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By arrangement with CAMERON MACKINTOSH LIMITED

THE ADAMSON THEATRE COMPANY at WESLEY COLLEGE ST KILDA ROAD presents

Performed entirely by students

A musical by ALAIN BOUBIL and CLAUDE-MICHEL

SCHONBERG

Based on the novel by VICTOR HUGO

Music by CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHONBERG Lyrics by HERBERT KRETZMER

Additional material by JAMES FENTON Original orchestrations by JOHN CAMERON

Original London Production directed by

TREVOR NUNN and JOHN CAIRD

Original London and New York productions by

CAMERON MACKINTOSH and THE ROYAL

SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

School Edition especially licensed by Music Theatre International, Cameron Mackintosh and Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd

Music Directed by

MARGARET ARNOLD and ROSEMARY MICHAEL

Choreographed and Co-Directed by FELICITY PEARSON

Technical Direction by

SABINO DEL BALSO

Costumes by STEPHANIE DES BARRES and JILL WELCH

Designed by

TONY SCANLON and BRETT FAIRBANK

Produced and Directed by DAWSON HANN and CLARE COOPER

Performed in Adamson Hall, August 1st – 5th 2006

SYNOPSIS PROLOGUE: TOULON, 1815. Prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean, is given his ticket of leave from the chain gang on which he has laboured for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread to save his sister’s starving child. An obsessive policeman, Javert, warns him that “once a criminal, always a criminal” – there is no redemption. Valjean finds that he is still a social outcast who can find no work. The Bishop of Digne takes him in, but Valjean, hardened by years of rejection and injustice, repays this kindness by stealing the bishop’s silverware. Valjean is caught and brought back, and is surprised and shamed when the bishop lies to the police to save him, and presents him with an additional gift of two silver candlesticks. This act of compassion sets Valjean on a new path in life, in defiance of what Javert had told him. 1823: MONTREUIL-SUR-MER Eight years have gone by. Valjean has broken his parole and become a successful and respected businessman, Monsieur Madelaine, and mayor of the town. One of the workers in his factory, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child who is lodged elsewhere, and when the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. Without a job, and desperate to make money to support her ill daughter, Fantine sells her hair, and eventually turns to prostitution. Slipping deeper into degradation and humiliation, Fantine gets into a fight with a “client” and is about to be sent to jail by Javert (she is just another of his human detritus) when Monsieur Madelaine arrives and sees that she is sent to a hospital, not to a prison. Shortly after, the mayor rescues a man trapped by a runaway cart, and Javert is reminded of the unusual strength of prisoner 24601 who, he says, has just been recaptured and is presently before a judge. Unable to see an innocent man condemned in his place, M. Madelaine reveals himself as the real Jean Valjean. Valjean hurries from the court to the hospital where he is able to promise the dying Fantine that he will find and care for her daughter, Cosette, as his own. Javert arrives to arrest him, a scuffle ensues, and Valjean escapes. Javert sets out in pursuit, and so begins the longest chase of his life to bring another man to what he calls “justice.” 1823: THE INN AT MONTFERMEIL Little Cosette has been lodged with the ghastly Thenardiers, two opportunist innkeepers who manage to skim off what few precious riches rise to the surface of human misfortune. They have been using the money sent by Fantine to pamper their own daughter Eponine, while Cosette is left neglected and miserable, only dreaming of a better world. Valjean arrives to keep his promise to Fantine, and pays the Thenardiers to take Cosette away to Paris. Their life together has begun, and Valjean is now truly “a man reborn”, with someone other than himself to care for.

