“WE NEEDED ONE DAY MORE”

6 months. 5 Schools. And the most ambitious project in musical theatre AGSB has ever attempted. In the aftermath of Little Shop of Horrors’ success, the music department set their eyes on something bigger. The holy grail of all musicals and the longest-running on the West End- Les Misérables- was going to take hours of rehearsals and a gargantuan hoard of cast and crew members.

But it was a risk that was willing to be taken. And it was a decision that they would not regret.

When casting opened in June, there was a unique excitement around the school community. As countless renditions of ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ and ‘Stars’ filled inboxes, the gruelling sorting process began, transforming these 21st Century schoolboys into 18th Century French revolutionaries, convicts, thugs and the 49/88 like. However, the force would not be complete without strength from the neighbouring girls’ schools and further afield. But finally, a cast of 95 boys and girls had been selected. They were ready to begin...

The next months would be scheduled with Tuesdays and Fridays after school blocked out for singing, blocking, staging and the addition of lighting and sound. And what once started as a mixed cacophony of notes and chords that didn’t quite fit, soon became a polished act; a truly convincing rendition of Victor Hugo’s humour, passion and patriotism. And as the winter darkness fell, ‘At Altrincham the sections were prepared’

Local awareness had risen for the must-see production at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys and tickets sold out fast. This was even more of a reason for the cast to keep working hard to finish the performance down to its last details. The dawn and reality really hit as the Coleman Hall was thrust onto the streets of France, soon to be the centre of a theatrical revolution; a young budding romance; and the centre of one man’s road to redemption.

At last the night came. 6 months and over 100 hours of rehearsal later, curtains went up on the mammoth 4-night production of Les Misérables. With audiences crammed in and over 1000 tickets sold, there was a heavy burden of expectation on the cast, orchestra and crew’s shoulders. But the levels of professionalism and quality of the entire team could have been received in a professional theatre; a testament to the immense talents of the young people who took to the stage; we really needed ‘One Day More’.

To ‘Hear The People Sing’ was a true honour, and the liaison between local schools was a truly powerful thing to witness on stage, something never attempted successfully by any other society in AGSB history.

It truly is ‘One Day to a New Beginning’ for theatre at AGSB and we haven’t seen it all yet.

The best, I am sure, is yet to come.

T Ariyo