week we launched into blocking out the scenes. Blocking is the bit where the director figures out where the cast is going to move to during the song and the actions/acting of the piece. As there is no actual dialogue in Les Mis this is especially important for us and it is nice to finally get up and move the music. Despite this being the first time blocking scenes and a good number of us still getting tangled up by the words and music we are singing, you can really see the characters and plot starting to take shape and already the cast is developing a real sense of the piece. Given that we still have a good few months to go this is very encouraging and it is great to see everyone working to support the lead players with their own (no less important) performances. Here are some snaps from the last weeks rehearsal. = = = = = = == =Miss Coleman makes notes from the Director= = = = = = = = = =The men rehearse the movements for the opening Prologue=



=Yes! We also have to open those mouths and do some "Serious Singing"=

= = = = = = =Hello all,=

This year I am part of the company of Papakura Theatre's Les Miserable to be performed in May 2008! We had our first rehearsal yesterday and I thought it might be interesting to share the experience of being part of a show with you, so that you can get some idea of what to expect when you too take to the stage in a fantastic muscial production at AO. Throughout the next few months I will update this page with diary notes about rehearsal and photos of the process. I hope you will enjoy my meanderings and hopefull some of you will even come along and see me take to the stage! Ta Miss Coleman A few details about the show itself

Les Misérables



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Les Misérables colloquially known as **//Les Mis//**, is a [|__musical__] composed in 1980 by French composer [|__Claude-Michel Schönberg__] on a [|__libretto__] by [|__Alain Boublil__]. [|__Through-sung__], it is perhaps the most famous of all [|__French__] [|__musicals__] and one of the most performed musicals worldwide. On [|__October 8__], [|__2006__], the show celebrated its 21st anniversary and became the longest-running [|__West End__] musical in history and is still running (though it has changed venues).__[1]__ The musical is based on the novel [|//__Les Misérables__//] by [|__Victor Hugo__]. Its [|__Tony award__]-winning score includes the songs "I Dreamed a Dream," "Do You Hear the People Sing?", "One Day More," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "A Little Fall of Rain," "Master of the House", and "On My Own."

Les Misérables tells the stories of multiple characters, including: a paroled convict named [|__Jean Valjean__] who, failing attempts to find work as an honest man with his yellow ticket of leave, breaks his parole and conceals his identity in order to live his life again; the police inspector [|__Javert__], who becomes obsessed with finding Valjean; [|__Fantine__], the [|__single mother__] of [|__Cosette__], who is forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter; [|__Marius__], a French student who falls in love with Valjean's adopted daughter Cosette; [|__Éponine__], the young daughter of the Thénardiers who is hopelessly in love with Marius; the [|__Thénardiers__], who own an inn and exploit their customers; and [|__Enjolras__] and the other students, who are working toward freeing the oppressed lower class of France.

Background The musical opened in September 1980 at the //Palais des Sports// in [|__Paris__]. In [|__1982__], British producer [|__Cameron Mackintosh__] began work on an [|__English language__] version, with lyrics by [|__Herbert Kretzmer__]. The first production in English, produced by Mackintosh and adapted and directed by [|__Trevor Nunn__] and [|__John Caird__] opened on [|__October 8__], [|__1985__], in the [|__Barbican Arts Centre__] in [|__London__] before moving first to the Palace Theatre and later to the [|__Queen's Theatre__], where it is still playing. The [|__Broadway__] production opened on [|__March 12__], [|__1987__] and was nominated for twelve [|__Tony Awards__], winning eight, including Best Musical and Best [|__Original Score__], and ran until 2003. It is still the third longest-running Broadway show in history.__[2]__ A fully re-orchestrated Broadway revival opened on [|__November 9__], [|__2006__] at the Broadhurst Theatre.

Les Mis placed first in a [|__BBC Radio 2__] listener [|__poll__] of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals" in June 2005, receiving more than 40% of the votes cast.__[3]__ In 1982, about six months after he had opened [|//__Cats__//] in London, producer [|__Cameron Mackintosh__] was given a recording of the original French show by director [|__Peter Ferago__]. He had been greatly impressed by the album and asked Mackintosh if he would be interested in producing an English version of the show. Mackintosh was doubtful at first, but eventually decided to produce it. Journalist and poet [|__James Fenton__] was initially chosen to write English lyrics, but was eventually replaced by [|__Herbert Kretzmer__], who expanded and reworked the original French ones. His work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refuses to use. A third of the English lyrics were a //rough// translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of brand new material, such as the Prologue. Additional music was written to go with the brand new material. [|__Trevor Nunn__] and [|__John Caird__] were hired to direct and co-direct the show respectively, and the [|__Royal Shakespeare Company__] were chosen to put on the show, with some of their members, such as [|__Roger Allam__] and [|__Alun Armstrong__], being cast members. The show opened in London in October 1985, marking the opening of the international career of a show that would become a worldwide success and was voted one of the most popular musicals of all time.

