Les Miserables

I remember that when I would watch a really great movie, I wouldn't be able to get over it for at least three days. I'd keep thinking about a awesome it was, or how they did the stunts in it. The whole experience of this play was exactly like that, only it took me about a week to get over it. After months of practice in school, and a whole week of rehearsals, we had an amazing performance. But how did this all start?

When the school year started, there was already some news about a play. We were originally going to do Jesus Christ Superstar. But after hearing some comments about the decision, they decided to change it to Les Miserables. I was excited but still disappointed. My parents and I had to attend a wedding out of town, and we were leaving about two days before the play. After a few months of practice, a few people realized the amount of time they had left to rehearse wasn't enough. So they decided to have the actual play at around February or March, and just perform a few songs on October for something like a teaser.

Now we are quite a small community, so everyone was part of the play. This of course had a big impact on our schedules, and on our teachers too. I remember complaining that we were all going home so late, and there were some days where things just went alright. The practices stopped for a few weeks. Then came February. Most of us were nervous that we didn't get enough practice, and we only had about three weeks left. Then the week of rehearsals came. The last four days before the play. It was insane. We had to practice acting like prisoners with dirt on their faces who didn't eat for days, and changing in about four minutes into a clean outfit, curled hair, and made up face. My birthday was actually a day before the play, so I didn't plan to do anything else besides going to practice and eating dinner out with the family. Although I still thought it was an amazing birthday. The whole experience was already pretty great.

Anyway, we encountered a bunch technical glitches through the week. And the practice we had in the morning of the day of the play didn't seem that glitch-free. Many of us were worried about the timing of the curtain with the music and with the lights. After many hours, we all came back two hours before the show. We spent most of our time curling our hair, and trying to keep it that way so that it wouldn't get ruined under the hats we had to wear.

Then it was show time. We were all told to get ready, because we were going to go through the entrance anytime soon. Then they said we had to wait a little longer and stay a little more quiet. Of course, this was quite a difficult task for us. I think that because of all the intensity, most of us turned to comic relief. It was ten minutes before the show was about to start and everyone was making jokes, funny faces, weird modeling poses, and singing insane songs. We tried playing a game, first one to talk loses. But this only worked out for a few minutes. Then finally we walked outside and went in through the main entrances of the auditorium. By then we were all trying to get into character. Then, it just happened. We just gave everything we had. We performed the first song, changed as quickly as we could and got into a new character. Which was extremely different from the other. I hardly remember what happened backstage. Although I do remember going crazy with the make up for the Lovely Ladies scene.

When I found myself singing the last lines of Do You Here the People Sing, I looked up at where Sir. Dan was standing. Then the last few seconds came, and I knew what was coming. He raised up his hand then... drop! It was done. My heart stopped for a while. I couldn't believe it. It was over. Then we all realized something. A standing ovation.

It was absolutely mind blowing. After the curtain call you probably had to peel us off of each other. We kept hugging and congratulating each other. It was just unbelievable. I was so proud but slightly disappointed. I sort of wanted to do another one. After a few conversations, I realized a whole lot more wanted it too.

This play did a lot more than we expected. I think it brought a lot of people closer to each other. After spending a whole week together, you'd think we'd want a break from each other and be like "See you on Monday!" But we found ourselves seeing each other the next day for a simple party. I still find myself thinking about everything that happened. And also singing a ton of Les Miz songs in the morning.

Here are some pictures.