250 audition for roles in Les Miserables
When 250 people signed up to audition for Les Miserables, director Grant Meese knew he had something special on his hands.
After two years of the arts industry being battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the actors and singers filed in to the audition room over five days and nights hoping to shine in their allotted timeslots. ‘‘It was extraordinary. We probably could have cast the show at least two, if not three, times over,’’ Meese said.
The production will be the first major musical to debut in Wellington’s newly refurbished St James Theatre on Courtenay Place in August. It’s being produced by the Capital Theatre Trust, in partnership with G&T Productions.
The show’s hero, Jean Valjean, will be played by Hayden Lawrence, a Wellington IRD worker originally from Blenheim. Lawrence hasn’t been on stage in about eight years, but said auditioning for a major role had been in the back of his mind since returning from a stint in London.
Lawrence said it was a shock to the system throwing his hat in the ring, having not auditioned for anything in so long – ‘‘[but] I pulled it off’’. He was keen to get his hands on the score so he could start rehearsing.
He’d previously seen Les Miserables on the West End, and said it was phenomenal and stirring. Lawrence had a healthy amount of nerves, and felt he’d engage with the music and character easily as the story had stood the test of time.
On discovering he’d won the role, Lawrence’s friends and family expressed varying reactions from complete shock to extreme happiness, he said. While he had no formal artistic training, as a child he took singing lessons and he belonged to choirs through high school. He also played the piano. ‘‘I sing all the time.’’
The production will be a cast and crew of mostly Wellingtonians. It will also star Chris
Crowe as Inspector Javert, and New York musical theatre stars Nick Lerew and Maya Handa Naff will play Marius and Eponine respectively.
Gemma Hoskins will play Fantine, while Flora Dryburgh will play the orphan Cosette. The The´nardiers will be Sandy Leadbeater and Tania Dreaver, while Joe Mara will play Enjolras.
The talent would be supported by a 29-strong ensemble and an 18-piece orchestra. Child actors had not yet been cast. All up, more than 100 people would be helping make the show come to life each night, with up to 40 people on stage at any given time.
Les Miserables tells the story of French peasant Valjean in 19thcentury France and his desire for redemption after being imprisoned for stealing bread for his sister’s starving child.
Based off Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name, the play opened in London at the Barbican Theatre in 1985, and on Broadway in 1987. It was also made into a 2012 film starring Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Anne
Hathaway. Its score includes songs I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own, Stars, Bring Him Home, One Day More and Do You Hear the People Sing.
The production organisers were confident Wellington would be in the orange setting with uncapped indoor gathering numbers by August.
Les Miserables runs from August 19 to September 4 at the St James Theatre. Tickets from $50 via Ticketmaster.