Another year means another great production for the RM Black Maskers Drama Club. On August 25th at

10:35 a.m., the drama director, Emily Davis, sent an email to every drama student informing them of the Fall Musical: Les Misérables. Upon hearing the news, students were excited by the announcement and thrilled to be taking on the challenge for such a hard but fantastic musical.

“I was shocked that Mrs. Davis would have the guts to try the show since it’s such a risk,” commented junior Noah Montemarano, who will be playing Javert. Many of the students have been waiting years to do this musical, even some of those who have already graduated. Coming this far only seemed like a dream to the cast. “We wanted to do Les Mis for a very long time here,” said Mrs. Davis. After talking to the music directors, Ronald Frezzo and Peter Perry, Mrs. Davis concluded that, “We have some very talented actors and crew technicians who could make it very spectacular. This will be the year where we have the voices that can handle such a challenging show.”

It is going to take hard work and dedication to make this show possible. With everything the cast has to do: act, sing, dance, build a set and more, every man will be put to use. “The set is going to be very complex. It’s going to require a lot of planning and materials,” stated technical director Eric Rodney. Pulling off a production is one thing, but doing that and balancing school is complicated. “It will be hard but interesting experience,” said freshman Alex Holtz.  Most of the casts’ rehearsals will be held in school, whether it’s learning the songs from Mr. Frezzo, trying to get the feel for the characters, or being behind the scenes, making the show possible with costumes, props, makeup and more. As challenging as the show may be, the show will go on because “the cast and crew are both incredible and the show’s gonna be so amazing,” according to senior Leigh Robertson, who plays the character Fantine.

One of the biggest challenges is that the musical has no dialogue, which means it is going to be even harder on everyone, cast/ensemble and pit orchestra, to get it right. “They are going to have to work really hard to learn this and get it under their belts fast because there is a lot of action and a lot of singing,” Mr. Frezzo said.

Opening night is only two months away, November 13th. With the talented students in the cast, pit and ten crews, it appears that it is off to a good start.