majors, or at least those who had continued to participate in music since finishing high school. From the results of the questionnaire, we began casting the lead roles, went on to the supporting roles, and finished with the chorus roles.


The roles of the children (Gavroche, little Cosette, and little Eponine) were cast at a later time. We enlisted the help of the elementary school teachers who recommended several chil- dren for these roles. We auditioned these students and chose our children cast members from these auditions.


What kind of rehearsal schedule did you develop and how did it work (from inception to end)?


Rehearsals were the most challenging part of the project. The cast included 15 years of alumni students, and they were all over geographically. We had college students, working alumni, parents of small children, and a few others as well. Trying to get them all together was a logistical nightmare. We decided to hold one Saturday rehearsal per month from December through May. I also held one special rehearsal for the ABC society in late May.


These rehearsals consisted of


purely singing. We went through all the music. Made sure that everyone knew what part they were to learn, determined balance and blend, and just focused exclusively on singing. Every cast member was responsible for learning and mem- orizing their own music. They were on the honor system, and they produced! I would ask them to have certain songs learned by the next rehearsal, and they always came back pre- pared. WOW!


During these rehearsals we surveyed the cast as to what time would be the most convenient to rehearse once we got to our Zeeland rehearsals. They preferred evenings, so for the 10 days before performance, we began meeting at the Zeeland Auditorium beginning at 4 p.m. and we rehearsed until 10-11 p.m. It wasn’t until our Zeeland rehearsals began that we introduced or rehearsed any blocking, etc. produced this show with literally 9 days on stage.


In actuality, we


How many alumni did you contact and how many actually joined the cast and/or the pit, committees, etc.?


I began by going through old musical programs, and selected those students who had been in at least 2 shows in high school and had exhibited a positive work ethic and attitude during high school. We contacted, including pit musicians, approxi- mately 100-120 alumni. From that initial list, we ended up with 48 cast members, 11 crewmembers, and 13 pit musicians.


Looking back, what are things you might do differently on a second production?


Hindsight is always wonderful, but the experience was an overall very positive and rewarding experience. I would have


Most importantly, be able to relax, laugh, and enjoy the unique and special experience that you are blessed to be a part of. Having all those alumni who were so special as students, come back and be on one stage was priceless. They didn’t even KNOW each other at the beginning, but bonded and con- nected on a very special level. Siblings got to perform togeth- er, friends were reunited, and new friendships were formed.


The project was a fund-raiser for the new campus that was being started. My initial hope was to raise between $20-25K. When all was said and done, we raised $47,000 for the new campus. What a feeling of accomplishment for everyone in- volved. Each person involved is now truly invested and a part of the new school, and has a PERSONAL investment in it. As I told a friend after the production was finished: “It was the most difficult, frustrating, stressful, rewarding, joyful, and memorable experience I have ever had the privilege of being involved in.” Can’t say that about many projects!


Charles Norris, Professor of Music Education at Grand Valley State Uni- versity, holds masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His under- graduate work was completed at In- diana State University in Terre Haute. A thirteen-year veteran of K-12 music teaching, he brings practical experi- ence into a variety of music educa- tion methods courses at Grand Valley


State University. Dr. Norris also teaches aural perception and sight singing, choral conducting, conducts GVSU Var- sity Men and directs graduate research. Dr. Norris can be reached at norrisc@gvsu.edu.


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a more detailed rehearsal schedule (during production weeks), and have that schedule determined earlier. It was SO diffi- cult to determine how long anything was going to take, and it made the rehearsal schedule difficult. I hate to have people sitting around at rehearsals, but with the complexity and enor- mity of the project, this was one area of collateral damage.


Is there anything you might add that was not cov- ered in these questions?


What a huge project, but what an immensely rewarding one. However, if anyone wants to tackle a project of this magni- tude, you must be prepared to invest a huge amount of organi- zation, pre-planning, discussions, and ground work BEFORE you even think about sending out the initial questionnaires. There will be disappointments (people that have to back out), frustrations (schedules, however well thought out, that don’t quite work out), and stress (microphones that die, sets that don’t work). Also, the difference in working with adults as opposed to students was both exciting and challenging. We all needed to define and appreciate our roles.


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