Grab your baguettes and prepare for revolution this week as “Les Misérables” opens in Burbank Auditorium.
The story follows a recently freed Jean Valjean after he is released from wrongful imprisonment. With the help of a kind bishop, Valjean begins his redemption by helping a town prosper and becoming a philanthropist. In trying to help a prostitute’s illegitimate daughter, he becomes swept up in a 19th Century rebellion.
Directed by Laura Downing-Lee, the Theatre Arts department chair, the classic musical will come to life Nov. 22 at SRJC. Downing-Lee collaborated with Santa Rosa Junior College faculty members Jody Benecke and Janis Dunson Wilson.
“Les Misérables” is what is called a sung-through musical. All dialog is sung. “Jody is a professional opera singer, and it has been fabulous,” Downing-Lee said.
Adapted from Victor Hugo’s novel, “Les Misérables” has been performed in 21 languages in countries all over the world. More than over 60 million people have seen the play.
“The musical is very sparse in some respects,” the director said. “The audience’s experience when watching the play is going to be quite different than watching the movie.”
Forty cast members make the production one of the largest ever performed in Burbank Auditorium. Christopher Hohmann plays protagonist Jean Valjean. Anthony Guzman opposes him as Javert, a detective hunting Valjean throughout the play. Carmen Mitchell stars as Fantine, a mother forced into prostitution to care for her child. The revolutionary idealist Marius is played by Jordan Levine and Brittany Law plays Eponine, a lower-class girl infatuated with Marius. The play features college students, high school students and a few “child actors” between the ages 9 and 12. The younger children take turns being featured and in the chorus. A full orchestra backs the ensemble, and other community donations helped the production thrive.
“The heart of it is the nobility of the human spirit,” Downing-Lee said. “One of the things most fabulous about ‘Les Misérables’ is how incredibly timely the story is.”
The musical runs from Nov. 22 through Dec. 8 at SRJC.
“It’s a different kind of experience to see it in the theater. A very powerful one,” Downing-Lee said.