Aurora Theatre offers intimate ‘Les Miz’

The cast and crew of Aurora Theatre bustle around the stage in preparation for the July 25th opening of the sprawling musical “Les Misérables.” In this version of pre-revolutionary Paris, the raw wood of the set awaits paint and the huddled masses wear T-shirts and backwards baseball caps.

In an early scene from the run-through of the musical, despairing ex-con Jean Valjean (Bryant Smith) steals some silver platters from a church, only to be caught by the local gendarmes. Shane Desmond-Williams’ priest unexpectedly covers for Valjean, however, claiming the silver was a gift, adding candlesticks to his pile and singing “Would you leave the best behind?” The unexpected charity inspires Valjean to become a better man and even at the rehearsal, the emotional beat lands with a punch, no matter that the priest wears a Red Sox shirt.

Even stone-hearted detractors of musical theater can find themselves caught up in the epic sweep of “Les Misérables.” Since its 1985 London debut, “Les Misérables” has trailed trophies and superlatives in its wake, from eight Tony Awards for the 1987 Broadway production to eight Academy Award nominations for the hit 2012 film adaptation. The song “I Dreamed a Dream” made amateur singer Susan Boyle a viral celebrity and earned Anne Hathaway a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Everything about “Les Misérables” takes place on an enormous scale, from the historic range of Victor Hugo’s original novel to the size of the cast to the soaring voices in the sung-through musical, featuring no spoken dialogue. Aurora Theatre plans to rise to the challenge by presenting the first locally produced staging of “Les Misérables” to open its 18th season.

After nearly 30 years of long-running tours and major revivals, in late 2012 the licensing agency Music Theatre International made “Les Misérables” available for American theaters.

One day in December, everyone in the Aurora Playhouse offices got emails at the same time, alerting them to the fact that that “Les Miz” was available, recalled producing artistic director Anthony Rodriguez. He immediately called together associate producer Ann-Carol Pence and Al Stilo, director of sales and marketing.

"What do we do to make this happen," they asked each other, "and can we make this happen?"

Rodriguez immediately reached out to his corporate sponsors.

"I made a phone call to Marshall Boutwell, president and CEO at our show sponsor, Peach State Federal Credit Union, and felt very lucky when he said, 'If you guys are going to do this up right, we're in — for more than we've ever given you before.'"

“Great! We’ll need half of it today,” Rodriguez told him.

“Come get the check,” was Boutwell’s response.

From the beginning, Aurora’s enthusiasm has been impassioned for “Les Misérables” from corporate funders to eager artists to theater-goers, who have purchased more advance tickets for the production than for any of the playhouse’s previous season openers.

And everyone involved with the theater seems to have some kind of “Les Miz” connection.

“My father bought me the first original cast album – on vinyl,” Rodriguez recalled. “The music and story immediately resonated with me as a kid, and when I was in college thinking about being a performer, I saw there were so many incredible male roles to tackle. My dream role had to change as I got older,” he added with a laugh.

For Aurora’s production, Rodriguez plays M. Thenardier, an unscrupulous landlord from the comic relief number “Master of the House.”

The troupe’s collective enthusiasm helps motivate the small theater company stage what can feel like the Mount Everest of stage productions.

“There’s a level of expectation to match the original production, with its massive turntable (a rotating design element) and the amount of bodies onstage,” said director Justin Anderson. “But I’m not interested in remaking somebody else’s show. We might recall that the Broadway show or a touring production had great moments with the turntable, but we don’t have one of those. So let’s find our own great moments.”

Rodriguez believes the intimacy of Aurora’s 248-seat theater offers an advantage over the huge stage productions, and unlike the film version, the Lawrenceville production will put greater emphasis on the music.

Aurora’s cast includes 10 leads, an ensemble of 15, three child roles (shared by two young actors apiece) and an 11-piece band led by Pence as musical director. She pointed out that their “Les Misérables” production features more non-traditional casting than usual.

“Our main-stage casts haven’t always represented the community we live in. For this, we’re casting solely based on talent.” For instance, African-American actor Kevin Harry plays the role of Inspector Javert, who relentlessly pursues Valjean for years.

“It’s every bit as difficult as its reputation,” Bryant Smith said about the role of Valjean. “Vocally, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, both in the range that I sing in and how much I have to do. I always joke that this is the most epic role ever written, and I just have to try to not screw it up. I have to think of my role as just one character in a huge musical – otherwise, it’s too daunting. I have to take it a little bit by little bit.”

The production’s demands require tackling the show with a revolutionary spirit, said Pence. “When you do ‘Les Miz,’ you say ‘I’m not afraid.’ We’re artists. If we do anything in a safe zone, we’re 50 percent in our grave,” she said.

No matter what their task in the production, Aurora's artists seem to have discovered that working on "Les Misérables" has fostered the kind of espirit de corps shared by people standing side by side at the barricades.