Michael Bai ’20
The cast members of Les Miserables underwent a rigorous audition process to be selected for their respective roles. Daniel Clay, theatre department chair and musical director, explains, “It’s not a easy process for us. It can be very difficult to choose the best people because the students here are really talented. We had a giant talent pool this year.”
The audition process begins as early as autumn. Clay stated, “We start out by having a series of meetings in the fall for students to attend. At those meetings, we talk about the expectations of the rehearsal schedule, we talk about the audition process itself, we talk about the show, we talk about production week. Then we explain that there will be a preliminary audition, which is three days. Students only have to show up for one time slot during the three days. Those auditions last from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. [The audition] depends on the musical. We focused on singing, so each student had about five minutes to sing. They were asked to choose a song for the character that they wanted to audition for and/or the character that they felt the most connected to the song.”
Clay further elaborates on the actual judging process during auditions: “We have a group of teachers on the panel. It’s me, Mr. Erwin, Mrs. Lavallee, the production team, and then we have three other teachers: Ms. [Tomkowich], Ms. Raffaelli, and Ms. Chory. Everyone has a sheet of paper that they take notes on and ranks students in terms of vocal quality, vocal range, stage presence, volume, diction, whether or not they look like a character. After all of the auditions, we look at all of the feedback, and then we choose what students we think should be called back for what roles, and that can range anywhere from two students to eight students being called back for a role.” Clay continued, “And then, we give [the students] the music that they’ll want to prepare for the callback, but we teach the songs to everyone before the callback. Then they’ll get up and they’ll sing it at the callback, and [the panel will] have discussions between [themselves].”
The panel selects students for roles based on several criteria. Clay explained, “Throughout the week, we look at all kinds of things. Does this person have conflicts? Who’s the person that fits well with the rest of the people? Who looks good together on stage? Who can most sell this role? Is someone’s acting stronger than another person’s acting? Does someone look more like the character? What’s the vocal range, what’s the acting range? Is the character believable?” After consideration of these factors, the panel puts out the final cast list for the musical.Initially, the theatre department considered double-casting roles, or giving a role to two people. Clay explained, “That’s the first time we’ve ever considered it, and we considered it because of the nature of the show. [Double-casting] has its advantages and disadvantages, and we wanted to see if we went into the callbacks and we just couldn’t make a decision between two people. ” However, the department ultimately decided against double casting roles because, as Clay elaborated, “[Double-casting] would significantly reduce the rehearsal time for one person and we don’t have a lot of rehearsal time. It would also significantly reduce number of people in the chorus because we need strong voices in the chorus. There’s a lot of roles that have less stage time throughout but are very important in terms of the music and the acting, and we need strong actors and strong singers to do that. If we pull that many people to lead roles, the rest of the chorus might suffer.”
MAIN CAST LIST:
Jean Valjean – Jack Franklin ‘19
Javert – Jacob Viscusi ‘19
Fantine – Emma Humann ‘19
Cosette – Veronica Garrubbo ‘21
Marius – Alex Oliva ‘19
Enjolras – Dominic Minicozzi ‘20
Éponine – Cerena Robertson ‘19
Thénardier – McKee Bond ‘19
Madame Thénardier – Parisa Afsharian ‘19
Gavroche – Ainsley Shin ‘20
Bamatabois – Theo Vadot ‘19
Fauchelevent – Jesse Bell-Taylor ‘19
Combeferre – Nick Bernabei ‘20
Feuilly – Adam Mauch ‘20
Courfeyrac – Chris Smith ‘19
Joly – Theo Vadot ‘19
Grantaire – Bryce Nabulsi ‘19
Jean Prouvaire – Will Hopkins ‘21
Lesgles – Winston Bickhardt ‘21
Montparnasse – Lauren Bassett ‘20
Brujon – Jesse Bell-Taylor ‘19
Babet – Evan Zanolli ‘19
Claquesous – Arnie Shiva ‘20
Bishop of Digne – Tim Gavin
Dancing Guest – Cheryl McLauchlan