Les triomphe

PALMER — It’s a dark story filled with desperation, anguish and misery.

The tale of a 19th century paroled convict Jean ValJean and his relentless pursuer Inspector Javert is one that has captivated audiences for more than 20 years in “Les Miserables.” Now this gritty account of those wretched embroiled in the French Revolution is drawing standing ovations at the Colony High School auditorium.

In what co-director Steve Byrd calls the school’s most ambitious musical production ever, Colony High has recreated the excitement and drama of what is the longest continuously running musical in London, including an expensive and elaborate revolving set. Although two weeks into its three-week run and playing to rave reviews, Byrd had reservations about pulling off such an elaborate and labor-intensive production.

“Well, the story here is my wife (co-director KerryAnn Byrd) and I were talking about the shows for this school year,” Steve Byrd said. “And she said, ‘I’m going to do ‘Les Miz,’ and I immediately said, ‘What? We can’t do that.’ For one thing, we don’t have the talent, and two, it’s technically impossible.”

A self-admitted skeptic, Steve Byrd said that also was his first reaction he had in 2007 when the Colony players put on “West Side Story” and with “Fame” the year before that — both rousing successes.

“Also, ‘Les Miz’ is extremely expensive,” he added. “It’s, like, double the cost of anything we’ve done before. It’s in the neighborhood of $9,000, which prior to this year we never got near that much. This year we spent $5,000 before we put a board down on the set.”

Despite Steve Byrd’s misgivings, the effort to produce “Les Miz” began. With a large cast of 45 and another eight in the production crew, another challenge was including a live 18-piece orchestra. It was the musicians who Steve Byrd said inspired him to believe a small high school in Alaska could pull off such an ambitious undertaking.

“Here is this full-fledged orchestra and they’re just outstanding,” he said, adding that the quality of the student musicians has inspired the cast to elevate its efforts.

While their teachers prepared to direct the musical, students auditioned for the daunting task of pulling off their teachers’ vision. When he first heard “Les Miserables” was on the playbill, student actor Alex Albrecht said he was impressed and a little intimidated.

Albrecht landed one of the lead roles of Inspector Javert, whose pursuit of ValJean drives the musical through its myriad story lines.

“It is really challenging sometimes,” Albrecht said prior to Friday’s performance. “Got into it, I had an idea this would be pretty hard, but I didn’t really grasp how hard it would be.”

Along with the rest of the cast — including Brian Tunhy as ValJean and Anna Woodall as Fantine, a single mother who struggles in the moral climate of the 19th century — Albrecht spent at least four hours a day in rehearsals, and up to six hours a day in the final rehearsals before the first performance.

That hard work has paid off, Steve Byrd said.

“They have really, really surprised me greatly,” he said of the cast. “I have heard the buzz that adults in the audience are asking, ‘Where do they find all these kids who can sing?’ These are wonderful, classic songs with so much power. People leave humming them. I do it myself.”

Perhaps the highest praise came from a rival. The cast of Palmer High School’s musical “Hello Dolly” attended one of Colony’s first performances and were the first to leap to their feet to lead a standing ovation, Steve Byrd said.

“That was very gratifying,” he said.

While the orchestra and actors make the local production of “Les Miserables” come to life, it wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of technical director Brian Mead, who designed and built the elaborate rotating set.

“It’s basically this big circle that he had to bring into the building in pieces,” Steve Byrd said. “Then, he basically had to rebuild a stage on top of our original stage.”

By rotating the sets, the crew is able to present one scene to the audience while setting up others out of view, he said. Then, all that’s required to keep the musical at a brisk pace is to rotate the stage.

“That speeds everything up,” Steve Byrd said. “With this show, if it wasn’t for the revolve, it would be at least three hours long. This is essentially and opera, so once the music starts, it’s very important to be continuous to the end of the act. What is very impressive about this show is that it’s just nonstop. It just keeps coming at you.”

For local theater lovers, this is one musical not to miss, Steve Byrd said. “I have complete confidence people will leave saying, ‘I can’t believe high school kids did this.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.