“This is a story about hope, redemption, human suffering and salvation. It’s got religious elements, it’s got big themes, and we want to do justice to those things and tell the story.”

The story SPFHS Repertory Theatre director Morgan Knight is describing is that of the musical theatre goliath “Les Miserables,” which will be presented to the SPF community on March 31-April 3, 2022. 

“Les Mis” takes place in France during the June Rebellion of 1832 and follows ex-convict Jean Valjean (senior Tucker Rose) after he is released from a 19-year prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. He forges a new identity but is dogged by the persistent Inspector Javert (junior Emmet Fynes), who does not believe Valjean has reformed his ways. It is among the “greats” of musical theatre; it features a sweeping score, complex characters and the emotional punch of the century. 

Knight notes that with great musical power comes great responsibility; even those who know nothing of musical theatre can likely identify tunes such as “Castle on a Cloud,” “One Day More,” “On My Own” and “Master of the House.”

“High expectations are a big, big challenge,” Knight said. “You can’t fall flat on some of the bigger stuff; it has to be good because people expect it to be. Now luckily the material is so good, and I find that really good material actually elevates the kids’ performances. A rising tide lifts all boats. Because the show is sung through — it never stops — it’s very physically taxing on both our instrumentalists and on the cast. We’re already talking to them about pacing themselves and not over singing or damaging their voices…. There’s a bigness to the themes, like no offense to ‘SpongeBob,’ but this ain’t ‘SpongeBob.’” 

“Les Mis” will be the first musical presented in the SPFHS auditorium since COVID-19 cut the 2020 run of “Chicago” short. 

“Theatre is a uniquely communal art form,” Knight said. “All art is communal because you’re expressing something and someone else sees it, but when you read a book, you’re detached from the author, for example. When you see theatre, you are experiencing it with the people that are performing in the same space. That, to me, is what makes theatre really special. I’m really excited for our kids to experience the energy from the audience because a bunch of them haven’t yet, or at least not in the same way.”

When selecting a title for this year’s musical, Knight and his team not only sought out a piece that could be a bold and booming welcome back to the theatre but one with a powerful story that would resonate with audiences during these complicated times. 

“What ‘Les Mis’ calls us to do is to be kind to each other, and to see each other through empathetic and merciful eyes and to understand each other’s humanity,” Knight said. “And I think especially right now, in all facets of society, be it politically or socially, there’s a lot of distance between people. We don’t see eye to eye and it’s easier for us to downplay each other’s humanity when we don’t see eye to eye. We’ve seen a little bit of that with conversations about race, gender and politics. I think what ‘Les Mis,’ as a piece of theatre, demands of us is to see each other through those empathetic eyes, to take pity on each other, to recognize each other’s common humanity. And that requires a little bit of grace on our part…. That’s something we all, at all times, need to be thinking about, but especially right now. I think we need to remember that we’re all human beings and we’re all experiencing life and we have the capacity to be kind and we should do that.”

“Les Mis,” will play on the SPFHS stage on Thursday March 31 (7:30pm), Friday April 1 (7:30pm), Saturday April 2 (7:30pm) and Sunday April 3 (2pm). Tickets can be purchased at spfrep.com. 

“This community is so privileged to have such an incredible theatre program,” Knight said. “Our kids are so eager and ready to share their amazing talent with the community and ‘Les Miserables’ is a musical that I think everyone should experience at least once in their life. Musical theatre doesn’t really get much better in my opinion. The music is so moving and so memorable and so well written, and it’s fundamentally a human story. It’s a musical for people who do — and who don’t — like musicals, and I think it’s $15-18 well spent.”