It’s Tuesday morning and the stage of Popejoy Hall resembles a construction zone as crew members hang lights, program cues into the board, and raise and drill set pieces into place. Gradually the outlines of 1815 Paris take shape.
Moving a massive Broadway show like Les Misérables around the country is a major logistical operation. The North American tour opens Tuesday night at Albuquerque’s Popejoy Hall.
Stage Manager Ken Davis said it takes a little over 100 folks just backstage to get the show up and running.
“We use local people to fill out those ranks. So we hire another 20 folks to just work on costumes from the Albuquerque area who do pretty much all the shows that come through this theater,” Davis said.
This production travels with only 16 crew members, so each new venue hires a local team to make the show come to life.
Les Mis travels with 11 trucks. One is entirely dedicated to the show’s 1,000 costumes. The rest carry set pieces and equipment. They even bring their own floor…
“Which sits eight inches above the floor of the Popejoy, or any floor we're on, it has 32 speakers built into it, so the actors can hear incredibly well,” said Davis.
All in all, it takes about 16 hours to entirely load in the show. The process is lengthy, but Davis said it’s worth it.
“Whether it's a show on the Norwegian Prima, or it's Les Mis at Popejoy Hall,” said Davis, “my whole job is to make sure that all these people filling up these red seats are entertained, their lives are changed, and they leave hopefully happier than when they came in.”
Les Misérables will be running at Popejoy Hall through Sunday February 23rd. Then the crew breaks it down and hits the road to start the process all over again.
