Les Misérables

The musical is based on the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Set in early 19th-century France, it follows the intertwining stories of a cast of characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution.

The characters include a paroled convict named Jean Valjean who, failing attempts to find work as an honest man with his yellow ticket of leave, breaks his parole and conceals his identity; the police inspector Javert who becomes obsessed with finding Valjean; Fantine, the single mother who is forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter Cosette; Cosette, who, after her mother's death, becomes Jean Valjean's adopted daughter and who eventually falls in love with a revolutionary student named Marius Pontmercy; the Thénardiers, the unscrupulous innkeepers who initially foster Cosette, and who thrive on cheating and stealing; Éponine, their young daughter who is hopelessly in love with Marius; Gavroche, a young beggar boy and the young son of the Thénardiers; and a student leader Enjolras who plans the revolt to free the oppressed lower classes of France.

• Valjean - Lewis Harvey-Mott
• Javert - Scott Brooks
• Fantine - Fracesca Taylor
• Little Cosette - Lollie Frier
• Madame Thenadie - Imogen Turner
• Thenadie - Barnaby Wilson
• Gavroche - Alex Riddell
• Eponine - Beth Webb-Strong
• Cosette - Tess Cheetham
• Marius - Leah Eggleton
• Enjolras - Catharine Simons

Reviews

Les Miserables School Edition Pedal Performing Arts Beacon Centre, Holtspur 29-31 October 2009

Believe it or not there are a few people left in the civilised world who have not seen and still refuse to witness the theatrical phenomenon that is Les Miserables. I suppose it must be the same kind of stubborn perversity that stops me watching East Enders or Waking the Dead on TV.

However, if you are one of ‘the few’ who have not yet seen the world’s most popular musical you missed a real treat last week at the Beacon Centre in Holtspur. Pedal Performing Arts staged the School Edition of this masterpiece and certainly scored a stunning success. This hugely demanding piece was superbly produced and directed by Carole King, Sarah Pinkney and Kenny Frier, stalwarts of this local youth group based in Chalfont St Peter and Hazlemere. Technically it was a triumph with professional standard music, lighting and sound and artistically it moved along with real pace and energy worthy of a far more experienced company. Leah Eggleton, Alex Riddell and Lewis Harvey-Mott shone but all the principal actors performed their demanding roles with confidence and the young ensemble whose ages ranged from 7 to 17 sang with a clarity and acted with a passion which belied their years. A standing ovation is rarely seen in amateur theatre but this talented young company certainly deserved the prolonged ovation they received from the sell-out audience, many of whom left the theatre with tear-filled eyes. Truly an emotional and artistic triumph for Pedal Performing Arts.

I eagerly await their next production, the slightly less intense ‘Anything Goes’, next February and I will endeavour not to cry next time.

Paul Woodstock