Les Misérables was a part of the major [|__European__] influence on [|__Broadway__] in the 80's along with [|//__Cats__//], [|//__The Phantom of the Opera__//], and [|//__Miss Saigon__//]. Well-known songs from the musical include "Look Down," "I Dreamed a Dream," "Master of the House," "Do You Hear the People Sing?”, "On My Own," "A Little Fall of Rain," "Bring Him Home," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "Stars," "A Heart Full of Love," "At the End of the Day," "Castle On A Cloud," "Red and Black," and "One Day More". The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette, usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait with the French national flag superimposed. The picture is based on the illustration by [|__Émile Bayard__] that appeared in the original edition of the novel in 1862.

Synopsis Act I

Les Misérables begins at a prison in [|__Digne__], [|__France__] in 1815, where the imprisoned men are forced to do labour ("Overture/Work Song"). After nineteen years of imprisonment (five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and the rest for trying to escape) Jean Valjean, Prisoner 24601, is released on [|__parole__] by the antagonist policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which condemns him as an outcast as he tries to start anew ("On Parole"). He then meets the Bishop of Digne, who offers food and shelter. Nevertheless, Valjean repays the bishop by stealing some silver, and is soon quickly caught by the police. However the bishop lies to save Valjean, then gives him two silver candlesticks and asks him to start a new, honest life ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Humbled by the bishop's mercy and kindness, Valjean decides to follow the bishop's advice and breaks his parole as he tears apart his yellow ticket-of-leave ("What Have I Done?"). Eight years later, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a factory owner and mayor of [|__Montreuil-sur-Mer__]. One of his workers, Fantine, gets into a fight after the other workers discover that she is sending money to her secret [|__illegitimate child__] who is living with an innkeeper and his wife ("At the End of the Day"). "The Mayor" initially breaks up the conflict, but asks his factory foreman to resolve it. When asked, the other women demand Fantine's [|__dismissal__]. Because she had previously rejected his advances, the foreman agrees and throws Fantine out. Fantine sings about her broken dreams and about the father of her daughter who left them alone ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket, and her hair, before becoming a [|__prostitute__] ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights with a prospective customer, she is arrested by Javert ("Fantine's Arrest"). "The Mayor" soon arrives, learns how Fantine was fired from his factory, and orders Javert to take her to a hospital instead. "The Mayor" then rescues a local man (Fauchelevant) who is pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"). This reminds Javert of the abnormal strength of Jean Valjean, who he has been tracking for years for breaking parole. However, Javert assures "The Mayor" that Valjean has just been recently arrested and will be in court later in the day. Unable to see an innocent man go to prison, Valjean confesses to the court that he is the real Prisoner 24601, showing the convict's brand on his chest as a proof ("Who Am I?"). Before returning to prison, Valjean visits the dying Fantine and promises to find and look after her daughter Cosette ("Come to Me"/"Fantine's Death"). When Javert arrives to arrest him, Valjean asks three more days to fetch Cosette, but Javert refuses to believe his honest intentions ("The Confrontation"). Valjean eventually knocks Javert out and escapes. The scene then shifts to an inn outside Montreuil run by the Thénardiers, where Cosette has been living. The Thénardiers have been abusing the little girl while indulging their own daughter Éponine. Cosette dreams of a better life ("Castle on a Cloud") before Madame Thénardier sends her to fetch water in the dark from a well in the woods. The inn fills up for the evening, where the Thénardiers use several methods to cheat their customers ("Master of the House"). Valjean finds Cosette fetching water and pays the Thénardiers to let him take Cosette away ("The Bargain"/"The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery"). Nine years pass, and [|__Paris__] is in an uproar because popular leader [|__General Lamarque__], the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor, is ill and may die soon. The young street urchin Gavroche mingles with the whores and beggars on the street, while students Marius and Enjolras discuss the likely demise of the general ("Look Down"). A street gang led by the Thénardiers prepares to ambush Valjean, whom Thénardier recognises as the man who took Cosette ("The Robbery"). As they set up, Éponine sees Marius, whom she is secretly in love with, and warns him to stay away. As Marius tries to ask Éponine about what is going on, he accidentally bumps into Cosette and immediately falls in love with her. The Thénardiers attempt to rob Valjean and Cosette, who are instead rescued by Javert, who does not recognize Valjean until after he makes his escape ("Javert's Intervention"). Javert gazes at the night sky, comparing his hunt of Valjean and justice to the order of the stars ("Stars"). Gavroche overhears Javert and reasserts that he is the one who "runs this town." Meanwhile, Éponine reluctantly agrees to help Marius find Cosette, even though he does not know her name yet ("Éponine's Errand"). The scene shifts to political meeting in a small café where a group of idealistic students led by Enjolras gather to prepare for a revolution they are sure will erupt after the death of General Lamarque ("The ABC Cafe - Red and Black"). Marius arrives late, filled with thoughts of for Cosette, a girl whose name he does not know yet. When Gavroche brings the news of the General's death, the students march out into the streets to whip up popular support ("Do You Hear the People Sing?") Cosette is also consumed by thoughts of Marius, and Valjean realises that his daughter has grown up but refuses to tell her about his past or her mother. ("Rue Plumet - In My Life"). In spite of her own feelings, Éponine leads Marius to Cosette ("A Heart Full of Love"), and then prevents her father's gang from robbing Valjean's house ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). Valjean, convinced it was Javert who was lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country ("My God, Cosette!"). On the eve of the revolution, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair of ever meeting again; Éponine mourns the loss of Marius; Marius decides to join the other students as they prepare for the upcoming conflict; Javert plans to spy on the students and learn their secrets; and the Thénardiers look forward to steal from the dead bodies during the battle to come ("One Day More").

