WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hillsdale Academy Presents 'Les Misérables'

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Hillsdale Academy students Zane Socha and Anne Gray join director Kathryn Wales and WRFH's Jillian Parks to discuss the upcoming performances of Les Misérables at the school.From 04/02/25.

This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Jalian Parks, and with me today are Hillsdale Academy students, Zane Soha and Anne Gray, from the Academy's cast of Les Miserables, along with their director, Catherine Wales. Welcome, everybody. Their show opens next Friday, April 11th, with two performances Saturday, April 12. The show is currently sold out, but I'm told that there's some sort of waiting list. Am I right? Do you want to... That is correct. Help me out there. We sold out very quickly because everyone loves this show. But if you call Hillsdale Academy, call the front desk. You can be put on a waiting list. That number is 517-4-339-8-6-44. Great. Thank you. So everybody who wants to put themselves on that waiting list, go ahead and do that following that number. If you guys could just give us what role you're playing and kind of describe the show and your character's place in it for people who are maybe unfamiliar

with Les Mis. Yeah, of course. I am Jean Valjean. He is the kind of the protagonist of the story, not kind of he is, the protagonist of the story. And it's, it's really a redemption story, is this beautiful sense of like mercy and forgiveness that he grows through and that he has a lot of inner turmoil towards because like that, that's really his driving factor of, right, one of the main songs, Who Am I? And that's what he's trying to discover through the whole show through taking care of Cosette, that's Fantine's daughter, who is a very pivotal person in the beginning of the show. And as Valjean goes through, he really discovers who he truly is as a son of God and as someone as a good father, right, himself, who can take care of not only

Cosette, but Marius, who he saves at the end of the show. So I get the privilege of playing, in my opinion one of the worst characters in the play. Her name is Madame Thinardier and she is the wife to the innkeeper who sings the very well-known song, Master of the House. And her main role in the overarching scheme of things is that she is the really evil,

abusive, crude caretaker of Cosette before Jean Valjean comes and saves her. And she really gives a window into just how important people like Jean Valjean are and like to Cosette and shows like just how bad and how bad off that Cosette was before that redemption. She also provides a lot of well-needed comic relief because it is such a very heavy and dark show. So this one's for you, Mrs. Wales. Why did you decide to do Les Mis this semester? What about it spoke to you and made it feel relevant for right now? Well, what I must say

is I'm really the co-director of this show with Gail Mowry, the music teacher at the Academy. She's the director of fine arts, so she's an administrator as well. And we were sitting in my living room last year, brainstorming shows, and we both kind of stared at each other and looked really excited like we were reading each other's minds. And then we sort of blurted out. Can we do laymins? No, no, no. And then... Don't even go there. We chatted about it for a while. We both had confessed it had been a dream for a long time to do this show. And we looked around at our kids, our students.

We looked at the fact that we had put on Romeo and Juliet and Pirates of Penzance last year. And we just, we saw the range. We said, it's time. We can, we're going to do it. It's time to venture in. So these are iconic characters and a generally iconic story in the Western canon. I'm curious, how do you bring something new to your roles, new to the story, while still staying true to the essence? of what we already have.

Well, to bring a newness is extremely difficult because you have so many phenomenal actors who have played each and every role 100% given they're all. But I'm going to try as faithfully as I can to show that all this hard work that everyone's been putting in is worth it. And to give the audience like, yeah, it's a high school show but I want them to still be blown away by it.

Like, not, oh, it's high school, they can, you know, not hit their notes or the story, you know, you don't feel the emotion. Like, I want everyone to know, like, this was the academy. And they'll remember it. I think part of what is cool about Lim is that it's so well known and that you, it's almost like you're participating in something greater, like something bigger than yourself. I mean, obviously, it's a play with so many different actors. And, you know, each person is different.

and each actor who plays these roles are different. And even though it is acting and they're the same characters, I think the fact that they are different actors naturally kind of puts a slight different spin because they'll relate to different aspects of the character. And I know for me, for comedy, like there's so much I can do and I have so much room to improvise or add a little funny expression or just, you know, add a little sparks of humor here and there throughout the show. Anne's really playing against type completely.

