Signature's Turn, Sans Turntable, With 'Les Miz'

In addition to seeing things afresh -- roughing up the staging, emphasizing the saga's continual grim struggle -- Schaeffer says he has felt free to cast certain roles against type. Characters are being explored with a slightly different slant (Camp cites the opportunistic Thénardiers -- "Master of the House," etc. -- as particularly ripe for rethinking), while Kalbfleisch says singers are phrasing lyrics in ways he's never heard before.

The actors, of course, all came into rehearsals knowing "Les Miz" cold, even though only three of the actors (including Stone) have experience with the show. But Camp says, "They sure do want to do it differently."

Schaeffer allows that he sometimes frets to Camp, "The purists are going to kill us." But he's counting on his company's longtime hole card: the boutique experience of seeing a big, fully orchestrated show in a tight space.

Spangler observes that this won't be a chamber version of "Les Miz": "It's certainly not any smaller," he says of the big-cast show (although Stone notes that this staging cuts down the crowd scenes at times, and isolates Valjean more often). The set spans 60 feet from side to side, and the playing area has Broadway width. The difference, Spangler says: "It's a more intimate view."

Geldard rhapsodizes that audiences will be able to see the color of Cosette's eyes. And Kalbfleisch says he's using "the exact instrumentation that we used on the road to play 1,500-seat houses."

"In there," Kalbfleisch continues, gesturing toward the Max. "With the voices this close."

The cozy quarters have been having an effect on actors, who have been paying unusual attention to one another during rehearsal.

"That has been really interesting, watching that," Schaeffer says. "That space has jacked the emotional value so high, and when the characters die it just rips you. We were crying in rehearsal the other day. Which was just weird."

The process has been atypical from the beginning, when everyone on staff was sworn to secrecy about the show: Had word of Signature's production leaked out before the Wolf Trap show closed, the company was in line for a hefty fine. (The hush-hush mandate complicated casting significantly.) To keep it quiet, the project was known in-house for months by the cryptic title "the Christmas show."

As December finally rounds into view, this "Les Miz" is clearing the hurdle of extra technical rehearsals and heading into an extended preview period before critics come in two weeks.

"Just because it's a big monster," Schaeffer says.

Spangler deadpans, "Just because each . . . piece . . . takes . . . half an hour."

Schaeffer laughs, "We're hoping Walt's set will be done by then."