A Life Worth Living

Master of the House

What do you think of when you attend a school production?

I'm not saying you don't expect quality production, but you don't usually associate amazing props and costumes, fantastic lighting and sound, or superb performances from those involved. The performances may be good, but you'll never think you're at Broadway or something.

That got turned on its head when I went to watch Les Miserables staged by the students of Barker College yesterday.

Firstly, there were actually properly published programmes printed on glossy paper (with a full-colour cover) and with extremely well-taken photos of the cast. We even had assigned seatings, although it was a bit of a challenge trying to find seat number 3 when you're really all just sitting on a long bench.

There was actually a full orchestra located in front of the stage and even before the musical started, you could see the really impressively built backdrop and intuitively know that the props and costumes would be as stunning.

And the peformance! It was hard to believe that I was actually watching high school students singing and acting! Powerful voices, smooth acting, I really felt transported to a proper non-school production at times.

Needless to say, I left the hall extremely impressed by the production and the direction of the musical. The interpretation, the staging, the singing, the lighting, everything was just done perfectly.

And I absolutely fell in love with the Master of the House scene in which the actor so wonderful depicted the character. It was as if he was born for that role (whether that's a compliment or not I'm not sure.)

Even this supposedly professionally done version cannot compare to the one I saw last night.




Technorati tags: Les Miserables, musical, school production