MURFREESBORO — You may have seen the
Oscar-winning film or perhaps a touring company's production of the
Tony-winning musical, but wait until you see the passion, sacrifice and
redemption in the MTSU Arts full-length performance of "Les
Misérables" in Tucker Theatre!
MTSU is presenting
one of the first university-licensed complete Broadway versions of "Les
Misérables" Sept. 19-22. It's the largest musical theater production staged
to date on the Murfreesboro campus, and tickets are still available at www.mtsuarts.com.
Performances are
scheduled Sept. 19-21 at 7:30 each evening, and one matinee is planned at 3
p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.
"It dwarfs
anything we've ever done before," musical director Raphael Bundage, a
professor of vocal performance in MTSU's School of Music, said of the two-act
operetta. "We've had large casts before, but the ensembles and principals
in this production bring the total to 52."
The cast includes
MTSU students and alumni as well as members of the surrounding community.
A crew of 25-plus
and an 18-piece orchestra complete the team recreating the Paris Student Uprising
of 1832 on a minimalist set with characters who've become household names from
Victor Hugo's 1862 novel: Jean Valjean, Inspector Javert, Fantine, Cosette.
Some cast members
are playing dual roles, while others are sharing their roles with colleagues
over the four-night run. They were cast last spring, and the principals
rehearsed over the summer.
The full cast
returned to MTSU two weeks before the fall 2013 semester started for a daily
eight hours of "musical boot camp" to prepare for the physically and
vocally strenuous production.
Very little is
spoken in "Les Misérables"; the operetta is sung, often while
climbing, fighting, dancing, crawling on the stage or writhing in physical and
emotional pain.
"Eight hours a
day gave them a real summer-stock, professional experience. They worked, and
are working, so hard," said director Kristi Shamburger, a Department of
Speech and Theatre professor who also directed MTSU's productions of "A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Guys and Dolls" and
"Into the Woods."
"It's amazed me
to witness how hard these students are working," added Alice Matlock
Clements, a 2001 MTSU vocal performance alumna, professional singer and vocal
teacher who's portraying the doomed factory worker Fantine. She’s alternating
the role with senior theater major Lindsey Mapes of Murfreesboro.
"They're all so
talented. I know everyone who sees the show will enjoy it."
Clements' 8-year-old
daughter, Caitlin, a student at Middle Tennessee Christian School, is sharing
the role of the abused orphan, Little Cosette, with 12-year-old Sarah Oppmann,
a student at Blackman Middle School.
Shamburger said the
production is "very blessed to have Tucker Theatre as a space to present
this." She added that the set design, which was created and implemented by
the department’s production manager, Justin Durham, keeps everything the cast
and crew needs on stage during the performance.
(You can watch a
video from rehearsals at http://youtu.be/REY1c95DKgY.)
The design not only allows
the cast to move set pieces but keeps the rapidly paced musical moving forward
without pauses for set changes.
"Professor
Shamburger has done a magnificent job of appointing that stage," Bundage
said of his producing partner. “We have big crowd scenes and lots of intimate
chamber scenes with soliloquies, and every one of them works in the
space."
Shamburger noted,
however, that the effort is a companywide one.
"When a show is
as epic as this one, and you don't have a Broadway budget, you have to rely on
magic a lot," she joked, pointing out the stage lighting by MTSU alumnus
Richard K. Davis, president of the Nashville-based Ardee Design Group and a
lighting designer who's worked from Las Vegas to Japan and from Nashville's
Circle Players to CNN Washington.
Sarah Upchurch of
Smyrna, who's sharing the ingénue Cosette role with fellow senior Kayla Holt,
said she's enjoying the opportunity to sing the songs she's been singing since
the long family car trips of childhood.
"'Les
Misérables' is my favorite musical," said Upchurch, who is majoring in
vocal performance and vocal music education and wants to continue teaching
music in a high school or elementary setting.
"It has a
wonderful redemptive story that I love to hear."
Junior vocal
performance major Bill Hennings, who is MTSU's Javert, said he loves the show
for the same reason. He's performed the role of the judgmental, dogged police
inspector before and his character resonates strongly with audiences.
“You can’t look at
life and at others with a narrow mind,” Hennings said. “You’ve got to get to
know people.”
Spencer Miller, an
MTSU vocal performance alumnus who now works at Naxos Music in Franklin, Tenn.,
is Hennings' roommate and has the same love for the show. He has two roles: Bamatabois,
Fantine's violent "customer," and Enjolras, the leader of the student
uprising.
"I heard about
it because all my friends were auditioning for it," he recalled, adding
that he and Hennings convinced their other roommates to audition, too.
"They're not
even musical people," Miller said with a laugh, "but we got a very
simple song and drilled these four or five guys on it for hours for two or
three weeks straight. We came down and auditioned, and all of them got parts in
the chorus."
General admission
tickets for “Les Misérables” are $10 each. MTSU students, faculty and staff
with valid IDs will be admitted free.
"We're just
thrilled to be able to offer this production to the community," Bundage
said. "There are so many partnerships that brought it together through MTSU
Arts, but we're most proud of the preprofessional experience we're offering
these students. They are professionals in every sense of the word."
You can see a full
cast list at http://ow.ly/oHCia. For
more information about the show, visit www.mtsuarts.com
and click on the “Les Misérables” banner. You also can call 615-494-8810.
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