MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 2014 CASTING BRIEF TM © 1986 CMOL CAMERON MACKINTOSH Presents THE NEW 25th ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF BOUBLIL AND SCHÖNBERG’S LES MISÉRABLES A musical based on the novel by VICTOR HUGO Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer Original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel PRODUCTION TEAM Producer Cameron Mackintosh Director Laurence Connor and James Powell Musical Supervisor Stephen Brooker Set Design Matt Kinley Lighting Design Paule Constable Sound Design Mick Potter Costume Design Adreane Neofitou Associate Director Chris Key Associate Music Supervisor James Dodgson Casting Director Serena Hill Executive Producer Michael Cassel TM © 1986 CMOL PRODUCTION BACKGROUND Cameron Mackintosh’s legendary production of Boublil and Schönberg’s classic sweeps its audience through an epic tale of passion and destruction in 19th century France. The 25th Anniversary Production is directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell and designed by Matt Kinley inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Original costumes by Andreane Neofitou, lighting by Paule Constable and sound by Mick Potter. Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables is an epic and uplifting story about the survival of the human spirit. The magnificent score of Les Misérables includes the songs I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own, Stars, Bring Him Home, Do You Hear the People Sing?, One Day More, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, Master Of The House and many more. The new production of Les Misérables has been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences for the last three years, breaking box office records internationally and inspiring filmmakers to make the outstandingly successful movie which has gone on to win 3 Golden Globes®, 4 BAFTA’s and receive 8 Academy Award® nominations. The new production is directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, designed by Matt Kinley inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. THE AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION The Australian production of Les Misérables will open in Melbourne in June 2014 at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Rehearsals will commence in April 2014. All casting enquiries are to be directed to: SERENA HILL Casting Director [email protected] (no submissions, all enquiries via email only please) All submissions to [email protected] TM © 1986 CMOL AUDITION SCHEDULE The audition process will involve three rounds: Preliminary Auditions Commencing 6 March 2013 Initial Callbacks Commencing on or about 15 April 2013 Final Callbacks Commencing on or about 6 May 2013 PRELIMINARY AUDITIONS Preliminary Auditions with Serena Hill (Casting Director), Geoffrey Castles (audition music director) and Michael Cassel (Executive Producer) will be held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. INITIAL CALLBACKS Initial Callbacks with Chris Key (Associate Director), James Dodgson (Associate Music Supervisor), Serena Hill (Casting Director), Geoffrey Castles (audition music director) and Michael Cassel (Executive Producer) will be held in Sydney and Melbourne only. FINAL CALLBACKS Final Callbacks with Cameron Mackintosh (Producer), Laurence Connor (Director), James Powell (Director), Stephen Brooker (Music Supervisor), Serena Hill (Casting Director), Geoffrey Castles (audition music director) and Michael Cassel (Executive Producer) will be held in Sydney and Melbourne only. AUDITION REQUIREMENTS • Artists who are auditioning for principal roles will be sent audition material for each role prior to the Preliminary Audition. Artists who are auditioning as Ensemble should bring one (1) suitable musical theatre song to the Preliminary Audition. • Registration is required a minimum of fifteen minutes prior to individual audition time. • Artist must bring a current CV and Headshot Photograph, which must be attached to the Audition Form, which will be provided. TM © 1986 CMOL CAST BREAKDOWN JEAN VALJEAN 35-40s. Sings to B (high lyric baritone or tenor with strong low notes). A poor peasant who rises to affluence, he has great natural nobility and dignity. A powerful figure, ideally a large man with a character of operatic size and passion. The voice needs to have a pop/rock sound or a classical sound of extraordinary textual clarity. JAVERT Baritone, sings to G. Policeman who relentlessly hunts Valjean. Ideally an imposing man. The ultimate “law and order” figure. Obsessed, to the point of irrationality, with a rigid and merciless moral code. He too is a character of operatic size and passion. Both belt voice and classical can suit this role but must have a darker quality than Jean Valjean. THENARDIER Late 30s-40s. Strong comic character role. A crooked innkeeper, later a petty, amoral