Created by Stanford students, the Opera-Going Experience Project element seeks to "transport the audience to a 19th century opera house and immerse them in the culture surrounding it before, during and after the show itself."
Ram's Head's production will transform Memorial Auditorium, Stanford's largest performance space, into Salle le Peletier, the home of the Paris Opéra in 1862. Beginning at 7:30 PM each night, 16 actors — dressed as bourgeois operagoers — will meander through the lobby to gossip about fellow patrons, comment on politics and critique Victor Hugo's latest work.
In the style of Grand Opera, the musical on stage will feature a cast of 34, complete orchestra of 22, lavish designs and "focus on spectacle."
Directed by Sammi Cannold, the cast features Matthew Billman as Jean Valjean, Praveen Ramesh as Inspector Javert, Justine DeSilva as Fantine, Amy DuBose as Eponine, Maddie McClung as Cosette, David Lopez as Marius, Graham Roth as Enjolras, Brady Richter as Thenardier, Jessia Hoffman as Mme Thenardier, Alex Cope as Bishop, Cameron Campbell as Foreman, Jessica Waldman as Factory Girl and Megan Gage as Old Woman.
Chris Apy and TonyBoy Marin play Gavroche with Melina Soberg and Sasha Steiner as Young Cosette. The Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg musical includes such classics as "I Dreamed a Dream," "On My Own," "Stars," "Bring Him Home," "Do You Hear the People Sing?," "One Day More," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "Master Of The House" and more.
A reimagined revival currently plays Broadway's Imperial Theatre. For more on that production, click here.
Ram's Head Theatrical Society is Stanford's largest and oldest student theatre company. Over 100 students are working on this production, making it the largest production in recent Ram's Head history.
Another Standford student-run theatre group, At the Fountain Theatricals, recently presented the Jeanine Tesori-Brian Crawley musical Violet on a moving bus. Read the Playbill VIP Spotlight on the production here.
Kelly Gregg, a producer behind Violet, produces Les Miz.
For more information, visit Stanford.edu/Rams-Head or Musical.Stanford.edu. To learn more about arts programs at colleges and universities across the country, including Stanford, visit PlaybillEDU.com.
