THEATER: Les Miserables

When I heard that Bald Eagle Area Drama Club was doing LES MISERABLES I winced. Don’t get me wrong; I have loved the story since I was forced to read it in my high school French class. I even had doubts when the book was turned into a musical. Now, a group of high school students were going to attempt it. Wow.

Wow is right. I am so glad that I made the trip to Wingate to see those high school students.  First of all the adaption by Tim Kelly from Victor Hugo’s rather long novel is just perfect for an evening of theatre.

Secondly, director Lindsey Allison and technical director Eric Brinser showed great understanding of the show and were able to pass that to the cast and crew. Having Victor Hugo, played by Benjamin Leskovansky, explain the passing of time was a big help for audience members who may have forgotten points of the original plot. The show appeared to be very simple, an easy one to do. It only takes a look at the list of cast, crew, parents, school officials, etc. to give an idea of what an undertaking this was. I wish there were room to mention everyone.

To me the most effective scene was Clifford Smolko’s soliloquy. So many times Inspector Javert is seen as a villain. Clifford portrayed him as being conflicted between his sense of duty and dealing with the goodness of Jean Valjean. That is the way it should be.

Speaking of the personality of Jean Valjean, Richard Spicer is well cast as the man who is basically good and trying to live down his past. Richard also had his chance to show great passion. His speech in the court room was very convincing.

As an actor, the chance to play Thenardier or his wife Madam must be a treat. He is my favorite character in the play; he is so very shady….no, beyond “shady”. Cody Mandell and Nicole Bonsell were almost slimy at times. These are the true villains and Cody and Nicole had fun with the parts.

It is a shame that the character Fatine is not on stage longer. Lexi Holderman was so good and needed more time to develop this fantastic person. Her death scene was well played, not overly dramatic, just very touching. Another actress who is worth mentioning is Abbey Crago as Eponine. Again, I wish Abby would have had time to develop her character. It was still possible to get to know this complicated person through Abbey’s acting and Ms. Allison’s directing.

I enjoyed the show immensely and it made me even more excited to see the upcoming movie. The sad thing for me was knowing that some of my favorite actors up on the Bald Eagle stage are seniors and only will be seen in one more show. Incidentally, that will be Fiddler on the Roof; you won’t want to miss this one.