Is that true? Okay, good. Good to year. Yeah, yeah, right. She was Matilda last year. Okay, so quite the pivot. Cosette, kind of. Yeah, yeah.

She's playing Mrs. Wormwood. Great, true, quite, and maybe a little bit of trunch ball in there. Yes, potentially. Do you play Madame Ternardier in like a kind of, is she more funny or is she more evil? in the way that you play her. I do a combination of both. I'd say it's hard to get more one or more the other. I mean, when I'm around Cosette,

my goal is to be like the meanest, nastiest person I can. But then at the end of the show at the wedding, when it's really showing like the different types of people that you get, like they're really poor and then like the upper class and then me who's trying to be upper class, but I'm not. Like that's more just funny. Like I'm just, you know, highlighting that. Yeah.

And then for you, what do you think your directing style or even just the people that you have, it being the Academy, brings to the story that maybe other productions don't? I'm reading the book. And I'm sure other directors have read the book. Come on. First time. I'm just so in love with the book. It's beautiful.

And so a lot of what I have always done for the Academy is provide the character development side of things. and just talking to each actor about his or her role, making sure they love their role, even if it's, I mean, have we had that conversation yet? Maybe a little. Love them into being is really what you have to do. Find where they're sympathetic. Understand them, at the very least.

You have to understand your role. And so I just love getting inside my students' heads and hearts and helping them make those connections and find their own unique way of putting it on. And this is a really large cast. There are many leads, you could say, right? And so I haven't gotten to spend as much time talking to each actor as I would like, but show week is a great opportunity for that.

Because we're all, it's all hands on deck, and that means me popping in at lunch, checking on each person, like, how are you feeling? How is this going? Do you have any questions at this point? I really love the excitement of show week for that reason. So different people do Les Mis in different ways. Sometimes there's just about zero ensemble,

and what you have is like just the leads that you see. Do you guys have some sort of ensemble in this show? If so, how do they get incorporated into a show that's so lead-heavy? It's actually... 60 people! It's awesome. It's so cool. Like, I'll tell you one of the final song of Act 1 is One Day More,

and it is this awesome, Like, you know, the leads all come together. Everyone comes together. But if it was just the leads, that song, in my opinion, would be so much more boring. Like, in our practices, now we did recently, like, even though I'm also on stage singing, like, I still hear them behind me. And I'm like, wow, this is going to be amazing. Right. And like, they almost, in my opinion, they carry the leads, like even more.

Like, they make us sound better just because they sound so. so good. And then they bring so much more emotion. Like in Master of the House, they bring so much emotion and it's just hilarious what they're doing. And then they kind of just show like the turmoil like in the beggars song. It's like

they just come through and they really show the turmoil and like the dread. And then they also show this, they just show every emotion like possible. It's awesome. I'd say definitely that the ensemble like builds the world. which the main characters act.

Like, by ourselves, there's only so much that we can do. But with everyone else behind us, we're interacting with them. Like, I steal a loaf of bread or a shawl from a peasant. And, like, if I didn't have those other people to interact or bounce off of, it definitely wouldn't be the same. I'm very glad that we do have, like, an ensemble. I could not imagine doing it without them. For those of you who are just tuning in, you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale,

1-1.7 FM. My name is Julian Parks. and I'm here with Hillsdale Academy students Zane Soha and Anne Gray from the Hillsdale Academy cast of Le Mizz Arab, along with their director, Catherine Wales. Le Miz is originally written by Victor Hugo. It's a massive book. And obviously, the songs in dramatic format make it a little bit more approachable, but it still has some pretty dense and heavy themes. I'd love to hear each one of you make a case for why high schools not only can, but should do this show. well it's like the defending of doing the fine arts to begin with like singing or playing violin like why would you do that you know it could be seen as some useless pastime but there is a certain beauty in it and even like the scenes like when we're at the docks right that scene is super super rough and dark and sad and just kind of brings the whole mood down and like it's a super heavy topic but one that i feel like especially high schoolers as we're maturing and like really finding out that there are some sadder parts to the world and some parts that you need to be extremely mature to attack. Like if you have that little base, even if it's just acting in a play, I feel that that is