1832: PARIS Nine years later, and Paris is troubled by the declining health of the popular leader General Lamarque, the only member of the government with compassion for the destitute on the streets of the city. The plight of the beggars is clear to see, and Gavroche, a young urchin, lives among them. The Thenardiers have moved to Paris for some easy pickings, and his gang sets upon Valjean and his “daughter” Cosette, but they are rescued from the sting by the timely arrival of Javert, now also in Paris in unremitting pursuit of prisoner 24601. After Valjean has made a quiet exit, it dawns on Javert who he is. The Thenardiers’ daughter Eponine, fully grown now and street-wise, but with a more tender heart, has fallen in love with a student, Marius. Reluctantly she agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love after a momentary meeting on the street. News of Lamarque’s death reaches the café where student political activists led by Enjolras and Marius are planning an insurrection. They immediately rush into the streets to enlist the support of the people. In the meantime, Cosette is consumed with thoughts of Marius, since she too has fallen in love. Eponine brings Marius to Cosette, and then foils an attempt by her father’s gang to rob Valjean’s house on the Rue Plumet. Valjean is convinced that Javert is circling once again, and tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country at once. For all the characters, one day more will bring great changes to their lives. ACT ONE ENDS The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius notices that Eponine, disguised as a boy, has joined the rebels, but he does not know that this is so she can be near him. He sends her away with a letter to Cosette, not realising the pain this causes her, and after it is intercepted by Valjean, Eponine decides to rejoin her love at the barricades. The barricade is built, and the young idealists defy an army order to give up or die. They are still convinced the people will rise to support them. Javert is exposed as a police spy, and in returning to the barricades, Eponine is killed. Valjean arrives at the barricade in search of Marius, whom he does not know, but whose letter to Cosette he has just read. Given the chance to kill his nemesis Javert, he instead lets him go. The students settle down to rest, and Valjean, when he discovers who Marius is, prays to God to keep the young man safe. The next day, abandoned by the people on whose behalf they have raised their rebellion, the students are all killed, except Marius, who is severely wounded. Valjean escapes through the sewers with the unconscious Marius. The despicable Thenardier is already down in this dark underworld robbing corpses, and he steals Marius’s ring after Valjean collapses momentarily with exhaustion. Emerging from the sewers, Valjean is confronted again by Javert, who will not abandon his pursuit of the man who broke his parole. Valjean pleads for time to get the young man to hospital and, in an act which he himself barely understands, Javert agrees, and allows Valjean to go on his way. Acknowledging that the unbending principle of justice based solely on the law has been shattered by Valjean’s act of mercy, Javert takes his own life, unable to face an existence which is no longer so certain.

Unaware of the identity of his rescuer, Marius recovers in Cosette’s care. Valjean confesses the truth of his past to Marius, before deciding to go away and thus spare Cosette the details of her own upbringing. At Marius and Cosette’s wedding, the Thenardiers, having infiltrated the upper crust and still on the lookout for a scam, try to blackmail Marius. Thenardier says Cosette’s “father” is a murderer and as proof produces a ring which he says Valjean stole from a corpse, on the night the barricades fell. Marius recognises the ring as his own, and understands it was Valjean who rescued him that night. He and Cosette hurry to where Valjean has been staying, and Cosette learns for the first time of her own history, as she reads the “last confession” of the man she has known as her father. With his spiritual children again around him, the old man’s life is at last truly blessed, and he dies, joining the spirits of Fantine and Eponine and all those who died on the barricades.

Take my hand, and lead me to salvation Take my love, for love is everlasting. And remember the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God. Do you hear the people sing Lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of the people Who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth There is a flame that never dies, Even the darkest night will end And the sun will rise. They will live again in freedom In the garden of the Lord, They will walk among the ploughshares They will put away the sword. The chain will be broken And all men will have their reward. Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade Is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring When tomorrow comes.

