Being an old time fan of Les Miserables the musical I was amazed to discover that there is a schools edition that schools are allowed to perform (shortened to approx 2 hours long) and that the Nottingham Arts Theatre are staging this next week in my city. I had no idea that this existed and may well go along to see it performed next week. I am curious to see how well this can be done.

The proper London West End production is what I know best and having listened again to a full cast recording with all those powerful professional voices on disc I wonder how it can possibly be done well by children and young adults (up to 19 years max) in an amateur theatre or school setting.I am very supportive of kids being being introduced to and involved in drama and musicals but still unsure of them portraying very tormented characters like Javert or characters of great humanity and depth such as Jean Valjean. I look forward to being proved wrong and will blog my critique next week. Here are the official guidelines which I found on the net tonight.

http://www.josef-weinberger.com/weinberger/lesmizframes.html