The popular and vocally demanding Les Miserables is coming to St. Dominic’s very own stage, and the cast list has been released.

Seniors Peyton Bishop, Nathan Hakenewerth and Jackie Lang will be leading the cast with their respective roles: Jean Valjean, Javert and Fantine. Les Miserables is likely to be one of the most musically driven performances from St. Dominic in the past few years.

“I practiced singing all summer for this show just because it is a very vocally demanding show, but during the audition process I had to find a song that fit my vocal range and showed enough emotion and a monologue that I was able to portray the emotion very well,” Hakenewerth said.

While some actors have known which part they wanted from the beginning, others found inspiration in some peculiar places.

“I auditioned because when I watched this show at the Fox . . . I felt the most connected to [Jean Valjean] and that I could portray him the best out of the characters,” Bishop said.

Different roles call for different preparations, and each actor took time to perfect their approach.

“For this show, I prepared by listening to different versions of the musical and watching the movie. . . I also went to the Fox to see the show, which was absolutely amazing. I then did research on musicals similar to Les Miserables and picked my audition song based off of the similarities. And from there I just worked on phrasing and emotions for the song I picked,” Lang said.

But seniors aren’t the only students in the play; Maria Klassen, Elizabeth Petruso and Max Williams have joined the cast as Cosette, Eponine and Enjolras respectively. We’re looking forward to the final production of Les Miserables; be sure to go check it out this spring!