Act II As the students prepare to build a barricade ("Upon These Stones - Building the Barricade"), Javert, disguised as one of the rebels, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Meanwhile, Marius notices that Éponine has joined the revolutionaries, and then sends her with a letter to Cosette. Valjean intercepts the letter. Éponine decides, despite what he has said to her, to rejoin Marius at the barricade ("On My Own"). The students build their barricade ("Upon These Stones - At the Barricade") and then defy an army warning to surrender or die. Javert comes back and lies to the students about the government's plans to attack ("Javert's Arrival"). Gavroche then exposes Javert as a spy ("Little People"). Éponine is shot when she returns to the barricades and dies in Marius's arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). Valjean also arrives at the barricades in search of Marius as the first battle erupts, and saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper ("The First Attack"). As a reward, he asks to be the one to kill Javert, but instead releases him and even gives him his address. The students settle down for a night ("Drink With Me"), while Valjean prays to God to save Marius from the onslaught that is to come ("Bring Him Home"). As dawn approaches, Enjolras realises that the people have abandoned them, and sends the women and fathers of children away from the barricades, but resolves that they should fight on ("Dawn of Anguish"). With ammunition running out during the second attack, Gavroche runs out to collect more, but is shot dead by the army ("The Second Attack/The Death of Gavroche"). The army gives one last warning to surrender, but the rebels refuse, and everyone is killed except Valjean and Marius ("The Final Battle"). Carrying a wounded Marius on his back, Valjean escapes through the sewers. Meanwhile, Thénardier is also in the sewers, stealing valuables off the dead bodies that have been dumped from the battle, laughing that he is doing a "service to the town" ("Dog Eat Dog"). Thénardier robs Marius as Valjean is resting, and then escapes when he sees Valjean getting up. When Valjean reaches the sewer's issue, he runs into Javert, who has been waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert to give him one more hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. After Valjean leaves, Javert realizes Valjean is not purely evil as he always thought. Unable to deal with losing his lifelong view of the world, he commits suicide by throwing himself in the [|__Seine__] ("Javert's Suicide"). Back on the streets, several women mourn the deaths of the young students ("Turning"). Marius also mourns for his friends ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved him from the barricades, Cosette comforts Marius by telling him that she will never go away ("Every Day") and they reaffirm their love ("A Heart Full of Love - Reprise"). Valjean then confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and tells him he must go away because his presence puts Cosette in danger ("Valjean's Confession"). Valjean makes Marius promise never to tell Cosette, and Marius makes only a half-hearted attempt to hold him back. Marius and Cosette are married ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers then crash wedding reception and tell Marius that Valjean is a murderer, saying they saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring he took from the corpse, Marius realizes that the "corpse" was he, and that Valjean saved his life that night. After Marius punches Thénardier and the newlyweds leave, the Thénardiers enjoy the party and celebrate their survival ("Beggars at the Feast"). Meanwhile, Valjean prepares for his death, having nothing left to live for. Just as the ghosts of Fantine and Éponine arrive to take him to heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in, just in time to bid farewell to Valjean and for Marius to thank him for saving his life ("Epilogue"). Valjean gives Cosette his confession to read just before he dies, and the ghosts of the dead guide him to paradise with a last reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ("Finale").