If Victor Hugo, Claude-Michel Schönberg or Alain Boublil – creators of the 1980 musical – had been able to attend the two performances offered by the Chavornay students, they would certainly have appreciated the flavor.
and freshness.
Last weekend, at the Chavornay multipurpose hall, the school version of the musical Wretched, as created by students from the primary and secondary establishment Chavornay and surrounding areas (EPSCE), combined minimalist decor, projection of images, costumed actors and the presence of a choir. The result demonstrated remarkable motivation on the part of the fifteen students of 10e and 11e year who participated in the project. As their teacher Michael Makhlouf – also an adapter of the text, director and central actor in the role of Jean Valjean – says: “popular opinion suggests that young people today are poorly motivated, it does not is nothing.”
The show could never have taken shape without the many hours, outside of school time, that the students devoted to preparing the work, their active participation in the creation of the opera, their ideas for staging …and their ability to overcome stage fright, most of them having never performed on stage. To the remarkable presence of these young actor-singers, we must add that of the singers of the small choir of Verneret – a choir just as motivated as the budding actors, and which gave power to the show.
Among the performances of the actors, a particular mention for the strong and inspired interpretation of Inspector Javert, that of very gentle Fantine, but also those of the Thénardier couple, of Eponine, of Cosette, of Gavroche, of Marius, and many more. All these young performers have found the strength to play and sing with naturalness and dynamism often difficult parts, originally created for professional actors.
