Over the past weekend, the Lakewood High School Barnstormers performed their annual spring musical. This year, they put the Les Misérables musical on the stage. They had their auditions in December and spent ample time rehearsing in preparation for the performance. Not only did they put together a talented cast, but they also had an amazing pit to play their music.

Les Misérables follows the main character, Jean Valjean, an ex-convict, in his attempt to redeem himself after breaking parole. The story takes place during the June Rebellion of 1832 in Paris, France. Valjean’s journey changes when he adopts Cosette, the daughter of the struggling mother Fantine, and his life then becomes intertwined with not only Cosette’s life but also other characters’ lives as well, including Eponine, Marius, and Gavroche. The tale depicts rebellion and involves a love interest as well.

Once the annual spring musical is picked by a designated team of adults, it is later announced in the fall. From there, they host auditions for the cast, as the cast is not pre-picked. Auditions are a two-day process for the musical, with the first day singing and the second day being dance auditions and callbacks. In deciding on the musical, they look at many factors, including the talent of the students they work with.

“It was the first time since I started teaching here 12 years ago, where I thought we had a cast that could do Les Misérables,” Domenic Farinelli-Martinez, who helped to direct the play and is a part of the group that picks the spring musical, said.

Les Misérables is not an easy musical to perform. The musical itself has a longer duration than many of the musicals that Barnstormers has done in the past few years. Not only that, but the entire production is entirely sung-through, as there is not one scene with regular dialogue.

“It’s not a show that’s often done by high schools,” Farinelli-Martinez said. “It is extremely difficult and very long.”

With a more challenging and longer musical, the cast had to put in much time, work, and dedication to the production. After auditions in December, the cast begins rehearsing as soon as they return from winter break in January. Their rehearsal starts as only a few hours, but as the show comes closer, their rehearsals get longer. Some students will spend over 14 hours a day at the high school, with eight hours of school during the day and five hours of rehearsal during tech week.

“The cast, crew, and pit put so much time into bringing this story to life,” junior Cora Barcelona, who played Cosette in the show, said.

Their rehearsals can vary depending on what they need to work on and what needs fixing. In the months before the show, they would rehearse in the black box theatre, but leading up to the show, they would have to put their practice to the test on the stage in the Civic. Going from performing in a tight space to a large stage is a significant change, so adjustments would have to be made from that. They would have vocal rehearsals with choral director Rayna Brooks, costume fittings, tech days that would involve testing their microphones and speakers, and much more. They also would have to spend time rehearsing with the pit orchestra to ensure they were all on the same page.

“There were tons of pieces that needed to fit into place, so everyone had to stay focused to pull it off,” Barcelona said.

Barnstormers is very fortunate to have a pit orchestra to perform the music for their productions, whereas many other schools use a soundtrack played on speakers for their music. The pit played in last year’s musical, Sweeney Todd, and this year in Les Misérables. The pit consists of many students involved in the orchestra and the band who must audition to be a part of it.

“For the audition process, we all received a few excerpts to prepare from the show, and then we auditioned in front of Mr. Dandrun,” senior Sophia Lipowski, who played the bass clarinet in the pit, said.

The pit brings a lot to the table for the musical, as the live music adds depth to the production. The pit has to spend a significant amount of time rehearsing music and practicing with the cast leading up to the show’s opening night.

“It’s always a cool experience when we first put it all together. That first run through feels kind of magical even though I’m exhausted at the end of a twelve or thirteen-hour day,” Lipowski said.

Similar to the cast, the pit’s rehearsal starts only a few days a week after school until five, but leading up to the show, they have more rehearsals throughout the week that would sometimes end as late as nine at night. Not only did the pit dedicate time to practicing during rehearsals, but they also took time outside rehearsals and school to practice the music.

“I practiced quite a bit on the difficult stuff, specifically for woodwinds, since together we’d typically rehearse stuff collectively that we could all benefit from, like balance and tricky rhythms we all had,” Lipowski said.

The numerous hours the cast, crew, and pit spend rehearsing for the show become worth it once they finally show everyone their hard work. They had three showings of the play, one each day, Thursday through Saturday.

“We were all tired by the end of our run, but that didn’t make it any easier for it to be over,” Barcelona said.

With the 2025 spring play concluding, Barnstormers look forward to their next production. They will shortly begin planning for their next musical, and many have thoughts of which one they hope it is. Many are hoping for a more joyful production, as the last three musicals have been on the darker side.

“I would love to do Hadestown next year,” Barcelona said.

As of now, it is unclear what musical they will perform in the spring of 2026. However, it is certain that whatever production they choose, the cast will be able to pursue it greatly, as Barnstormers is full of students with outstanding talent.

“For this year, we had such an amazing group of kids in Les Misérables, and so many of the kids who had major roles will still be here next year,” Farinelli-Martinez said. “There’s so much talent across the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes.”

The Barnstormers are constantly growing and improving in many areas. They have unbeatable talent once they set foot on the stage. With so much time spent together in rehearsals and performances, the group has become very close with one another.

“The Barnstormers are like a family!” Barcelona said. “Our shared love of performance helps us bond throughout the rehearsal process.”

The Barnstormers are always looking to expand and grow. Whether you want to sing on stage, dance, play an instrument in the pit, or help with the process backstage, they are happy to include anyone interested in participating in the show. Barnstormers are welcoming to all and are excited to see where the future takes them.