Stan & Eisha: Les Miserables!

For those of you who are sad for Olivia because she was eliminated from The Voice-kids, don't be! It just so happened that 4 days after Olivia was eliminated from The Voice- kids, there were auditions being held for the Australian tour of Les Miserables. Had Olivia gone through to the next round of The voice- kids she might have missed out on a shot to be a part of the world famous Cameron Mackintosh production of Les Miserables!

From start to finish, the audition process took 4 months. Olivia auditioned the first time with a group of 10-11 year olds. She made it to the final cut and then received a phone call a few months later (Cameron Mackintosh himself reviews the final group) that they had decided to cut almost every kid from the first audition. Only a few remained and she was one of them. Now they were opening up auditions for kids younger than 10. The benefit of having kids 10 and older has to do with government working restriction. Once the kids are younger than 10 there are more restrictions. So she prepared for a second string of auditions with kid ranging from 6-11 years old.

Here is Olivia zoning out. Usually there is a lot of draining energy at these auditions and you have to keep your head in the game. Kids crying, singing, talking, being excited etc.... Everyone copes with auditions differently. Olivia just ignores the hustle and bustle and zones out. When they do the auditions you go round after round and can get cut at anytime. Some rounds are singing, some acting etc..It's more a game of how long you can stay in. In between each round, a couple girls would go ahead and the rest would come out in tears. Overall about 150 girls auditioned for the parts of Cossette and Eponine. They needed 8 girls total (so 4 on each part).

We didn't hear anything for ages and after a very very long wait, Olivia was informed that she had been selected for the musical and she would get to play the part of Eponine & Ensemble! When she found out she screamed with excitement! I asked her "are you disappointed you didn't get to play Cossett and sing 'castle on a cloud?' She said "NO, I am just grateful they would think I was good enough to do something so big as Les Mis!" She would have played any part they offered her and I am so proud of her for (1) being grateful no matter what and (2) for giving 100% no matter how big or small the part!

Honestly, I am busting with pride after Olivia's gracious loss on The Voice- kids and now her genuine excitement for her role in Les Mis. She really does have a heart of gold.

To sing in Les Miserables is pretty much a dream come true for the whole family. I have a soft spot for Les Mis; when I was 16 years old my parents took me on a trip to England, and Les Mis was the first musical I ever saw. I have the poster framed in my house with the original tickets!

Here is Olivia during one of her first days rehearsing in the theater!

Crazy story: Olivia's very first voice lesson was from a girl in Sydney named Patrice Tipoki. Patrice was a friend from church and when they started lessons the first song Patrice taught Olivia was "Castle on a cloud." Unfortunately, Olivia's voice lessons were cut short, and after only 6 lessons our family moved from Sydney to Melbourne (8 hours south). Shortly after we moved, Patrice's husband graduated from school and their family moved up to Brisbane (10 hours north of Sydney). We didn't expect to see them again, but as fate would have it Patrice landed the role of Fauntine! Olivia couldn't believe she would be singing alongside her old voice teacher! Crazy hu??

Throughout the play Olivia has 3 outfit changes (1) a peasant costume, for the beginning of the play when John Val John is looking for work (2) a beautiful blue dress and bonnet during the master of the house scene when she plays Eponine and (3) a street costume during the second half of the play when she is part of the french revolution riot, and sings a short solo in the song "turning" when the girls are cleaning the blood off the streets after the revolution.

Olivia is at the theater 4 nights a week, with 8 performances happening each week. Olivia will rotate with 3 other girls (there are 6 night performances with two matinee performances (Wednesday & Sunday), and Mondays are always off!)

So far it has been a big learning curve for us, but we are doing well! I am so proud of Olivia for all her hard work! Honestly, she is amazing! Here is the webpage in case you want to have a peak! http://www.lesmis.com.au/about/cast-and-creative/ensembles/

And if you have never seen the play- GO! It has such a beautiful message and if she only ever gets in one play, this is the one we would pick! We love Les Miserables!