“Les Miserables”, a play about the struggles of a man trying to escape the law and his dark past during the French Revolution will be shown by the Sierra Pacific High School Musical Theater. It is playing Jan. 25-28 at the Hanford Presentation Center and is around two hours long. The tickets for entry are $10 per person and can be purchased beforehand or at the door.
The story is about a man named Jean Valjean who stole bread and was put in slavery. He managed to get away and once escaping he was able to start rebuilding his life; he still has a trace of his past because of a soldier who has been pursuing him since he left. During his life journey, he runs into a girl who has many misfortunes and decides to help her for her dying wish. She wanted him to take her little sister, Cosette, who has not been treated right and give her a better life. He made it his life goal to raise her and make her a fine woman while still escaping his past. 10 years later, the war is still going on but now there is a man by the name of Marius who has fallen in love with Cosette. The story continues with them doing everything to be together during those harsh times and Jean Valjean trying to support them in every way before he passes on.
The composing of the play started in mid-September and rehearsals for the students in theater were practically every day. They also had several shows through four days which was very tiresome for the crew.
All of the 50 members of the cast worked hard to prepare for the play and the roles were all played well. It showed the dark side of the French Revolution but sprinkled a bit of love and humor into it as well.
Mollie Schuller, one of the side characters out of the cast members said that “I’m really happy with how it turned out because everyone put a lot of effort into it and that was something you were able to see.” This was her first play as she is a freshman this year and she also explains “ I was very lucky to be a part of something with people as dedicated as this cast.” She had previously watched the play from last year, “Singing in The Rain”, and had since then wanted to be a part of the next one.
Ava McCutcheon, another side character in the play who participated for the first time, said “I think it was very much worth the watch because of all the hard work and preparation put into it.”
Her and her fellow actors dedicated many of their days to make this play perfect for when they performed and she believes it was completely worth all the effort.
Both Schuller and McCutcheon thought that the time and effort put into making everything perfect for the play was worth it and even talked about how they are going to miss the community that was built in all of that time. Adults and students enjoyed going to see “Les Miserables” and many are looking forward to finding out what the play for next year will be.