Thursday, February 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BIG AMBITIONS: Las Vegas Academy students take on 'Les Miserables'

Kevin Kern, standing left, used a day off from playing Marius in the Broadway cast of "Les Miserables" to visit with students -- from left, Cooper Wise, Robbie Ross and Kellan Baker -- who are staging the epic musical at the Las Vegas Academy. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

Glenn Edwards remembers the Broadway production of "Les Miserables" as "the first time I had seen someone try to do cinematic-style staging," without set changes or blackouts.

"I'll never forget that first moment when Valjean started to walk" on a revolving turntable that signified his first steps out of prison on the long trail of Victor Hugo's epic journey.

As he says this, Edwards is seeing it happen again on the stage of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts.

But a few moments later, the theater instructor and co-director of the student production of "Les Miserables" sees something he never did on Broadway: The student actors on their hands and knees, trying to get their turntable back into its track.

It's a reminder of both how unusual and formidable it is for a high school -- even a performing arts high school -- to be tackling a Broadway musical known for its ambitious scope.

The producers of "Les Miserables" made their "School Edition" available in the summer, after testing it with two pilot productions in 2002. A few other schools around the country tried it during the fall, but this is the first production in Nevada.

Two more distinctions: It's quite rare for a Broadway hit to be licensed to schools before its made available at the regional or community theater level. And it's almost unheard of to license a student production before a show closes on Broadway.

"Les Miserables" keeps getting extended in New York, most recently until May 18. That made for a quick, but exciting day-off visit Monday by some of the Broadway cast, who flew in to monitor a student rehearsal.

Co-director Jerry Born, one of the Academy's theater instructors, tapped a Cincinnati high school friendship with Kevin Kern, who plays Marius on Broadway.

"I think they're more excited about coming in and seeing what we've done with it," Born said before the visit.

Audiences for the Academy production -- which opens today and runs through March 8 -- will see a "Les Miserables" that's in some ways less, and in some ways more than the original.

The student version clips another 10 minutes of running time from current editions of the show, which already have been shorn of about 20 minutes from the original 1985 length.

But the two-hour, 40-minute production will have a larger cast of about 90 students, and a real 45-piece orchestra instead of the cost-cutting small band for the show that visited Las Vegas in September 2001.

Neither David Andino, who plays the stalwart Jean Valjean, nor Doug Carpenter as his dogged nemesis Javert, had seen a "Les Miserables" production before they auditioned. While some of the female roles were double-cast, Andino is onstage for nearly the entire show.

The most epic aspect of this production is Andino seeing the project through despite the sudden death of his 40-year-old mother Yvette on Jan. 11.

"She would always push me, `You can do it,' " he says. "It pushes me to do a better show. I will dedicate every show to her."