AUDITION PIECES

The audition pieces for the Company Audition Day are taken from ensemble moments of the show. Within the selected audition material there are designated character lines. For example, in the prologue, the male ensemble is split into specific named convict lines.

For the audition, please ignore the line allocation, and learn the selected bars in their entirety as though they are solo songs. This approach should be adopted for all the ensemble audition pieces. Where the music splits into harmony, please select one of the harmony lines and learn that.

Please remain faithful to the voice type that you identified on your application form.

What will happen in the audition?

Dave, Morv and Justine will facilitate the audition as a workshop. The audition will feel very much like we are in the rehearsal room. Dave and Justine will guide you through different practical activities to stage the pieces in different ways. Morv will explore vocal choices and together we will start to experiment with how our version of the show will look and feel.

The audition panel will be present in the room and may make notes throughout. The important thing is that you commit and respond to the activities that we guide you through. Les Misérables is an ensemble piece. Dave will be staging the piece in rehearsal by offering frameworks and ideas and then using your responses to create the action on stage. This is a responsive and creative process for the full company.

This is not a production where you will be told where to stand and what to do at every moment. As a company you need ownership of what you are doing. Come with an open mind and a willingness to create.

This audition will be used as part of the process to cast ensemble roles that have specific character names and solo singing lines such as the students, the Factory Girl, The Bishop, The Foreman, The Pimp...etc. It is therefore important that the panel have the opportunity to see you sing individually and respond to acting and movement tasks.

If you do not wish to be considered for a solo singing role, you will have had an opportunity to indicate this on your form.

Everyone auditioning will be expected to be off book for all three of the selected audition numbers. During the workshop, different people will be allocated lines to sing from the audition material. This will change throughout the session so that everyone has the opportunity to be heard.

During the audition you will be allocated numbers and name badges. Please don’t be offended by this, it just ensures that everyone can be seen, identified and celebrated. For the audition, please wear comfortable clothes. Being able to move freely is important. This is a period piece so if you would like to bring a shawl/pashmina/rehearsal skirt, they might be useful to swish every now and then.

Following the audition day, you will be notified if you have been successful in securing a place in the company. At this stage, anyone who has expressed an interest in auditioning for one of the nine principal roles will be allocated an audition time.

AUDITIONING FOR ONE OF THE NINE PRINCIPAL ROLES

First Round

At the first round of the principal auditions, you will be given the opportunity to sing the designated first round audition pieces in their entirety (these are extracts from the pieces selected by the Cameron Mackintosh creative team). Character notes with both voice and playing age requirements have been supplied by the rights holders, and we will follow this guidance in the casting process.

Please ensure that you are off book

At this stage, the creative team will not workshop the material with you. This will feel like quite a quick process. You will enter the room and sing your set audition pieces and then leave. This will be quite a formal process. (Dave hates doing auditions in this way but based on expected numbers it is the fairest way to ensure that everyone who wants to be heard for a role can be heard.)

Please note that on your application form you will be asked to specify one role that you wish to be seen for. You will also have the opportunity to identify any other roles that you wish to be considered for. During the first round of auditions, you will only sing for your first-choice role. This will have been agreed prior to audition.

Based on the first-round principal auditions, the creative team may ask you to consider auditioning for another role. If this happens, you will be asked to prepare the audition material for the character for the recalls that will take place the following week. If you are asked to audition for a role that you hadn’t auditioned for in the first round of auditions, you will not be expected to perform the audition piece off-book, but you will be expected to be familiar enough with the material so that you can experiment and respond to direction with confidence, even if the music is in your hand.

Following the first round of principal auditions, you will be notified if you have been recalled to the second round.

Second Round

At the second round of auditions, you will be given the opportunity to perform the additional audition material that wasn’t used in the first-round auditions.

During this recall, the creative team may direct you and ask you to approach the storytelling and vocal delivery of the piece in different ways. The recall auditions will enable you to have a little more time to explore the characters with the creative team.

We hope to have completed the casting process by the end of the allocated second round auditions, however you may be recalled for a final audition during the week following the second audition.

We will do our best to announce all casting no later than 30 November.

AUDITION PIECES

Video submission auditions (30 August - 13 September)

You can download the audition pieces for the video submission auditions via the buttons below

Ensemble auditions (9 November)

You can download the audition pieces for the Company audition via the buttons below

Principle round 1 auditions

You can download the principal round 1 audition pieces via the buttons below

Principal recall auditions

These are the audition pieces provided by the Cameron Mackintosh creative team for final recalls. The West End company Spotlight role descriptions for casting guidance are also available to view via the link below - we are asked to follow the “playing age” and “voice” guidelines.

You can download the principal recall (round 2) audition pieces via the buttons below