Paris comes to Central Otago this May with Waiata Theatre Production’s latest offering, ‘Les Misérables’, and the Central App took a peek behind the scenes as the cast prepares to give the performance of a lifetime. 

Waiata, under the steady hands of director Duncan Anderson and musical director Bruce Potter, will bring the story set in post-revolutionary France to the stage in Clyde. 

After extensive auditions, the chosen cast has been travelling from all over the South Island to practise. 

“It's definitely a long drive,” Ella Burton, who travels from Gore for the rehearsals, told the Central App.

“If it wasn’t for the show we wouldn’t be driving all that way, but it's just such a cool show, and totally worth it.” 

Plenty of local talent auditioned successfully, too. 

Olivia Delport (12) of Alexandra praised the cast and show. 

“So far I’m enjoying all the supportive people. I auditioned to try something new, so this is my first big production and it’s exciting.”

Two cast members trying on costumes 

Another local from Alexandra, the talented Morgan Potter, has taken on the enormous task of not only gathering a small team to wrangle costumes, but also to play a main role in the production as Eponine. 

“It is such an honour to play in such an emotional show, and to play alongside other talented actors to convey the raw emotion.” 

Organising costumes for the cast is a big job 

With such a large group of talented people there are bound to be challenges, Bruce Potter says. 

“We have some really good talent, but not everyone's talents fall into the same category with timing and other little things.”

Bruce says that he is looking for perfection and that the cast is more than capable of delivering. 

He also plays the role of Jean Valjean. 

“I have been playing Valjean since I was around 30 and it has just been a role that suited my voice, my physique and my character.” 

Bruce and Scott in rehearsal 

Duncan, who is not only directing but also playing the lead Javert, said one of the challenges has been having plenty of understudies for the roles, meaning more than one person is required to learn the scenes and a lot of repetition is required. 

“It can be quite amusing to jump from directing into the musical part,” he said.

There is also a dedicated crew working hard to coordinate lighting, sound, projection images, set movement and special effects. 

“I have never worked with a cast that picks things up so quickly, meaning we will have an amazing show,” Duncan said. 

Tickets can be found on iticket.co.nz and shows are from 5th of May to 21st May 2023. 

Bruce and Morgan with flyers promoting the show 

PHOTOS: Waiata Theatre Productions