extremely beneficial and extremely helpful for just daily life. It's kind of like sports, how like a team will prepare you to, you know, get along with other people and teach you interpersonal skills. And I think the same with drama. Like it gives you an opportunity to wrestle with the hard questions in a setting where there really is like no pressure. Like it's not like, I don't know, it's Fontaine dying instead of, I don't know, your grandma. And so that gives you a chance to understand it and get to know it better in a very low-key, not stressful situation. I just think the story cannot be beat

and the sooner students know it the better. We took them all to see Le Miserablesab in Chicago in December, which was very fun. But to see it is one thing, to watch the movie is another. To watch the movie 10 times is another thing. But to put it on is it just gets so much deeper into their psyche, their bones, life to have put on this show will truly improve the quality of their lives. I really believe that.

And for everyone to see children, I mean, you're almost young adults, but you're children. Putting on a play this big is an astonishing thing. And they're really doing it. People keep asking me, how's it go? I have it. I'm like, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. What's one thing about Les Mis that you think might resonate with people who are unfamiliar? with the story or the musical. I think the biggest aspect of it is this Christian, like, overarching theme, which is really cool. Like, it's so as big as it is, even though it caters towards a specific group.

Like, you could say that. It's because even though the Christian overarching theme is there, the theme of, like, identity in finding who you truly are, right? As a son of God, as a father, right? as a mother even, right, as someone who loves another. Like, it's super beautiful and I feel super relatable, whether you love and know the musical or it's your first time seeing it. Something that resonated with me the first time that I saw it

was one of the final lines in the final song, like, beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see? And so the whole message of hope throughout the entire movie, just, I don't know, really stuck with me. and having seen all the students, like, dead on the vericades and, like, what did they die for? And then seeing at the end, basically the chorus of heaven saying and communicating that there is more beyond, like, the suffering that's here, whether that's after death or even in the relationships that you find with others. Because John Valjean, again, finds purpose and finds hope in raising Cosette.

And I just I love the hope that you see in Les Mis. Yeah. I teach drama over at Hillsdale Classical as well. It's a homeschooling co-op here in town. And every single year we put on a Christmas carol in December. And I realized the story of Lehman's Robb is as if Scrooge had more of a midlife crisis instead of a late-in-life crisis and then went on to have this amazing life. What would that maybe look like? Oh, it looks like this.

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect comparison. I'm curious, we can get kind of into the rehearsal process more. I kind of want to hear some of your guys' stories from that experience. How long have you guys been rehearsing? Well, it was cast by Thanksgiving. Okay. Yeah. You had a few weeks before Christmas.

Right. To sit with it. Sit with it. And then to go see it, as I said. True. It was just fantastic. We get to rehearse on Friday's eighth period. and some Saturdays.

Nice. It's tough to do it that way. But we've done it that way for a long time and it works somehow. Okay. It's amazing. Perfect. So what were some of your guys's favorite moments from the rehearsal process? You can pick something particularly fun, particularly challenging that just came together when

putting together the show. Two things that stuck out to me was before I was even cast when I was thinking about auditioning for the show. I think it was at a Harry James swing orchestra. And Mrs. Wales comes up to me and says, hey, what do you think about playing Madame Tenardia? And I'm that thought, like, and I earlier, I'd gotten the email that I was called back for that role. And I just, I just burst out laughing. It was so funny to me that I would be playing, like, a role that I am so not like. And I don't know, It just started being a possibility, and then from then on, it was just kind of like, this is going to be a whole lot of fun. That's awesome.

