Production:
Originally, Daytona Beach’s Seaside Music Theater was to have staged the full musical; however, a change in from family to corporate (Cox Media) ownership at the local newspaper decimated the theater’s budged when Cox decided it didn’t want the News-Journal to support the theater as it had for the past thirty years.

The show had only recently begun rehearsals when a court decision decided the issue of charitable sponsorship, and the production, along with the rest of the season, was scrapped. In a fund-raising effort, most of the principle cast returned on a volunteer basis, and on their own dime, to Daytona Beach to rehearse for a few days and present a concert version on the weekend of June 21-22. All or nearly all the principle cast members were able to participate, and some Equity ensemble members came as well. Area high school and college students rounded out the cast. The orchestra consisted of volunteer professionals also.

Staging:
If 1800s France has consisted of padded metal-frame chairs, bare wooden flooring, music stands, and mics, the staging would have been perfect. There was a row of mics and music stands across the front of the stage, with chairs for each of the principles (including the young kids) just behind. Behind and to the left and right were the female and male ensembles. In the middle rear was the orchestra.

At the beginning of the show, the mayor of Daytona Beach spoke about the importance of the theater to the community and the director introduced each member of the orchestra and cast. Everyone was dressed in some variation of the theme “black clothes.”

During the concert, each actor came up to the mics as it was his or her turn to sing and placed the score they were using on a music stand. (Everyone relied to some degree on their score.) The ensemble stood when it sang, and sometimes individuals would come to the row of mics, such as to play the bishop, the factory girl, or Bamatabois. Any other staging was minimal at best. Occasionally it was possible to have some physical action, such as Bamatabois grabbing Fantine’s wrist or Marius kneeling next to Valjean for “Bring Him Home.” Sometimes the actors could cross to each other, but more often than not only the words of the lyrics could convey any action. As I watched, I realized that this was potentially very confusing for anyone not familiar with the story. Scenes like the runaway cart or Gavroche’s death could only be baffling to the uninitiated. The production just had to do what it could with the concert format—and without any titles projected on the drop at the back of the stage. The lights changed colors with moods (blue, red, green, white, and shades between), but that was it. The only prop was a red flag which one of the male ensemble members waved at the end of “One Day More.”

The Audience:
In general, people seemed happy and positive as they left the theater. I sat between two extremely quiet, attentive couples and immediately in front of a talkative, noisy old woman who sounded like she had—like so many others before her—moved to Florida from a neighborhood in New York. She was one of those classic people who have nothing positive to say—except when you least want to hear anything. Case in point: “Bring Him Home” begins. “This is the most beautiful song,” in a thick New York accent. The reprise begins. “This is the most beautiful song.” While during intermission and before the show she had generally negative comments about anything from handrails to the length of the show.

However, I did speak with her whole group at intermission because I overheard them commenting that some of them (including Negative Woman) were having trouble following the plot in concert format. So I summarized the entire show for them, and they were very nice and appreciative, so I didn’t mind the talking as much as I might have.

Jean Valjean: Michael Shawn Lewis
Michael Shawn Lewis is about seven years older than I am and he doesn’t even look that old. That means, he is a young Jean Valjean, and without makeup, wigs, and costumes to help him establish the character, it’s even more so. But, he has a lovely pure voice, so he was certainly nice to listen to. He also sounds pretty young, so perhaps in a few years, if his voice ages, he’d fit the mold a little better, but it’s hard to judge with just a concert. For “Bring Him Home” his high register sounded really rich and clear.

He wore a white shirt with flared seventies lapels under a black jacket, which made me think he may have been trying to go for a mayoral Valjean look. Like many of the other actors, he really tried to throw himself into the role despite the obvious hurdles. He did his best with hand gestures, turning one way or the other, and facial expressions to get the character across. There were several amusing moments, particularly a “What did I just step in?” look when Javert tells him he looks like a convict he knew back in the day. He was sweet with Cosette and with Fantine, although “Come to Me” was a little strange. With no bed and no chair, he stood next to her and sort of embraced her, even stroked her hair a little, which in all looked more like a love-song pose than an I’ll-raise-your-daughter pose.

Like other actors, he flubbed a few little things here and there, “and” for “but” and such, and he flipped “die” and “fly” in “Bring Him Home,” but I doubt most of the audience noticed anything. Worst (meaning most funny), though, was just after the attack on Rue Plumet. Instead of saying “Must be Javert! He’s found my cover at last!” he sang “Must be Cosette!” Then he stopped. He paced over to the next mic and amended, “Must be Javert, he’s found my cover at last.” Not being able to look at the score at times, and not being in the moment with costumes and real staging and such and having only a few days of rehearsal, it’s easy to see how getting the words right all the time would be tough. I like to think he and the others were brave to perform with so little prep time. I think he would have done well, despite being so young, and I hope he gets to really perform the role someday. (It’s pretty ironic: being young as a hurdle where usually it’s considered an advantage?)

