Lansing High School students to dazzle in ‘Les Miserables’

The Lansing High School (LHS) production of “Les Miserables” opens tonight, bringing to life Jean Valjean’s story of redemption with the high level of quality residents have come to expect from LHS theater.

The show will be on tap at the Lansing Middle School Auditorium through Saturday. Times and more information can be found here: https://ltapa.ticketleap.com/les-mis/?fbclid=IwAR2rOjNZyFKeXQfAzANBdvF_0Y16TTaZz4t11BrycZ3W1E0ZOIIiAg50Qz0

The school’s version of the legendary musical will be driven by the creativity of students and their dedication to their respective crafts. Longtime organizers and volunteers of LHS theater have helped students maintain a high bar of quality throughout the decades.

Director Cindy Howell has been doing shows with students for more than 30 years. She said that shows like “Les Miserables” work great at Lansing due to the talent of the students.

“Lansing kids are so musical to begin with, that doing a show that’s all music is almost easier than having them have to memorize lines,” Howell said. “Not every school can do this.”

Tilly Garnet, who volunteers as the assistant producer, is instrumental in coordinating rehearsals and schedules in order to maintain that standard of excellence.

“We are trying to coordinate roughly 60 students and their parents,” Garnet said. “I love the energy of the kids. I love watching them go from scared students trying to do their audition up through the final performance.”

Students take charge

From choreography and music to the acting performances, students are a driving creative force behind the production that ends up on stage. 

Anna Hibbard, a senior at LHS, has always been a dancer. She got her start performing in a production of “The Nutcracker” in the third grade. Now, she is the lead choreographer behind the musical numbers in “Les Miserables.”

“I usually just go over the choreography many times with myself before I have to come in,” Hibbard said. “And then with each group that I teach, it’s all a little different.”

“Les Miserables,” Hibbard said, is a special performance in that it does not feature a lot of traditional dancing.

“You have to match the dances with the time period and what’s going on in the story, so it’s just very different from other musicals,” she said.

To prepare for a new challenge in “Les Miserables,” Hibbard said she studied what other high school productions did to prepare the musical numbers.

“I saw how they approached it and kind of took that and put my own spin on it,’ she added.

Students are also looking to excel with the musical performances. The on-stage action will be accompanied by students in the orchestra pit, as well as main pianist Domo Ronsvalle, a senior.

“I’ve been in shows here since I was in third grade, and I’ve loved acting, but I’ve also loved supporting from a more musical standpoint,” Ronsvalle said. “I’ve loved helping everybody learn their parts. It is very rewarding for me.”

In his role as a pianist, which he said is a support role, Ronsvalle has found a new way to work with actors directly and helped them nail the flow of the action on stage.

“It was hard to choose whether to be in the show or to play the piano,” he said. “But I just love helping everybody and knowing that I was able to add more than just being one person on the stage.”

When it comes to performances, organizers said the talent pool of thespians ready to embrace the complex characters in the show was deep, which led to having roles being performed by multiple actors.

Senior Grant Corso and junior Connor Lajza are set to assume the role of Valjean, a former prisoner struggling to walk a path of redemption and ultimately live a normal life.

This production marks Corso’s first time performing a lead role in a school musical.

“It is my senior year, so I might as well make the most of it and try something new,” Corso said, adding that the role also served as a vital opportunity to act alongside his friends.

Lajza said “Les Miserables” is special because the music plays an integral role in dictating the action.

“I like how there are very few spoken lines, and it’s all just continuous music throughout the whole show,” Lajza said. “It just never stops and it establishes a continuous flow all the way through.”

The other lead role, Javert, will be performed by senior Stephen Geise and junior Aidan Maloney. Javert is first a prison guard and later a police inspector obsessed with the rule of law, who becomes fixated on the notion of pursuing and punishing Valjean for violation of his parole. 

For Geise, the performance is a chance to embrace a different identity that deviates from his traditionally laid-back self.

“When we go out on stage, we’re just these super serious figures, and we have to completely embrace new personalities,” Geise said. “It is just fun to go out there and try to act out the best we can and put on a show.”

Maloney said he welcomes the change of pace from productions in previous years, which he noted have been mostly comedies.

“Getting to put your own spin on something that’s so well known is a lot of fun,” Maloney said.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties (TCHFH) will host an information session at the Lansing Community Library on March 9 at 10 a.m. in the library’s community room.

TCHFH works toward building and improving homes in partnership with individuals and families in need of a decent and affordable place to live. At the information session, Liz Warner, the homebuyer and volunteer services coordinator for TCHFH, will help answer questions like:

• What should you do if you are interested in applying to be a Habitat homeowner?
• What you can do to volunteer with TCHFH, and where is the organization building right now?
• How does affordable home purchasing with TCHFH work?

The library website indicates that TCHFH is working on two projects in the village of Lansing.