LUKE GAMONMARIUS

ISABELLA THOMASCOSETTE

JON RICKETSON JEAN VALJEAN

FRANCESCA SONANDFANTINE

ALI ROGERSJAVERT

ROSIE BALLEPONINE

LES MIS: A THEATRICAL LEGEND It seems to have been around forever, and has played to more than 50 million people across every continent on the planet. It has thrilled and moved people from Seoul to Singapore, from Tel Aviv to Toronto. It continues to play to packed houses in the West End and on Broadway after unbroken runs since its premiere more than two decades ago. Les Miserables in its present form celebrates its 21st birthday this year. It is known the world over as just “Les Mis”, and its songs and characters have become a part of cultures probably barely known to Victor Hugo when he wrote the novel. The musical version of this sweeping tale had an early life in Paris in 1980, but when Cameron McIntosh and his unlikely collaborator, the Royal Shakespeare Company, acquired the rights to stage an English language version, the structure of the show, and the lyrics of Alain Boublil, underwent some wholesale renovations to bring it, as a theatrical piece, more into line with perceived tastes on the other side of the Channel. As a reviewer for L’Express declared: “Rumour has it that Les Miserables first opened in Paris in 1980. Not so – it was born in London last October 8.” The first night audience at the Barbican – London home of the RSC – welcomed the show to town on October 8th 1985 with a long and emotional standing ovation. It has been received that way ever since. Perhaps no show in music theatre history has had the knack of bringing audiences so spontaneously to their feet at the end of a performance. The power of the show’s emotional range elicits that kind of response. But the critics were far from delirious, and most early reviews were negative; in director Trevor Nunn’s words, “They were killers.” Some reviewers from London’s most influential daily newspapers were simply scathing, and in retrospect one cannot help but wonder whether some sort of theatrical snobbery was operating. A musical, no matter how grand its design, or how serious its subject matter, was just not what the publicly subsidised Royal Shakespeare Company should have been doing. VICTOR HUGO ON THE GARBAGE DUMP was the headline in The Observer, whose critic called it “a witless and synthetic entertainment” which “emasculated Hugo’s Olympian perspective and reduced it to the trivialising and tearful aesthetic of rock opera and the French hit parade of ten (fifteen?) years ago.” There was worse to come. The reviewer for the Sunday Telegraph wrote that “it stands in the same relation to the original as a singing telegram to an epic.” The Times denounced its “pushbutton emotionalism at the expense of character and content.” In the Sunday Telegraph the reviewer had some kinder thoughts about the experience on offer but decided that “despite the grandeur of the music, the courage of the intentions, Les Miserables has, sadly, been reduced to “the Glums” (a former radio serial wringing pathos and bathetic humour from the English working class)”. So how did a musical which received such a hostile critical reception not merely survive, but go on to become one of theatre’s most astonishing success stories? From the start, Les Mis refused to lie down and die, demonstrating once and for all the power of popular taste over critical pickiness. Bad reviews couldn’t kill the show, as Trevor Nunn had feared, because theatregoers loved what they saw, and wanted to tell others what they had experienced. Within weeks of opening, the entire season at the Barbican had sold out, and Les Mis was ready to move to The Palace in the

West End to begin its commercial career. Its mythic journey into legend had begun; it will be celebrating its 21st birthday at the Queen’s Theatre in London in October this year. No critical pen dipped in invective could sink a show that continued to move the hearts of all who saw it, and whose sheer emotional power and uniqueness has struck chords in so many different countries and cultures. Following the success of the London production, Les Mis took its message to the world, and at each premiere, audience response was ecstatic; even the Japanese production received a fifteen minute applause from audiences traditionally used to offering little more than a ripple of acknowledgement. Broadway took it to its heart, unusual since it was “foreign”, and it is still running there: an electronic sign in Times Square clocks up the numbers of millions world-wide who have seen the show, updating on a daily basis. Interestingly, as the musical’s popularity grew, and audiences responded overwhelmingly to its grand human message –“to love another person is to see the face of God” - critical opinion began to be revised. Scorn had suddenly turned to virtually unqualified praise, and eminent critics who can make or break shows did not want to seem out of step with the Les Mis phenomenon. Not for the first time were their critical judgements called into question. The hoarding outside theatres around the world delivered the same simple message: “Les Miserables. The Musical Sensation.” Nothing else. The Australian production opened in October, 1987 at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, and spent the next few years playing all the major cities. Trevor Nunn came out to direct for Cameron McIntosh, and went on record as saying that the Australian version was his favourite, because it displayed in some ways the unique flavour of the country. Who knows? Perhaps our own brutal early past is more embedded in the national psyche than we know; the wretched of the earth were dumped here and built a nation, erecting their own barricades. In other countries with histories of past or recent oppression, Les Mis seemed also to strike a special chord. It is said that the Hungarian version was the most emotional and the most moving. To the Hungarian people, the barricades had a special symbolic significance. Many in the audience would have related this aspect of the story to the brutal suppression of Budapest by the Russian tanks in 1956. A comparable emotional experience was experienced by Polish audiences when Les Mis opened in Gydnia in 1989. For a host of different but all deeply human reasons, Les Miserables had become the world’s musical. A NOTE ON THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LES MISERABLES. Audiences mistakenly think of the French revolution when they encounter the barricades scenes in the play, but the story is actually sent in post-revolutionary, indeed post-Napoleonic, France. Valjean’s journey begins in 1815, the year of Waterloo and Napoleon’s exile (the parasite Thenardier is a veteran of the battle which defeated the Emperor). It is likely that Victor Hugo had in mind the student rebellion of 1830 when writing about the defeat of the student idealists, who had erected barricades in Paris, in protest against any return to the ancien regime.

