Punahou's 'Les Miserables' is just fantastique

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Street urchins beg in this scene from "Les Miserables." At right is Madame Thenardier, played by Julia Olgilvie. Punahou School is among several hundred schools nationwide to win the rights to produce Victor Hugo's classic tale of good and evil and what comes between. More than 200 Punahou students auditioned for roles. Photos by Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Jean Valjean (Adam Dengler) attempts to purchase young Cosette (Marcela Biven) from Madame Thenardier (Julia Olgilvie).

'Les Miserables' School Edition 7:30 p.m. tonight, Saturday, Thursday and April 25; noon April 26 Dillingham Hall, Punahou School campus $6 general, $3 students with valid IDs 943-3673

None will voluntarily tell you this, of course (though any number of guys happily will). Still, it is a plum role. Not only does the doomed ingenue own one of the musical's best songs, "On My Own," but, pun intended, there's her "to die for" death scene.

"I was coming into the auditions with the hopes of just making it to callbacks after the first cut," said Meilan Akaka, 17. "And once I made it to callbacks, my hopes were to get into the ensemble, because just getting to be a part of the show in itself was the main thing."

Uh-huh. But, being incredibly nosy, I had to pry further.

"If I did have to pick a lead role ... I would've picked Eponine," said Akaka, shyly.

She got it, and is simply wonderful.

When Punahou School theater director Paul Palmore found out last March that "Les Miz" producer Cameron Mackintosh was bypassing regional, dinner and community theaters, and offering first rights to secondary schools, he applied right away. A week later, Punahou became one of several hundred schools nationwide awarded rights to the play for the 2002-2003 instruction year.

Based on Victor Hugo's voluminous 1862 potboiler classic, "Les Miserables" offers up the story of reformed petty thief Jean Valjean and his struggle to live a normal life. The Mackintosh-approved "school edition" drops the recently shuttered Broadway production's typical three-hour running time to just more than two-and-a-quarter. None of the musical's beloved songs are eliminated, but many are shortened. Vocal highs set for professional singers are toned down for lower registers. The bawdy prostitutes of "Lovely Ladies" and some innuendo remain, but much of the musical's profanity is gone.

More than 200 Punahou students auditioned for roles — 110 of them for the mere 13 parts that were awarded to middle and elementary grades. The final cast, numbering 55, has been rehearsing daily since February.

Adam Dengler, 17, won the lead role of Jean Valjean with no previous acting experience. His ticket in? An impressively strong voice honed by years on the school's chorale.

"It's really stepping out of what I normally do," said Dengler. "I don't sing much elsewhere other than chorale, and I've never taken voice lessons. I couldn't believe it when I got the part. I was blown away!"

Thirteen-year-old Jack Smart envisioned only one part for himself.

"I wanted Gavroche," Smart said of the wiseacre urchin. "I knew it was a hard character to play, but I figured he's the biggest kid role, and it would be kind of appropriate for me. I knew it would be a great experience to work with high schoolers, too."

Justin Lo, 17, who plays Valjean's nemesis Inspector Javert, was thrilled, but a bit concerned, about his part.

"The last production I did was 'Stand and Deliver,' where I played an antagonistic character, and I was thinking, maybe it was just for that one role," said Lo, who insisted he was nothing like the demanding and authoritative Javert. "Now, I think I'm already being typecast as a villain ... and that's sad."

Trust me, Justin. You make it look effortless.