Do you hear the people sing? The Central Catholic/Oakland Catholic Masque certainly can, as they make their way into the final stretch in their preparation for the biggest show Central Catholic has done in years, Les Misérables.

This famous musical features many aspects of what we all love about musical theatre: telling the story of young citizens trying to incite a French Revolution, as a man looks to fulfill his lifelong promise to a dead woman, all while being pursued by the police.

Central’s production of this all-time-favorite features some big talent from Central, including Aidan Nicholas as Jean Valjean, Xavier Ramirez as Javert, Robbie Malnight as Marius, Luca Assandri as Thenadier, Amari Smith as Enjolras, and so many more.

A production as big as this features a lot of moving parts. These include professional instrumentalists, a realistic set, and the direction of all cast members’ actions on stage.

Aidan Nicholas, the lead role of this spring show, describes his process of preparation like this: “After we’ve decided on roles for the cast, we primarily work on music for the first couple of weeks with Dr. Mackey. We have two specialists who were brought in as our choreographer and stage director….We also owe a debt of gratitude to our stage crew and costume directors who make all of these shows possible!”

Les Mís is a particularly difficult show to produce because there are so many more roles than your average music, which means much more dialogue and music to memorize.

Even the individual ensemble members have significant roles that they are responsible for performing. One of these cast members is Henry Leavitt. A rookie on the arts scene this year, Henry has already made incredible strides. He is playing the role of Grantaire and even designed the art that will be displayed on the show’s t-shirts.

When asked about what audiences can expect from Central’s production of Les Misérables, Henry noted, “Audiences can look forward to a show that 100% knows what it’s doing. The amount of confidence I have in everyone’s role is so unbelievably astounding to me that I seriously cannot wait for others to see the show. Our rendition of Les Mís is like a whirlwind of emotions that I cannot equate to many other things in my life.”

You can catch Central’s spring show March 23^rd – March 26^th in the McGonigle Theater. It’s already sold over a thousand tickets and is looking to be the biggest production in Central Catholic’s history!