By Bakhita Awouya Wilson Theater Company (WTC) is known for choosing daring productions to challenge the students, but a show as popular and well known as Les Miserables was on a different level of difficulty. With many delays interrupting the process of putting on the show, the rehearsals were long and exhausting. One of the most iconic roles in musical theater history, Jean Valjean, was played by high school senior Matthew Kidd. It is no doubt that playing Jean Valjean is as vocally demanding as it is emotionally.
When asked how Kidd manages to get into character, he responded with, “Jean Valjean is a very emotional character. Depending on what the emotion is, I think of things that make me feel a certain way. For example, when I sing ‘Bring Him Home,’ I run around the track twice. I want to sound tired and exhausted.” When questioned further about “Bring Him Home,” he said, “To make the song look easy is hard, and I didn’t realize it until [now] because this is...the first time I’ve really felt that. Because everything else I’ve ever sung was more like...it was challenging, but it’s not tiring. After going home last night, I was dead.” Kidd, though excited to play such a big role, reported that he was also extremely anxious and terrified. He had never been casted as a lead in a production throughout his theater career, which began in third grade. He explained how he truly realized how laborious playing his character was while watching a video on the “Top Ten Hardest Musical Theater Roles” from a popular Youtube channel, WatchMojo. Jean Valjean was ranked 4th most difficult character, putting Kidd’s role into perspective as he began to realize what he was taking on. After being questioned about how he dealt with all the stress of playing a lead, Kidd answered with, “I try not to think about it, but I obviously know it’s there. I just try to focus on being in the moment.” Since he is also a senior, he has to juggle school work as well. He strives to do homework in his downtime at rehearsals, though he claimed he did not receive too much as of lately. At the end of the day, all the hard work and dedication that Kidd put into the show paid off, resulting in him winning the cloak一an old WTC tradition in which a cloak with little artifacts from each show is passed down to an honorary cast member after every production. In his own words, Kidd describes Les Miserables as “one of the best shows Wilson Theater Company probably will ever put on, which sets a high bar, but I think we can do it and it can be done.”
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