CAST OF CHARACTERS and soloists song by song Jean Valjean………………………………………………………………… JON RICKETSON Javert……………………………………………………………………………. ALI ROGERS Fantine……………………………………………………………….. FRANCESCA SONAND Eponine…………………………………………………………………………... ROSIE BALL Thenardier………………………………………..………. MAX ATTWOOD or MILES MUNN Madame Thenardier……………………….…….. CHIARA HUNTER or LAUREN MIDGELEY Marius………………………………………………………………………….. LUKE GAMON Cosette…………………………………………………………..………. ISABELLA THOMAS Enjolras………………………………….……... PATRICK COLERIDGE or HUGH CROTHERS Little Cosette……………………………….….. RACHAEL FINDLAY or EDWINA ORCHARD Gavroche…………………………….………….. GUS ATTWOOD or JOHN WOODS-CASEY Grantaire………………………………….…... ALEXANDER FINKEL or DAVID VATOUSIOS Combeferre………………………………………………………………….... ROBBIE JAMES Courfeyrac…………………………………………………………………... ADAM BAIDAWI Feuilly………………………………………………………………… MONTY CARRINGTON Joly………………………………………………………………….... ANDREW ARONOWICZ Prouvaire……………………………………………………………………. FLYNN FRANCIS Lesgles……………………………………………………………………. STEPHEN STIVALA ADDITIONAL SOLOS

1. THE PROLOGUE Convict 1……………………………………………………………...……... ROBBIE JAMES Convict 2…………………………………………………………… MONTY CARRINGTON Convict 3………………………………………………………………….. ADAM BAIDAWI

Convict 4…………………………………..…………………………... ANDREW ARONWICZ Convict 5…………………………………..…………………………….... STEPHEN STIVALA Farmer……………………………………..…………………………….... PETER BOLEDZIUK Labourer………………………………….…………………………. ROBERT FRANTZESKOS Bishop of Digne………………………………...... DAVID VATOUSIOS or ALEXANDER FINKEL Constable 1…………………………………………………………………….. ROBBIE LEES Constable 2…………………………………………………………………… ANDREW SIM 2. AT THE END OF THE DAY Foreman…………………………………...……... PATRICK COLERIDGE or HUGH CROTHERS Worker 1………………………………………………………………..…... ALEXEY NIKITINE Worker 2………………………………………………………………………….. ED MOUY Woman…………………………………...………………………………... BETHANY EXINER Girl 1……………………………………………………………………...... LOUISE FORTUNE Girl 2……………………………………………………………………… ARLENE SHERREN Girl 3………………………………………………………………….... KESHIA GESUNDHEIT Girl 4……………………………………………………………………………. KAVITA GILL Girl 5………………………………………………………………………… SHARLENE MIK 3. THE DOCKS Sailor 1………………………………………………………………….. BEN WRIGHT-SMITH Sailor 2……………………………………………………………………… FLYNN FRANCIS Sailor 3…………………………………………………………………... ALEXANDER FINKEL Old Woman…………………………………………………………………… CLIO RENNER The Pimp…………………………………………………………….. ANDREW ARONOWICZ Whore 1………………………………………………………………… CARA MCDONNELL Whore 2…………………………………………………………………. GIULIA KOSSMANN