I've certainly had a blast. And I think the other, every time Mary Schleader, as Fantine sings, I dreamed a dream. Like, I always make sure to come back in the music room for that section. She just puts her whole heart into it every time she sings. And it is just a beauty to watch. one of my favorite moments was one rehearsal under my like my shirt that I was wearing for the dress I had a Superman shirt on and what what happens is right when I I'm I look at Javert and I'm revealing my identity and it's this really powerful emotional scene and I rip open my shirt to reveal the

tattoo on my chest which is 24601 showing that I am a prisoner and I ripped it open and it was a Superman shirt. Stupid. That's awesome. It was so good. And then just a few weeks ago, I sprained my ankle pretty bad,

much to the terror of Mrs. Wales. Oh, boy. And I was on crutches during a dress rehearsal. Oh, geez. So that was really rough. It's weirdly kind of fitting, though, is it not? I know. I said, I mean, a cane I could handle.

The crutches, you need your hand. Yes, yes, fair enough. So we have to lift this cart. Right. It's another really powerful scene, right? It's also revealing to Javert that, oh, this guy, this guy's different. What is it with this man? And I just stuck my crutches under the cart.

He's lifted it up. And he's like, wow, this guy's something different. And I was like, yeah, that's Valjean. Yeah, keep that in for sure. So this is the first time I have one of my own children in one of these high school shows. He's playing Grand Terre. I love that revolutionary. So the first time I saw him die was really crazy hard for me because he was so good at it.

I looked real. And I just was like, this is high stakes. Everybody's going to see these kids. These are their children. These are their neighbors, their friends. And so we really, really have to make sure we get the tone right. I mean, a thing I'm just constantly saying, stop smiling. Stop smiling.

Somebody died. No, no. Watch your face. And so I love the whole process of that because we do have to communicate these very difficult truths, but we also have to do that in a kind of playful atmosphere. And getting that tone right can be really challenging sometimes. But these kids, they've really grown a lot in this drama program, and they know how to shift between those kinds of tones and to get serious when we need to.

and there's really good leaders, these two, especially for the rest of the cast. Just like this is how we pulled this off with these few rehearsals is to be really professional up here. And we're not goofing off. We're working on our music at home. We're ready to go. I mean, these two especially were off book really early. Nice. And that was just so inspiring.

I mean, to me and to everyone. that they're ready to go. That buy-in definitely makes it easier for others to buy into as they come up in the program. So that's really exciting. My last question for you guys is just in a few words, a couple sentences. What's the most important thing you learned from watching, performing, learning this show? I had to work really, really hard to get this role. Like months, months and months before, like right when they announced it, I was like, I'm getting the lead.

role. And so I went and I got voice lessons and I practice and practice and practice. And then eventually it paid off. And this has been like, I've worked hard for things before and really haven't seen the reward. I know I did like it did happen just in a lesser way. But this really showed me like my hard work can lead to success and it does matter. Man, I don't know. I mean, I've definitely learned so much. Coming into this show, again, I was really wanting more of a lead role. You know, freshman year, I was Matilda, and I had a blast, but I don't think I realized just how big of a responsibility it was. And so I wanted to have a lead to kind of almost have a second chance to show that I'm willing to, like Zane said, put in the work. Like, I want to be the best I

can, even if it's being the best at being the worst, the worst character. And so I've just learned a whole lot about, like, being a leader, like, to other actors, as well as, like, being a leader for myself. It's hard to describe. It's like drawing on other characters to kind of inspire me to do great things. I think that that's probably one of the biggest takeaways for me in acting this. Hillsdale Academy students can do anything. Yeah. That's what I learned.

I mean, I've knew that already because we've done a lot of Shakespeare. Yeah. And unabridged Shakespeare, tough material. Right. And I am just so grateful to live here and work with these students who are this hard work. I mean, watching Zane transform into this character has been astonishing. And it will leave a mark. I mean, people will talk about it forever.

Just remember when that kid became a man? Yeah. In a couple months. Yes. And not just man, a hero and a saints. Remember that? It's just so good. It's so good to live here and get to see that.

And I just feel very blessed. Yeah. Well, like I said earlier, the show opens next Friday, April 11th, and with two performances, Saturday, April 12th. Get on the wait list if you want to go see it. Thank you guys for coming on the Hillsdale Radio Station today. Our guests have been Zane Soha and Anne Gray from Hillsdale Academy's cast of LeMay Ms, along with their director, Catherine Wales.

And I'm Julian Parks on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. You know,