‘Les Miserables’ Reunion Performance

Will Benefit Local Magazine

By Nancy K. Crevier

RIDGEFIELD — Georgia Monaghan, editor of The Newtowner magazine, was “surprised and delighted” to receive an offer from Sabrina’s Encore Productions earlier this month, to dedicate a reunion performance of Les Miserables as a benefit for the local arts and literary magazine. She and her husband, Darren Wagner, have had  had an ongoing relationship with Sabrina Post, owner of Sabrina’s Encore Productions, said Ms Monaghan, but this offer came out of the blue, she said.

“Funnily enough, the very first thing we did in Newtown when we arrived in the summer of 2008, was take our kids to see a performance of Seussical by Sabrina’s Encore Productions at the Edmond Town Hall,” she said. “It was a very last-minute, spur of the moment thing,” Ms Monaghan said. The family was curious to see what kind of cultural activities were available in town, and seeking to entertain their sons.

“We were absolutely blown out of our seats by the Broadway-like quality of the show, and even its youngest performers. We felt we had to congratulate Sabrina and her team although we had never met her before. They were amazed that we had literally flown into the county just a few days prior, all the way from Australia, and we just seemed to click with [Sabrina],” said Ms Monaghan. “We left with that feeling you have when you know something very special has just started.”

Several months later, Mr Wagner’s email broadcast to theaters and music schools in the area that he was available for photography arrived at Sabrina’s Encore Productions just as the organization was in immediate need of a photographer for a performance that week.

“That started a great relationship between Darren and Sabrina,” Ms Monaghan said.

Mr Wagner, the owner of Wagner Photography and photographer for The Newtowner magazine, has provided photography services to the local performing art group, said Ms Post, and this seemed an appropriate way to thank him. “[Darren] has been so giving to us with his photography skills, and so gracious with his time,” she said.

It is a struggle, Ms Post said, to keep the arts alive.

“People don’t realize how expensive it is to do things, like put on a play or produce a magazine,” she said. To have arts people support other arts, in good times and in bad, is a positive thing. “If we stick together, we can make it happen,” said Ms Post.

 “As an arts and literary magazine one of our goals is that the magazine itself is a work of art. Our ads sales and subscriptions are yet to cover our printing costs,” noted Ms Monaghan of the magazine that was first published the fall of 2010. “The funds from the benefit will help us continue to publish a high quality product that aims to promote Newtown and its artists and writers, while we continue to grow to a point that revenue will cover all our costs,” she added.

Ms Post has produced Les Miserables twice with area high school students, including at Newtown High School in the spring of 2004. This performance provides a means for former Les Miserables high school participants, she said, who have since moved on to college and careers, to “once again come together to perform this incredible piece of musical theatre history. Les Miserables has been such a huge part of over 150 kids lives from Newtown [over the course of the two previous shows],” Ms Post said, “and the thing about Les Mis, is that it touches the heart of anyone who performs or sees it.”

Actors returning to the production May 30 include Matt Grills, Tyler VanOy, Melanie Beck, Andrew Nichols, and Hannah DeFlumeri, she said, along with dozens of other popular young performers.

The Ridgefield Playhouse is donating the theater for the evening and Ms Post and all the performers are donating their time. Sabrina’s Encore Productions is also allowing The Newtowner to benefit 100 percent from any advertising in the play program, and one hundred percent of the profits from ticket sales will benefit the magazine. How generous of an offer it turns out to be is dependent on ticket sales, stressed Ms Post.

The Les Miserables Reunion Performance will be one night only, Memorial Day Monday, May 30, at 7 pm, at The Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge in Ridgefield.

Orchestra tickets are $30, mezzanine tickets are $25, and balcony tickets are $20. A ticket order form can be downloaded at www.SabrinasEncoreProductions.com. Additional information from the theater company is also available by calling 203-364-4455.

For more information, visit                           www.TheNewtownerMagazine.com.