Whore 3……………………………………………………………………... ELAINA MUSTO Bamatabois………………………………..……………. DAVID VATOUSIOS or ANDREW SIM 5. THE CART CRASH Onlooker 1……………………………….…………………………………... BRIDGET STEELE Onlooker 2…………………………………………………………………….. ROBBIE JAMES Onlooker 3…………………………………………………………………. RACHEL ZBUKVIC Onlooker 4………………………………………………………………… JAMES FARTHING Fauchevelant……………………………………………………………..... PETER BOLEDZIUK 10. THE BEGGARS Beggar 1…………………………………………………………………..... HANNAH CRONE Beggar 2…………………………………………………………………... JAMES FARTHING Beggar 3………………………………………………………………………..... KAVITA GILL 17. THE ATTACK ON RUE PLUMET Montparnasse……………………………………………. MAX ATTWOOD OR MILES MUNN Babet……………………………………………………………………. CARA MCDONNELL Brujon……………………………………………………………………………... ED MOUY Claquesous……………………………………………………….....…... ROWENA MORTIMER 19. AND 24. AT THE BARRICADES The Army Officer…………………………………………………....… ROBERT FRANTZESKOS 26. TURNING Soloists…………………………………………….... HANNAH CRONE KESHIA GESUNDHEIT

BRIDGET STEELE CLIO RENNER

OTHERS IN THE ENSEMBLE Sarah Allen Tom Beecher Fiona Belcher Libby Bentley-Singh Celeste Coyne Lauren Esser Darcie Foley Hugh Fowler Nina Calleja Bronwyn Fullinfaw Tim Glass Ella Gross Grace Gross Anna Hatzisavas Felicity Hausler Philippa Judd Francesca Kavanagh Sophie Lloyd Ben McMullin Katherine Milne Penny Mitchell Emily Renner Bridget Saville Max Simon Monica Shkolnik Clare Strain Maddie Tudor Jessica Turnbull Kate Turnbull Katren Wood

THE ORCHESTRA STRINGS Amelia Fahey Imogen Ackerly Emily Jeffreys Alex Fanning Eun Ji Park Louise Hildyard Cate Mowat Phoebe Neave Shirui Li WOODWIND Kate Foord Brinley Hosking Jessica Stewart BRASS Jeremy Hetzel Nick Peachy Alice Donnan Mikaela Mowat David Mowat ELECTRIC BASS Kieran Jones PERCUSSION Josh Simons Michael Zippel KEYBOARD Jo Schornikow (OW) Jena Capes Margaret Arnold CONDUCTOR Rosemary Michael

Why not have after show drinks at the Belgian Beer Café Bluestone, opposite Wesley College Front Turf, Moubray Street; proud sponsor of the Adamson Theatre Company.

LES MIS TRIVIA Things you may never have wanted to know Les Miserables has played in 38 countries and 223 cities. It has been translated into 21 languages: English, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, French, Czech, Mauritian, Creole, Flemish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Mexican Spanish. The production has played over 38,000 professional performances worldwide giving a total audience figure of more than 50 million. There have been 31 cast recordings, and the show has won over 50 major theatre awards, including a Grammy for the Broadway cast album. The finale song to Act One, “One Day More”, was used for Bill Clinton’s US Presidential campaign; “Do You Hear the People Sing” was played over a TV telecast of the student protest in Tiananmen Square; “Bring Him Home” was officially requested by the US State Department as background music for promotional material about US troops engaged in the first Gulf War. Each professional performance entails 392 complete costumes of some 1782 separate items of clothing, and 31 wigs. The biggest single live audience for Les Miserables so far was 125,000 at the 1989 Australia Day concert in Sydney. The biggest broadcast audience was when 250 Les Mis cast members sang at the 1996 European Football Championships, reaching 400 million viewers in 197 countries. On 25th January 2002, the New York production overtook A Chorus Line to become the second longest running show in history, a record it held until overtaken in April 2004 by Phantom of the Opera. The Australian production contributed three principal singers to the International Cast recording: Debbie Byrne (Fantine), Philip Quast (Javert) and Anthony Warlow (Enjolras). The 10th Anniversary concert was filmed for television, and has since been seen by 4 million viewers in the UK. The video has gone on to sell over 1.4 million copies world-wide. The Wesley College production of Les Mis has involved the efforts of more than 120 students (performers, orchestra, backstage and technical crews, props and make-up, front-of-house) and 10 members of staff.