thief. Greedy, irreverent, selfish, boorish, vulgar. Baritone, sings to F sharp. MARIUS 20s. High baritone (sings to A) with a strong bottom (to A). A member of the revolutionary student movement. Attractive and romantic but in a sensitive, 19th century “byronic” way. ENJOLRAS 20s-early 30s. High baritone (to G sharp/B flat) very strong singer. Charismatic political figure. Leader of the revolutionary movement. FANTINE Late 20s, early 30s. Belt up to C, sings to E flat. Poor factory girl, struggling to support her fatherless daughter. Later is a pauper, a prostitute, a consumptive and a ghost. Earthy and poignant. Although is finally defeated by circumstances she should appear to be strong and a survivor. She puts up a valiant fight against the horrors of her life. COSETTE 18-25 (the younger the better). Fantine’s daughter (first seen as and played by a child) delicate, elegant, vulnerable and beautiful. Falls in love with and later marries Marius. Soprano (to high C) but a light, young “floating” sound, without heavy vibrato. EPONINE An enormous and beautiful belt voice, to C in belt (sings to E flat). Daughter of the Thenardiers but in no way behaves like them. Fired by an unrequited love for Marius. Small, gamine, waif-like. Hasn’t learned to disguise her emotions; wears her heart on her sleeve. MADAME THENARDIER 30s-early 40s. Tough, sharp, coarse, boorish, vulgar. Strong character comedienne role. Belter. ENSEMBLE Male and female artists to form an ensemble. All men sing to G and ladies belt up to C. TM © 1986 CMOL THE STORY ACT ONE PROLOGUE: 1815, DIGNE After 19 years on the chain gang, Jean Valjean finds that the ticket-of-leave he must display condemns him to be an outcast. Only the Bishop of Digne treats him kindly and Valjean, embittered by years of hardship, repays him by stealing some silver. Valjean is caught and brought back by the police and is astonished when the Bishop lies to the police to save him. Valjean decides to start his life anew. 1823, MONTREUIL-SUR-MER Eight years have passed and Valjean, having broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine, has become a factory owner and Mayor. One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. Desperate for money to pay for medicines for her daughter, Fantine sells her locket, her hair, and then joins the whores in selling herself. Utterly degraded, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when ‘The Mayor’ arrives and demands she be taken to hospital instead. The Mayor then rescues a man pinned beneath a cart. Javert is reminded of the abnormal strength of convict 24601 Jean Valjean, who, he says, has just been recaptured. Valjean, unable to see an innocent man go to prison, confesses that he is prisoner 24601. At the hospital, Valjean promises the dying Fantine to find and look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him, but Valjean escapes. 1823, MONTFERMEIL Cosette has been lodged with the Thénardiers, who horribly abuse her while indulging their own daughter, Eponine. Valjean pays the Thénardiers to let him take her away to Paris. 1832, PARIS Nine years later, there is unrest in the city because of the likely demise of the popular leader General Lamarque, the only man left in the government who shows any feeling for the poor. A street-gang led by Thénardier and his wife sets upon Jean Valjean and Cosette. They are rescued by Javert, who does not recognise Valjean until he has gone. The Thénardiers’ daughter Eponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love. News of General Lamarque’s death circulates in the city and a group of politically-minded students stream out into the streets to whip up support for a revolution. Cosette is consumed by thoughts of Marius, with whom she has fallen in love. Eponine brings Marius to Cosette and then prevents an attempt by her father’s gang to rob Valjean’s house. Valjean, convinced it was Javert lurking outside his house, tells Cosette they must prepare to flee the country. TM © 1986 CMOL THE STORY ACT TWO The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius, noticing that Eponine has joined the insurrection, sends her away with a letter to Cosette, which is intercepted by Valjean. Eponine decides to rejoin her love at the barricade. The barricade is built and the revolutionaries defy an army warning to give up or die. Javert is exposed as a police spy. In trying to return to the barricade, Eponine is killed. Valjean arrives at the barricade in search of Marius. He is given the chance to kill Javert but instead lets him go. The students settle down for a night on the barricade and, in the quiet of the night, Valjean prays to God to save Marius. The next day the rebels are all killed. Valjean escapes into the sewers with the unconscious Marius. After meeting Thénardier, who is robbing the corpses of the rebels, he comes across Javert once more. He pleads for time to deliver the young man to hospital.