Think you’re miserable? Apple Tree helps teens stuck at home create Hugo’s ‘Les Mis’

Missing those big musical productions starring local kids who devote their summers to putting on shows? Apple Tree Productions’ “Les Misérables” will be streaming on Saturday.

The sung-through musical, based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, isn’t technically theater: Students recorded themselves acting and singing in their homes, and Apple Tree’s Ryan Zimmerman mixed it all together to create the Olympia theater program’s first movie.

The show, which will be available for rent after the initial performance, sticks very close to the “Les Mis” you might know from stage and screen, though some songs have been shortened, said Heidi Fredericks, Apple Tree’s director.

That means it’s pretty heavy stuff, with the unjustly imprisoned Jean Valjean (Sam Van Nuys, a junior at Boulder Creek High School in Phoenix), pursued even after his release by his nemesis, Inspector Javert (Andrew McDougall, a junior at Olympia High School), and the impoverished Fantine (Maiya Tate, a senior at North Thurston High School) forced to turn to prostitution to support her daughter, Cosette (Maisy Rutledge, in seventh grade at Washington Middle School).

Valjean’s plight seems likely to resonate in a new way with audiences who’ve been spending much, if not all, of their time at home — and with the actors.

“It was fun, but it was strangely independent,” said Tad Mettler, 16 and a junior at Olympia High School. He plays Grantaire, one of the revolutionaries. “We’d have Zoom meetings to learn music and stuff like that, and then we’d have to go off and record ourselves.

“I don’t have anything else to do, to be honest, and it’s nice to not just be sitting at home forever,” he added.

The participants in the show — along with those in Apple Tree’s summer acting class and in its free lessons on Google Classroom, which are open to everyone (use code jt3ctki to join) — have been enthusiastic about the opportunity to connect and learn, Fredericks told the Olympian.

“We’re going to keep those free classes going on indefinitely,” she said. “It’s really been a lifeline for these kids.

“The kids just want to keep going, especially now that the (school) closure has been extended. They want to have a sense of community.”

(Last week, the Thurston County health officer urged districts to keep school buildings closed this fall to slow the spread of COVID-19.)

The remote format of the production also means that actors could participate no matter where they are. Sam in Colorado is not the one living furthest away. That distinction goes to Kaylee Heinz, who plays Feuilly, another revolutionary. The seventh-grader was able to rejoin her Apple Tree friends this summer even though she and her family now live in Germany.

Since the entire production was filmed on the actors’ computers, the acting is mostly about facial expressions, and the costumes are put together from what the production’s 36 actors, ages 9-18, had on hand.

“How do you figure out sets when everybody’s just in their bedroom basically?” Fredericks said, laughing. “We’ve asked that they film everything in the same place.

“The kids were like, ‘But nobody wants to see the inside of my house,’ ” she said. “I said, ‘At this point, the inside of anyone else’s house looks more exciting than our own, so nobody is going to mind.’ ”

‘Les Misérables’

• What: Apple Tree Productions presents the slightly abridged “school edition” of the sung-through musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel.
• When: Streaming at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, and available for rental thereafter
• Tickets: $20
• More information: http://appletreeprod.com, 360-359-6685