[NEohioPAL] Preview of "Les Miserables: School Edition" at Rabbit Run

[Bob Abelman]

Can you hear the (young) people sing: 'Les Mis: School Edition'

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This preview appeared in the News-Herald 6/26/09

 

"Les Miserables" and "School Edition" seem strangely contradictory, yet here they are in the same title of the show opening this evening at Rabbit Run Theater in Madison Township.  

 

Les Miserables was one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway, closing after 6,680 performances across 16 years and earning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.  Based on an 1862 novel by Victor Hugo and set in early 19th-century France, the play follows the intertwining stories of several individuals seeking their own form of redemption and freedom amidst a political revolution.     

 

This British-born pop opera-with its complex characters, intense music, dramatic lyrics, weighty themes, and nearly tangible air of self-significance-has earned the reputation for being a highly emotional, totally engrossing theatrical experience. Les Miserables demands energetic, dynamic and mature performances from its enormous cast.

 

"School Edition" suggests something less.  It suggests something elementary or secondary.

 

"Not so," notes Brint Learned, executive director of Rabbit Run Community Arts Association and director of this production.  "This is not your typical junior version of a Broadway show.  This show has been edited for length while maintaining the more adult aspects of the text.  Additionally, all of the vocals remain in their original keys."

 

Although Les Miserables: School Edition requires that all cast members be 19 years of age or younger, Rabbit Run has not approached it as a youth production.

 

"The demands we have placed on these young actors are equal to anything we have ever asked of our adult performers," says Learned, "and we have not been disappointed.  We have been fortunate to assemble a truly gifted group of actors, many of whom have plans to pursue musical theatre performance as a career.  At every turn they have surpassed our expectations."

 

The cast hails from all over of the region, including Madison, Perry, Geneva, Mentor, Willoughby, Chesterland, Painesville and Chardon.

 

Featured are James Penca as the paroled convict, Jean Valjean; Kyle Lorek as Javert, the police detective obsessed with finding Valjean; Caitlin Rose as Fantine, a single mother forced into prostitution; Mayim Hamblen as her daughter, Cossette; and Kelsey Bowens and Matt Super as the unscrupulous Thenardiers, who foster Cossette.

 

Also featured are Kelly Smith as Eponine, the Thenardiers' daughter, and Alex Lane and Adam Cooper as Enjolras and Marius, who are key members of the revolution.

 

Rabbit Run Theater has chosen to approach Les Miserables: School Edition with a certain simplicity.  Anyone who has ever seen the Broadway, West End or professional touring productions of the show has expectations of a rotating turntable used to move the set pieces and actors throughout the show and simulate the passage of time.

 

"Our challenge," notes Learned, "has been to create the various locations and time periods without the luxury of hydraulics.  Yet, there is something fitting in the rustic quality of our barn theater that suits this play perfectly."

 

Previous Rabbit Run productions of epic shows such as Ragtime and Titanic: The Musical have conformed nicely to the close confines of its charming facility.  Now Learned will have an opportunity to test this approach with the venerable Les Miserables: School Edition.

 

Details

 

What:     Les Miserables: School Edition

When:    Today through July 11 (8 p.m., Thursdays to Sundays).

Where:   Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., Madison Township. 

Tickets   $15 to $17

Info:       440-428-7092 or www.rabbitrunonline.tix.com.

 
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