There’s big news in the South Bay musical theatre world: South Bay Musical Theatre, (SBMT) previously known as Saratoga Drama Group, is about to gain a whole lot of new fans with its fall production of Les Misérables, the blockbuster musical.
SBMT’s 300-seat theater is a great venue for local productions of crowd-pleasing shows like Annie, Guys and Dolls and Chicago. But SBMT's Producer, Gary Daum, was determined to produce the full-length version of Les Misérables when he heard in 2012 that the show would be available to license in North America for a limited time, for performances starting in June 2013. It was a happy coincidence that 2013 happens to be the 50th anniversary of SBMT. What a way to celebrate!
Due to the unprecedented success of the first-class productions on Broadway, on tour and in over 40 countries around the world, the opportunity to license and produce Les Misérables has not previously been available to community theatre groups.
SBMT is the first community theater company in the South Bay to have an opportunity to perform this very popular show. Close to 300 actors showed up to audition for the show, which just may be a local record. 38 very lucky, extremely talented individuals were given parts to play.
Nicknamed ‘Les Mis’, this widely-loved musical was the fourth longest-running Broadway show in history and was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The show is based on French poet and playwright Victor Hugo’s 1500 page novel, considered to be one of the longest novels even written. Thankfully, the musical still remains a manageable 3 hours, including intermission.
Les Misérables, which recently made its way around the globe as a film, starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, is arguably one of the most well known musicals in the world. Set in France beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 student rebellion, Les Misérables takes us through the struggle between love and justice. With songs like “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Castle On A Cloud” and “One More Day,” this epic story highlights the survival of the human spirit. The music is haunting, beautiful, emotional, and the soundtrack is one of the most famous and most performed musical scores worldwide.
Led by award-winning director Jay Manley, vocal director Catherine Snider, musical director Dan Singletary and choreographer Dottie Lester-White and Gary Stanford, the show promises to be a sell-out.
Jay Manley was musical director of Foothill Music Theatre for twenty-five years before retiring, but retirement has been anything but time in an easy chair. Manley is a freelance director who spent eight years guest directing at Foothill College and other local theatres. His most recent accolade has been as the director of the Mountain Play in Marin County, which celebrated its 100th anniversary with a production of the Sound of Music. The Mountain Play theatre seats 4,000 people, and the entire run of the show was sold out. Once SBMT's producer, Gary Daum, secured the license to produce Les Mis, he approached Manley to direct Les Mis, and Manley jumped at the chance to direct a show of this magnitude.
There are many points of difference that this production can boast, such as having the good fortune to have a local actor, Anne Buelteman, a cast member of the Les Misérables touring company for eleven years, lend her expertise to help with some behind-the-scenes tips. Buelteman surprised the cast at their first orientation meeting with an inspiring talk about what life was like ‘on the road’ with Les Mis. Her message to the cast culminated in one simple sentence: “Sing the notes, and tell the story”. She recently wrote a novel, titled, Road Kill: Tales of a National Tour, which is currently a manuscript in search of a publisher or agent. A fictional work, the novel is loosely and almost entirely based on authentic incidents and personalities from her eleven years on the road with Les Mis.
Another point of difference for these cast members: with complex costuming and hair requirements, this show has the added benefit of a dedicated ‘beauty team’. Local wig design legend Andy Amaro brings his vast experience to the cast's wig needs, and Santana Row's Atelier Salon will have hair artists Karie Bennett, Amy Vanni, and Anna Johnson take the cast’s modern haircuts and transform them into styles befitting the early 1800’s. Atelier Salon’s makeup artist, Liz Bozzo, is creating custom makeup maps for each cast member to give each character a realistic look. Giving the actors solid looks to recreate for every performance will put the focus back onto their performances, surely guaranteeing a flawless show.
Cast:
JEAN VALJEAN / Mischa Stephens
JAVERT / Michael Rhone
FANTINE / Corrie Borris
COSETTE / Katherine Goldman
MARIUS / Corey Liggans
ÉPONINE / Jade Shojaee
ENJOLRAS / Adrien Gleason
M. THÉNARDIER / Walter M. Mayes
MME. THÉNARDIER / Karyn Rondeau
YOUNG COSETTE / ÉPONINE / Claire Lentz, Beth Sanford
GAVROCHE / Charlie Ibsen
STUDENTS / Brett Carlson, Mark Klinski, Gerar Mazarakis, David Mister, Bryan Moriarty, David Murphy, Braden Taylor
ENSEMBLE / Kevin Cornelius, Jessica Ellithorpe, Angelina Fitzhugh, Ric Forrester, Bobby Giraudo, Barbara Heninger, Jeffrey Henson, Noelle Boero, Jennifer Kohler, Emily MacAgy, Chuck Manthe, Christina Mattson, Glenna Murillo, Patricia Pitpitan, Kereli Sengstack, Annette Stenger, Molly Thornton, Shawn Bender, Andy Cooperfauss
For more information on South Bay Musical Theatre and its production of Les Misérables, as well as to purchase tickets, go to: http://www.southbaymt.com/shows/lesmiserables.html
This writer advises you to hurry, as this amazing chance to see one of the most thrilling live musicals is already selling out.
