November 4-6, 2010 at 7:00pm and November 6, 2010 at 2:00pm
Audition Information
Rising 10th and 12th grades - Monday, May 17, 3:10pm
Rising 9th and 11th grades - Tuesday, May 18, 3:10pm
Children auditioning for Cosette or Gavroche may audition either day.
Please note:
Leading role will have SOME summer rehearsals.
Full cast rehearsals will begin when school starts in August.
Each student may audition for only two roles, but may specify others on the audition sheet.
Everyone must sing at the auditions to be considered for casting. There is no spoken dialogue in the entire production.
Young Cosette, Young Eponine, and Gavroche should all appear to be around 8-12 years old. Gavroche should have an unchanged voice. I will be casting children that are age appropriate. Children will have to be able to attend rehearsals at HFA beginning at 3:10.
Rehearsals are typically Monday-Thursday 3:10-5:00. The last few weeks the rehearsals will end at 6:00 and then final tech week we usually finish around 8:00.
All auditions MUST be sung with a piano accompanist.
There will be an audition workshop after school, May 13.
There will be approximately 40 students in the cast.
The role we will be specifically auditioning for are:
COSETTE is the beautiful daughter of Fantine. She is strong willed and loving. She is an intelligent, inquiring, personable girl. She is not in any sense a "soppy" romantic heroine. Once adopted by Jean Valjean, Cosette lives a comfortable, if secluded life. She falls instantly in love with Marius, changing her world and her priorities. B flat (below middle C) to High C (2 octaves above middle C)
ENJOLRAS is the student leader. He is handsome, brave and daring, although youthful. He combines his revolutionary ideals with a strong charismatic leadership. He is described by Victor Hugo as "a thinker, and a man of action". On the barricade he physically and vocally should dominate everyone else. He should ooze with charisma, be a natural leader, be good looking, and have a very strong high baritone or a tenor voice. Enjolras must lead the students to fight and ultimately die. His death at the barricade is one of the dramatic highlights of the show. A to G (above middle C)
EPONINE is the daughter of the Thenardiers. She is a young girl who is streetwise and tough, but also sensitive and lonely. She is in love with Marius, knowing that he will never love her. She bravely follows Marius to the Barricades in the hope that they will die there together. Once grown up, Eponine moves with her family to Paris where they fall on hard times. Now poor, living hand to mouth, she survives by helping her father break the law. Eponine is a tragic character, hopelessly in love with Marius. She sings one of the most famous numbers in the show, "On My Own," and should therefore be an excellent singer with a contemporary edge to her voice and an excellent actress. F sharp (below middle C) to E
FANTINE is the beautiful young girl who, abandoned by her lover, is left to fend for herself and her daughter Cosette. She is rejected by society and forced through circumstances to become a prostitute. She is a brave woman defeated by life, sustained by her love for her daughter and clinging to her dignity. Sick with consumption, we witness her descent through poverty, hunger, cold, loneliness and destitution to death. She is a noble character, whose life becomes is a series of terrible events that rob her of her pride, character, and ultimately her life. G flat (below middle C) to D
GAVROCHE is the Thenardier's son. He is left to fend for himself and lives by his wits in the streets of Paris. His "arch enemy" is Javert the Policeman. He is brave and witty. Think a young Artful Dodger. Gavroche has a very dramatic death at the barricade. B (below middle C) to G
YOUNG COSETTE is the child of Fantine. She is the ward of the Thenardiers forced into child labor and sings "Castle On A Cloud." She is a trembling little creature, underfed, beaten by Madame Thenardier and bullied by Eponine. Cosette should be small and look properly pathetic and yet warms the audience's heart who should be sympathetic to her plight. A (below middle C) to C
YOUNG EPONINE is the pampered daughter of the Thenardiers. She does little except enter the stage and taunt Little Cosette. The role requires no singing or speaking. She should be a smaller version of grown Eponine and resemble Eponine in appearance and features. Even though this is a non-singing role, Young Eponine will need to be able to understudy Young Cosette.
MARIUS is the handsome romantic hero of the story. He is impulsive, passionate, willful and headstrong. His moods change according to his circumstances. He is sweet and tender but also capable of great courage and compassion. In Act 1 Marius plays Romeo to Cosette's Juliet. Marius matures after the Cafe Song as a result of his experiences on the barricade. Marius should have a lovely, lyrical voice with a contemporary edge. Low A to High A flat
THENARDIER is the true villain of Les Miserables. He is embodiment of evil. That said, he should also possess a wicked sense of humor. He delights in cheating, robbing, fraud and blackmail, relishing every aspect of them with glee. He is tough, greedy, brutal, stupid and crafty and yet irresistible. He hates society and blames it and everyone else for all his misfortune. Thenardier is also the opportunist and realist of the show. He is a thief, a liar, a cheat, steals valuables from the dead with no remorse. He is also the comic relief of the production. However, his comedy is based in reality and shouldn't be too exaggerated. He is married to Madame Thenardier and father to Eponine and Gavroche (although he has abandoned Gavroche to the streets of Paris.) C (below middle C) to G sharp (above middle C)
MADAME THENARDIER is the wife of Thenardier, Madame Thenardier is as "one" with Thenardier. Together they con the world as partners in crime. They were made for each other, although she complains about him, she loves him deeply. She is coarse and vulgar, unhappy in her existence without knowing why. She is romantic, greedy, evil and larger than life. She is mean and nasty to Young Cosette and able to improvise in nearly any situation. G sharp (below middle C) to D
JEAN VALJEAN is the hero of the show. It is his life journey that we follow. Jean Valjean is supposed to be stronger than other men, and so physically should appear robust. He should reasonably carry himself as mature and paternal. Valjean's ability to change is his greatest asset. the key to his character is his great humanity and compassion. Jean Valjean is a vocally demanding role. Low A to High A
JAVERT is the inspector who serves as antagonist to Jean Valjean. Javert is unswerving in his belief that men cannot change for the good. "Once a thief, always a thief" is his mantra. At first glance Javert might appear to be the villain of the story, but on closer examination it is clear that he is not an evil man. He is aware that in society some people achieve control through evil and others through power of the law. He is a dedicated policeman, with a profound sense of duty. Unlike Valjean he cannot change. His attitudes are rigid and unmovable. He is stern, forbidding and lacking in compassion. Javert should be an actor who can convincingly stand up to Jean Valjean. Low F to High F sharp
