Les Mis Facts and Figures
Les Misérables is the longest-running musical of all time. But how much do you actually know about the legendary show? Take a look at these fun facts and figures.
Written by Ellen Carnazza.
Les Mis Touring Company
- There are 33 adult cast members.
- The backstage team includes: 1 Resident Director; 1 Company Manager; 1 Assistant Company Manager; 5 Stage Management; 3 Touring Carpenters; 2 Automation Operators; 4 Sound Operators; 3 Touring Electricians; 5 Wigs Personnel; 5 five Wardrobe Personnel; 1 Retail Manager; 2 Fly men; 4 Follow-Spot Operators; 6 Stage crew; 7 Dressers; 1 Touring Head Chaperone; and 2 travelling chaperones.
- There are 14 members of the orchestra, plus a Musical Director.
- 100 production and local crew are involved in putting the show into a venue.
- It takes 14 45-foot trailers and around 22 hours to take the show out of a venue and 3 days to put it in the next venue, working 24 hours a day.
Wardrobe
- There are over 2000 items of costume, accessories, shoes and hats.
- Female and male ensemble have up to 10 changes per show. Ensemble costumes are pre-set on their chair – in show order so they just put on what’s at the top of the pile.
- The female ensemble underdress for Lovely Ladies from the top of the show so have their bloomers and corsets on for three scenes before they are revealed.
- Shoes are all hand made specifically for individuals by a London company.
- Most costume items are made brand-new but then need to be dyed and distressed to make them look old. The wardrobe team have these beautiful costumes and then use cheese graters and tea bags to distress them!
- Fantine has the quickest change in the show which actually happens at the back of the stage and takes roughly 15 seconds.
- There are 103 wigs in the show made from human hair. Fantine has the most expensive wig at £3000.
Orchestra
- Every note you hear is played LIVE from the pit, apart from six bars of distant brass fanfares that you hear at the barricade when the warnings are sung.
- The following instruments are played: violin, viola, cello, double bass, trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn horn, bass trombone, tuba, French horns, flute, alto flute, piccolo, treble recorder, oboe, cor anglais, Bb clarinet, Eb clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor recorder, keys and percussion.
- The Percussion rig contains 42 instruments. Some interesting ones include:
- The ‘Gavroche Drum’: an eight inch mini snare drum that plays whenever Gavroche sings.
- The Trine: a suspended zigzag pyramid. You’ll hear this when Jean Valjean lifts the cart.
- Pots and pans in the Innkeepers scene (crêpe pans!) and a bin lid in the Beggars scene.
- The Brass, Wind and String players use a variety of techniques. Some interesting ones include:
- Rips/Swoops: the horns have three notable ‘rips’ after the death of General Lamarque is announced.
- Sul. Pont: where the string player plays as close to the bridge of the instrument as they can to make a more scratchy and icy sound.
- Col Legno: where the strings are hit with the wood of the bow, upside down to how the bow is normally played. This can be heard most notably in Javert’s suicide.
Technical
- There are 272 lights, 98 moving lights, four projectors and over 400 LX ques.
- There are four members of the Sound Department with two Radio Engineers backstage to monitor and look after all the sound equipment and the radio mics on the cast.
- The show is operated from the auditorium by the operator who controls the band and individually mixes each line of the show.
- There are 40 radio microphones worn by the cast. These are hidden in hair, wigs and even hats.
- There are 45 mics in the orchestra pit, 25 of them are in the percussion booth.
- There are around 170 speakers front of house and 65 speakers onstage and in the pit providing foldback to the cast and band.
- There are around 40 video monitors, giving performers a view of the conductor and stage management, and crew views of the stage during the performance.
Stage Management
- The Stage Management team is made up of one Stage Manager, one Deputy Stage Manager and four Assistant Stage Managers.
- There is one Assistant Stage Manager running each wing on stage. The Deputy Stage Manager sits at the prompt desk and gives all of the cues to Lighting, Sound, Automation and Stage Management. The Stage Manager is present on stage to ensure the smooth running of the show and to help solve problems if and when they might arise.
- Anyone who is backstage/in the wings during a show has to wear black clothing in order not to be seen by the audience while doing their cues.
- When the show moves to a new theatre each prop has to be carefully wrapped in bubble wrap to avoid any breakages en route.
- The Stage Manager writes a report after every single performance with details about that show. This contains information such as anything that went wrong in the show and also if there were any understudies performing that night.
Les Misérables will be at Leeds Grand Theatre from 24 November – 10 December 2022.
