Sounds cancels Les Mis Performance

Disappointing news for the cast of the sounds summer musical – Les Mis. The 150 cast members were informed the show is canceled. They had already rehearsed for weeks.

Director Gayleen Meservey told the cast as they arrived for the Thursday night rehearsal.

“We had originally thought we could take some of the offensive, vulgar and blasphemous language out and maintain the integrity of the play,” Meservey said. “It turns out the licensing agent would not allow that. Sounds summer musicals is all about being family friendly and not adding to the pollution in the world, so we felt it better to cancel and pick up a property we could maintain those standards with.”

The cast members were saddened by the news. For many of them like Jeff Bird, who was to play Javret, this was the dream of a lifetime.

“More than anything I’m heart broken,” Bird said. “I love Javier, I love the character, I love the music and I was really looking forward to doing it.”

Meservey said the licensing agent had her send in her proposed changes and at first sounded encouraging they may be approved, but in the end they were not. The cast gave her an emotional standing ovation. They felt she made the difficult, but right decision to put the values of the Sounds organization ahead of doing the show. They then asked to sing the finale they had been practicing so hard one last time.

Sounds got the rights to Fiddler on the Roof and will perform that musical on the same days Les Mis had been scheduled. It’s a family friendly show with no offensive language.