Touring "Les Miserables" cast features Twin Cities native
MINNEAPOLIS -- A classic Broadway musical is calling Minneapolis home this week.
"Les Miserables" is on stage at the Orpheum through Sunday, and there's a Twin Cities connection front and center on stage.
"Les Miserables" is back at the Orpheum Theatre.
"I feel so much gratitude to be telling this story now, because it's filled with so much love and hope," Christine Heesun Hwang said.
While Minneapolis is just another stop on the national Broadway tour, for Hwang, it's also a stop home.
"To be able to be here and see those people is just a blessing and a gift," she said.
Hwang's welcome home is not just to the state of Minnesota, it's also to the Orpheum Theatre stage. While a student at Minnetonka High School, she participated in the Hennepin Theatre Trust's Spotlight program.
"I was a Spotlight kid. I still consider myself a Spotlight kid," she said. "Maybe I'm a spotlight adult now."
The program invites local, young talent to learn about the arts, even offering an opportunity for students to perform at the historic State Theatre.
"Spotlight is what cultivated my theatre journey from the very beginning. They're the ones who believed in me and supported me," Hwang said. "I truly wouldn't be where I am now on my second tour without their support and love."
Creating a full-circle moment for the 23-year-old Eponine.
"The last time I sang on that stage was my freshman year of high school," Hwang said.
And a chance to be back in the city that shaped her.
"I think the resilience and tenacity I have in my theater journey and theater career is because I first started doing theater in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities," Hwang said. "It's also the city that introduced me to theater and accepted me into theater, which is so -- that's more than enough than I could ever ask for."
There's another Minnesota native in the cast -- Preston Truman Boyd, who plays Javert. Boyd is from Moorhead, but is currently on paternity leave and sadly isn't on the Minneapolis leg of the tour.
The show runs through Sunday and tickets are available.