Javert: David Kelley
Easily the most into-it actor on stage. When the director called his name and he came on stern and staring and walking as stiffly as if he had a stick up his... Well, it fit the role. He even managed to sort-of dress for the part: instead of just nice black clothes, he had (all nice and all black) boots with black pants over them, a patterned-ish black button-down shirt, a black vest, and a mid-thigh length black coat. He was blond, so they weren’t obvious, but I think he even grew some sideburns to go with Lewis’s full beard. It made me laugh, in a good way, to see someone trying so hard to just look right and stay in character throughout. Good for him. He also sang beautifully, acted well, and generally added a lot to the concert. “Stars” was his strongest song, and it was the first time the audience really applauded long and loud—they seemed a little confused about “What Have I Done?” and had been appreciative but restrained for others up to then. It was one of the best “sold” songs of the night.

Fantine: Rebecca Johnson
Wow, I think she’s a strong woman. The hair-selling and most of the rest, actually, was cut from “Lovely Ladies,” so not all of Fantine’s part was included, but she came off as being a very strong, very assertive woman. This is somewhat in conflict with “I Dreamed a Dream” but it worked well for the scene with Bamatabois, where it was obvious she couldn’t be pushed around. All of which makes one wonder how Fantine wound up in such straits to begin with, but such is the difficulty with assertive strong-woman Fantines. She was (obviously) strong belter for “I Dreamed a Dream” but was also sweet for “Come to Me” (which was uncut, yaaay).

Thenardier: Joe Wyatt
I wonder if he was the original Thenardier who was to be in the show, or if he was a fill-in because he seemed at sea with some of the lyrics and was not at all a good singer. I wouldn’t have done better, mind you, but outside of “Master of the House” he didn’t seem to know why he was there. Which makes me think he hadn’t studied the show—he came to “Brujon Babet, Claquesous. You, Montparnasse...” and gave a little involuntary start like “What the heck is this?” and mumbled through the pronunciation.

Mme. Thenardier: Denise Maffitt
The opposite of Wyatt, she had a great relationship with Cosette (great in the sense that she was so good at being awful) and a nasty panache.

Young Cosette: Jordyn Campanella
She seemed taller than the tour Cosettes, but she was quite good. She approached her song as though she were entirely in a make-believe world, closing her eyes, swaying whistfully: it was very affecting. Her singing was nice, but she just went a little overboard with some melodramatic hand gestures when Mme. Thenardier was terrorizing her. Also cute was that after their scene, she and Denise Maffitt shared a little smile and a laugh back at their seats.

Eponine: Shannon Bilo
The thing I remember most about her performance was the belting. She came to the role with a very traditional, lovelorn interpretation, and unfortunately, especially with the belting, it was a one-note performance. Her voice was very strong, too, which sometimes got to be too much when she sang directly into the mic. It was also distracting that she was so made-up (fancy hair, eye shadow, lipstick) and yet playing a street urchin.

Cosette: Chelsea Lovett
She had a pleasant presence, sang sweetly without going all ear-splitting on the high notes, so she seemed like a fine Cosette. She and Lewis also had a nice, warm relationship, and he didn’t get really mad at her in “In My Life,” which I really like.

Marius: Sean Watkins
The only non-Equity member of the principle cast, excepting the children. A tall, squareish blond fellow who, I believe, Lewis is glad he didn’t have to carry on his back. He sang nicely, seemed slightly dumbfounded by Cosette, and got so into the emotion of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” that he flubbed the last line.

Gavroche: Isaac Hollingsworth
A perky, jaunty little kid who sang out well and seemed quite confident on stage. They had good child actors for this show.

Enjolras: Trevor Southworth
A square-jawed broad-shouldered fellow, a little short, and he made a very tense, ardent Enjolras. He had a suitably strong voice and he did his best to interact with Marius and the ensemble “students.”

Grantaire: There is no Grantaire.
The student tracks were all askew, and that “Do You Hear the People Sing?” and “Red and Black” were cut did not help. Three or four members of the men’s ensemble came down to the mics to sing the students’ songs, but who sang what parts varied randomly.

Ensemble:
Special mention must go to an unknown blonde female ensemble member who sat in the first row on the stage-right end. She was the factory girl and in a few other individual ensemble roles (the tracks were not as they are on stage), and she acted as though she were in the real show and not a concert. Even when the ensemble stood to sing, there she was, acting away. What a pleasure.

An unexpected pleasure, also, was the Bishop (Nicholas Weuhrmann). A nice voice, close-cropped gray hair, rectangular glasses, and for the last verse, he went up (an octave? I think so) so “By the witness of the martyrs...” was very cool and different.