SOUTH BEND — The set for this week’s production of “Les Misérables” at Morris Performing Arts Center is designed to transport viewers to Paris in the early 1800s, the setting of the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name.
Stage manager Kenneth Davis told a group of local students and The Tribune several interesting facts about the set.
It takes a team
The national touring production brought a team of 85 professionals — made up of 44 performers, including four kids, 15 in the traveling orchestra, a traveling director and the costume department, among others — to South Bend after just having finished performing in Knoxville, Tennessee.
By the numbers
As the story’s protagonist, Jean Valjean journeys through life from a prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread for starving children to finding redemption, while the musical traveled 500 miles to South Bend. It took 11 trucks to transport everything, including one truck containing 1,000 costumes and other trucks transporting the props, set, lighting and sound. Even the floor made the trek.
The crew worked from 5 p.m. to midnight upon arrival in South Bend on Aug. 4, then resumed work at 8 a.m. Aug. 5.
Do you hear the people sing?
Sixteen speakers are hidden in the cobblestone street, so the performers can hear themselves and the orchestra, but the audience can’t spot the modern effects.
“It’s very gray,” Davis said. “It certainly speaks of the time that we’re in.” The set is also supplemented with projections of Victor Hugo’s own paintings, he said.
The set, having undergone a redesign for the musical’s 25th anniversary in 2010, has scenery that covers additional speakers to fully immerse the audience in the time period.
Sister city act
The “Les Mis” performances currently in Madrid have an identical set to the one currently in South Bend.
Onstage
● What: American Theatre Guild presents “Les Misérables”
● Where: The Morris Performing Arts Center, 211 N. Michigan St., South Bend
● When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6-9, 2 p.m. Aug. 9, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10
● Cost: $135.50-$41.25
● For more information: Call 574-235-9190 or visit morriscenter.org.
Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: ‘Les Misérables’ set in South Bend this week is complex: 4 interesting facts
Reporting by Camille Sarabia, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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