Hello, Indianapolis!

It’s about a year after the 25th anniversary celebration of “Les Miserables” at the O2 Arena in London and we’re about to do it again. Well, no, I’m just trying to be dramatic.

But starting this Friday, a concert series titled “Do You Hear the People Sing” will be staged in Indianapolis (October 7 and 8 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre, and October 9 at The Palladium at The Center for the Performing Arts) to celebrate the music of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Included in the repertoire are songs from the musicals “Miss Saigon,” “Martin Guerre,” “The Pirate Queen,” “La Revolucion Française” and of course, “Les Miz.” There are five singers in the show: Stephanie J. Block, Marie Zamora, Peter Lockyer, Terrence Mann and yours truly. Jack Everly will conduct the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and we’ll be backed by a chorus of about 100 singers.

We had a previous reading in New York City in June, but things have changed –some songs have been taken out, as well as some interstitial dialogue. Script drafts labeled as final turned out otherwise, and I foresee even more changes before our opening performance on Friday.

We flew in as one large group on Monday morning out of La Guardia Airport with Alain, Claude-Michel, all five singers, orchestrators Bill Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, director Jen Bender, music supervisor Kevin Stites, lighting designer Marciel Greene and stage manager Chad Zodrow.

I’m fighting something bacterially awful, which meant keeping my distance from people until I’m better (and trust, I will be better). It was a perfect travel day out of New York City, and an even better travel day arriving in Indianapolis.
Obsessed with airports

You probably have an idea how many frequent flyer miles I’ve clocked in with all the traveling that I do. I’m obsessed with really amazing airports, and I’ve seen many of them from Asia to Europe and the Middle East.

The Indianapolis Airport is one I’d rate high. It’s quiet, peaceful, spacious and generously bathed in natural light. Walking the stretch from the plane to baggage claim was as close to Zen as I could get at an airport. I shall definitely investigate further on our departure date next week.

After lunch at the hotel, we headed to the Hilbert Center Theatre’s rehearsal space to do some script reading and music review. We do get to sing a bunch of the hits that people know and love, but there is one small section in the show that revisits tunes that were previously cut from shows, for one reason or another.

This is probably the one section that I’m looking forward to the most, as I will get to sing one song from “Miss Saigon” that was taken out, or more accurately, reworked. It’s called “Too Much for One Heart”—a solo for Kim that was changed into a duet with John, now titled “Please.”

It’s special for one more reason: The orchestration that will be played for these concerts belongs to my brother Gerard. When I read his name in the credits at the end of our working script, I felt so incredibly proud. From what I was told, his orchestration of “Too Much for One Heart” ranks as a personal favorite of Claude-Michel’s.

Speaking of “Miss Saigon,” a new production will be opening in Amsterdam in 2013, and yes, they are working on new music for it. I got to hear bits of it this afternoon, and it sounded exciting.

It was fun work, a great day – spilled coffee, loud and happy conversation amid the serious business of putting together a symphony concert.

One TV commercial running here quotes an old Confucian saying: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Well, it’s clear that this group of crazy, artistic people love their jobs so much. And yes, I can honestly say that we’ve never had to work a day.

Meanwhile in Manila

Here’s a sampling of musical theater events in these parts:

“Next to Normal,” running at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Makati from October 7-16. If you haven’t seen this, you’ve just about missed half your life. Call Atlantis Productions at 8927078 for tickets.

“Peter Pan,” Repertory Philippines’ production of the Drewe-Stiles musical, runs at the Meralco Theater until October 30.

“Seussical” will run the longest – ongoing at the OnStage Greenbelt until December 18. If you loved Dr. Seuss while growing up, you’ll certainly love this.