Grosse Pointe Theatre Company Presents 'Les Miserables' In May

DETROIT (WWJ) - "Go big or go home," could be the motto of the 66-year-old Grosse Pointe Theatre Company which will stage 14 performances of Les Miserables starting this Sunday.

WWJ's Marie Osborne reports this theater group is not for sissies. They keep a grueling schedule: six productions a year, hundreds of hours of rehearsals.

It will take more than 200 volunteers to stage the massive show in the coming weeks, says Board President Teresa Salvaggio.

She says, come to a show, and you won't recognize the people behind the grease paint.

"We have attorneys, we have a couple of seniors executives of some of the major banks of this area," Salvaggio said.

WWJ met Eddie Tujaka, rushing from the costume room, a police and fire lieutenant for the city of Grosse Pointe.

Who is he by night?

"Well, I'm a prisoner, and in this show a gang member and a robber and a whole bunch of other things," Tujaka said.

For Tujaka, like so many others in the group, there's one reason they put in hundreds of hours here.

"Work's really stressful, and everything else; and I come here and I sing and dance, and that's my reprieve from all of it," he said.

Get complete show information and tickets at this link.