Severn School’s Water Street Players To Perform “Les Misérables”

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”

Severn School will invite audiences to its winter musical from February 19-21 at 7:00pm for the school edition of “Les Misérables.”

“Les Misérables” is a completely sung-through musical based on the novel by Victor Hugo, and it is sometimes called the world’s longest-running musical. The story is set in 19th century France and takes place over the course of the life of Jean Valjean, who was formerly imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. The show takes audiences through the Paris student uprising of 1832, when Valjean’s adoptive daughter, Cosette, falls in love with a revolutionary.

“(The students) were … 50% excitement, 50% ‘Oh my gosh, can we actually do this?’” said Dr. Elizabeth Patterson, the show’s director. This is her fourth year at Severn, and “Les Misérables” is the 10th show she’s produced and the eighth show she’s directed for the school. Originally from Massachusetts, Patterson now lives in Severna Park.

“Les Misérables” was chosen as the winter musical this year in part to showcase seniors with strong acting abilities, as well as to allow younger students the opportunity to step into larger roles. “It’s been a really lovely experience to see them watch their peers,” Patterson said. “And to see these ninth-graders watch these seniors rehearse, they are learning by doing.”

The cast is made up of 33 students portraying over 100 roles. Other than the accompaniment, which will be live music played by professional musicians, the entire cast and crew is made up of Severn School students. The show has been a collaborative process between those on- and off-stage, even early in the process, with everyone coming together each week to contribute to the creation of sets. The sets are being constructed entirely by the students on the cast and crew, with supervision.

“In high school theater particularly, there can be that sort of division between cast and crew … our program intentionally and deliberately knocks down that barrier,” Patterson said.

Patterson has appreciated seeing the effort the cast has put into the production. “This is such a huge show to do. And it comes with a certain level of … we want to do it justice, you know? Every step we’ve taken forward, I’ve become more and more sure-footed,” Patterson said.

Part of the challenge of the show is the fact that it’s sung-through, meaning that there aren’t any spoken lines of dialogue that happen outside of a musical number. Every part of the show is a song. As a result, rather than keeping music rehearsals and blocking rehearsals separate, many of the rehearsals were both held at once. This offered the opportunity for collaboration in another area of musical theater that often takes place separately.

One moment from rehearsal especially stuck out to Patterson. “It became very, very quiet for Eponine’s death,” she said. “It was powerfully quiet in the room. And I remember looking around and seeing all of these … the faces of these young artists who are so fully engaged with this very difficult material, and I had this very out-of-body experience of ‘this is why we do this.’”

Patterson noted that while the specific circumstances of the plot are not the type of thing the actors have lived through, a lot of “Les Misérables” themes line up with experiences they have had. “It’s kind of the innate humanity of this show that makes it resonate,” she said. “We can all find ourselves somewhere in Les Misérables.”

Tickets for “Les Misérables” can be purchased online at severnschoolperformingarts.ludus.com.