Greendale’s dreams for “Les Miserables” come true

Greendale Community Theatre’s production of “Les Miserables” has its flaws, but the talented cast overcomes them with ease. All photos credit Sara Bill.

There are few musicals as beloved as Les Miserables. This is both a blessing and a curse for those who perform it. That audience affection can be a pillow, to cushion your mistakes. But err too much, and the audience might use that same pillow to smother you.

Greendale Community Theatre’s production falls on the right side of that divide. It’s not as polished as it could be, but there’s more than enough there to validate the dream they’ve dreamed.

While Marius (Nick Zajdel) and Eponine (Lissa deGuzman) are close friends, he never sees the affection she holds for him – a dramatic tension that will end in tragedy.

Director Brian Bzdawka and music director Tom Reifenberg have a lot of actors to take care of in Les Mis, originally adapted by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil from Victor Hugo’s novel about interconnected individuals swept up in a French rebellion in the early 19th century. There are nine or 10 principals alone (depending on how/who you count), and each has their moment to step out of the crowd, often to tackle one of the play’s notoriously difficult songs.

Nearly all of Greendale’s leads are up to the task; in the whole show, the most regrettable lapses in musical quality were a hasty, rushed “I Dreamed a Dream” from Amanda Carson as the destitute mother Fantine and the realization, partway through the opening scenes, that the tenor range of Stephen Pfisterer is about a note and a half too low for him to sound truly comfortable with Jean Valjean’s songs – although Pfisterer’s singing is otherwise excellent and his acting is compelling enough to earn absolution.

But it’s the youths in the production – much like the youths in 1832 who spark the play’s revolution – who lead the charge. All four of the musical’s young characters – Valjean’s ward Cosette (Peyton Oseth); the schoolboy who loves her, Marius (Nick Zajdel); the friend who secretly loves him, Eponine (Lissa deGuzman); and the revolutionary who draws them together, Enjolras (Doug Clemons) – could vie for the title of best musical performance. When they unite voices, in various combinations, the results are magical. Equally as enchanting were deGuzman and Zajdel’s signature arias; she delivered “On My Own” with an impressive maturity, while he took “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables” – a song I’ve always felt comes so late an exhausted audience can’t quite appreciate it – and made it the most moving performance of the night.

Robby McGhee and Amy Brooks (center) steal the show as the amoral Thenardiers.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the emotional spectrum, Robby McGhee and Amy Brooks are waiting in the wings to steal the show and anything else not tied down as the amoral Thenardiers. No exaggeration: I was out of breath from laughing at McGhee’s triumphant, hilarious performance in “Master of the House,” and Brooks is his equal, often positioning herself as the brains of the operation when the duo comes across either Valjean or Inspector Javert (Bob Benson) and displaying a commendable menace in her interactions with a young Cosette.

Enough cannot be said about the production’s lighting design, by Bzdawka and Ryan Barry. It was by and large simple – a spotlight here, two colors of light to divide the stage there – but hands down more effective than an array of bombastic, distracting pyrotechnics would have been, and easily as professional as any non-amateur theater in town. In some songs – “Fantine’s Death,” “A Heart Full of Love,” and especially “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” – the lighting truly makes the moment.

Between its effective lighting and staging, and Zajdel’s performance as Marius, “Empty Chairs” is one of the night’s most powerful moments.

I wish it could save the smattering of carelessly blocked scenes spread throughout the production. It’s hard to completely identify what’s off about them, except that they force actors to move or interact in a way real people simply wouldn’t, a subtle reminder you’re sitting in an American high school instead of Paris, France.

It’s just a reminder though, and they’re rare enough to slip out of memory a moment later. That’s the thing about Les Mis: with a talented group of singers and actors, the story tells itself. Greendale’s cast? They’re strong enough the story doesn’t have to.

Greendale Community Theatre’s production of Les Miserables runs through Aug. 3 at Greendale High School, 6801 Southway, Greendale, Wis. All performances are at 7:30 p.m., excepting a Sunday, July 28 matinee at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at (414) 423-2700, ext. 4193, or online.