Les Misérables at Woodward

Les Mis is a novel written by Victor Hugo in 1862 that was developed into a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel and Herbert Kretzmer in 1980. The French musical first premiered in Paris in all French and quickly spread from France to all over the world, being translated into various languages, and came to our school’s theater department as the one of the most popular musicals in the world.

Les Mis cast pictured after the play. Picture credits from @woodwardacademytheatre

The musical is about Jean Valijean, an ex-con who aspires to mend his ways after being given a second chance. Thus, Jean Valijean becomes Monsieur Madeleine, a mayor who provided assistance to all in his community. However, Valijean is also hunted by his guard from his time as a convict, Javert. 

The complex musical was presented recently by students at Woodward and was well received by audience members like Morgan Veale ’25, who thought the play was overall outstanding.

“I thought all the actors and all the seniors were amazing,” said Veale. “I was really surprised by a couple of the actors and actresses.”

Certain performances that had shocked Veale included the singing of Spencer Snipe ‘23 and the acting of Jai Deans ‘23, Justin Clopton ‘23 and Kennedy Rogers ‘23. She emphasized these senior performers’ confidence and talent, as they had shown different versions of themselves in other plays.

Similarly, math teacher Robert Daugherty also complimented the incredible performances, songs and theatrics. Daugherty particularly loved the songs because of the massive energy from the cast with dancing, singing and much passion, which connected to the audience and made the play extremely enjoyable for him and the other audience members. 

“The cast did really well with the songs and especially the ones expressing their wish to be free were really passionate which I really enjoyed,” Daugherty said.

Although the audience found the performance to be fantastic, the cast members did face certain challenges and last-minute difficulties that they were forced to face on the spot. Abby Parsons ‘25, a cast member in the musical, expanded on the cast’s difficulties and issues during the play and how they dealt with them. 

“The mics and the transitions [caused some problems],”  Parsons said. “The problems during the performances were nerve wracking but we were able to fix it by speeding up or improvising and we were really proud of ourselves.”   

Parsons also expanded on the hours and incredible amount of time spent during rehearsals and certain ups and downs however loved the overall experience.

“We overall had a great time and it was a really great bonding experience,” Parsons said.