In its fifth year, the Prizery Summer Theater in South Boston has taken on two ambitious musicals, “Hairspray” and “Les Miserables” to entertain Southside theatergoers in June and July. In Les Miz, you can see Mike sing his solo as the bishop who turns Jean Valjean’s life around.
Les Miserables, based on the historical novel by Victor Hugo, traces the life of a French peasant who is imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child. After breaking parole, he tries to lead an honest life but is pursued by a police inspector, and both are caught up in the drama of the French Revolution.
In Hairspray, an overweight teenager becomes infatuated with a TV dance show in the 1960s and surprises everyone by passing an audition to get on the program. When she finds that African-American kids can only dance on the show once a month, she tries to integrate the program.
For the cast of both, artistic director Chris Jones and Music Director April Hill auditioned graduating college music and theater students at the Southeastern Theater Conference in Mobile, Ala. They supplemented it with auditions of local and regional talent in early March.
The shows are housed in the 250-seat Chastain Theatre at the Prizery, a former tobacco processing plant converted to an arts and cultural center 10 years ago.
HAIRSPRAY – June 19,20,21,26,27,28 July 2,3,4,5 at 7:30 – June 21,22,25,28,29 July 2,5 at 2:30
LES MISERABLES – July 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19 at 7:30 p.m. – July 13, 16, 20 at 2:30 p.m.
Details and tickets at: www.prizery.com.