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CEDAR CITY — As the Utah Shakespeare Festival opened its 51st season Thursday, managers, cast and crew already knew they had a blockbuster on their hands, and this time the Bard didn't write it.
This summer, the Utah Shakespeare Festival is offering six plays. But managers said as long as they have kept records, never have tickets sold at the beginning of the season the way they have for "Les Mis."
After 25 years and 60 million theatergoers in 41 countries, patrons still cannot get enough of "Les Miserables."
This year, a nationwide search for the lead, Jean Valjean, brought festival managers back to Utah.
J. Michael Bailey grew up on a small farm in Clinton, Utah, and he was into sports. But it's that voice patrons are clamoring to hear, seeing the show then returning to the box office to see it again.
"I've wanted to do this for 20 years, now," Bailey said. "Ever since I saw the touring company."
And as "Les Mis" packs them in, it attracts first-time festival patrons who are now also choosing Shakespeare. At the Utah Shakespeare Festival this season, in particular, everywhere you look, there are children.
Whether they are charming audiences while pretending to be fairies in Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," or tearing at your heartstrings in "Les Mis," young actors are performing key roles at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
In fact, they carry much of the show in "To Kill A Mockingbird".
Ten-year-old Jinger Axelson plays Scout.
"I like her energy," Axelson said. "I like how she's a tomboy and how she's trying her best to understand the world around her when she's pretty young."
I've wanted to do this for 20 years, now. Ever since I saw the touring company.
–J. Michael Bailey
Bailey Duncan, also 10, is Dill.
"There's a line in the play that says, ‘I'm little, but I'm old,' and I'm also short for my age," he said.
Nick Denhalter, 14, understands the seriousness of the play's message.
"They're so young, and they get a taste of what the world is before they're out of elementary school," he said.
Many child actors come from the festival's education program called 'Playmakers.'
Andrew Barrick is 6 years old and playing Macbeth. He is one of 63 children studying Shakespeare this summer.
So, whether it's Shakespeare or Harper Lee, children are everywhere.
"It's a bunch of kids doing big stuff," Duncan said.
