Walking into the auditorium before the show started created a feeling of excitement that buzzed throughout the crowd. Backstage, a cast and crew upward of 50 students prepared for opening night of East’s spring musical, “Les Miserables.”

“This year I was very nervous, but also excited because I’ve had a lot more time to prepare the music than I have had in previous years. I felt a lot more put together,” junior Alex Campuzano said.

On Mar 14 through 16, Chieftain Theater put on “Les Miserables” in the auditorium. Following auditions, cast ran music and blocked scenes.

“The cast and crew have had very sporadic rehearsals, usually every night during the school week,” Campuzano said.

Les Miserables takes place during the French Revolution, and highlights the corruption of the class system. It is a tragic story with a series of love affairs and follows the story of a young girl growing up in the poverty, being abused by her caretakers and then being taken away by a man who raises the girl on his own.

“I played Thenardier, who is a drunkard, who in the beginning of the musical owned an inn, but after the inn wasn’t bringing in enough money, he started a gang in the streets of Paris,” Campuzano said.

Rehearsals took place in the months of January, February and the first two weeks of March. The rehearsals varied during the weekdays over the course of preparation.

“The music is really tough. It’s much more intricate and demanding than the past couple of shows we’ve put on. I’m very proud of all of the people involved in the show,” director Joe Hamik said.

With the amount of snow days East encountered, the cast and crew were surprised that the show went the way it was designed to, according to sophomore Kaytelynn Webb.

“With the snow days, I feel like it affected act two more than act one. I feel like it showed through the more intricate solo scenes and when there were several layers to the music. Obviously with missing a lot of days we missed a lot more music days than actual blocking days and that really showed,” Webb said.

Much like previous years, the cast and crew put in a lot of effort. Webb also said the show was more challenging than the years before on account of the harsh theme of “Les Miserables.”

“This musical was so emotionally challenging with getting in the mindset of being poor and homeless, [which] can really be seen by the main cast,” Webb said.