CHIARA HUNTERMADAME THENARDIER

TUESDAY/THURSDAY/SATURDAY EVENING

MILES MUNNTHENARDIER

WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY MATINEE

PATRICK COLERIDGEENJOLRAS


HUGH CROTHERS ENJOLRAS


MAX ATTWOODTHENARDIER


LAUREN MIDGELEYMADAME THENARDIER


JOHN WOODS-CASEYGAVROCHE


EDWINA ORCHARDLITTLE COSETTE


GUS ATTWOOD GAVROCHE


DAVID VATOUSIOSGRANTAIRE/BISHOP OF

DIGNE/BAMATABOIS TUESDAY/THURSDAY/SATURDAY

EVENING

ALEXANDER FINKELGRANTAIRE/BISHOP OF

DIGNE WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY

MATINEE

RACHEL FINDLAYLITTLE COSETTE


PRODUCTION TEAM Produced and Directed by………………………….. DAWSON HANN and CLARE COOPER

Musical Direction by…………………….. MARGARET ARNOLD and ROSEMARY MICHAEL

Designed by……………………………………….. TONY SCANLON and BRETT FAIRBANK

Choreographed by……………………………………………………… FELICITY PEARSON

Technical Direction by…………………………………………………. SABINO DEL BALSO

Costumes by……………………………………. STEPHANIE DES BARRES and JILL WELCH

Stage Manager………………………………………………..... NIC COOPER-BROWN (OW)

Production Assistant (Backstage and Technical)………………..…….. BYRON SCAF (OW)

Production Assistant (Front-of-House/Publicity/Backstage)...………… BRETT FAIRBANK

Assistant Stage Managers………………SIMON THOMPSON and MARY CHRISTODULAKI

Vocal assistants ………………………...… JOSH PITERMAN (OW), GRAHAM FOOTE (OW)

SAM DUNDAS (OW)

Technical Crew…………………………. DAVID BROWNE, JAMES CALLAHAN, HUGH DAY

ADAM ENGEL, MAX GETTLER, MATTHEW GILBERTSON (OW)

JAMES GODFREY, DUNCAN JAROSLOW, LUKE NEWMAN

ALEXEY NIKITINE, ALICIA OLCORN, ADAM OUSALKAS

GIANCARLO SALAMANCA (OW), TOM SAUNDERS

BYRON SCAF (OW), ANDREW SIM, SAM WHITNEY

Set Construction…………..…...... TONY SCANLON, BRETT FAIRBANK, BYRON SCAF (OW)

SABINO DEL BALSO

Scenery Painting…………………………………………………………... SCENIC STUDIOS

Assistant Stage Managers…………...… MARY CHRISTODULAKI and SIMON THOMPSON

Backstage Crew………….. MARINA OGAWA, CHRISTIAN RENNER, RUBY SPOTTISWOOD,

HANNAH GELLER, BREANNA BRIEDE, JESS DAGALA,

DANIEL HIRI, DAN CRAMER, TOM ROSENBERG, ANN XING,

SIMON TRAJSTMAN, SALLY COOK, KATE LODER, ROSE LOUEY,

LUCY RICHARDS, BEN VINCENT, HUGO SANDS

Properties………………………...……………………………………….. JENNY ERLANGER

Programme…………………………..….………… DAWSON HANN and BRETT FAIRBANK

Printing………………………...…………….…...….. MARIE ARSENIN and PETER NORTON

Business Management…………...…………….…. CHRIS MCINNIS and BRETT FAIRBANK

Poster…………………………………...………………………………….. BRETT FAIRBANK

Photography………………………………………………………………. EDOUARD MOUY

Documents

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