BWW Blog: Ryan Bauer-Walsh of Maltz Jupiter Theatre's LES MISERABLES

Hey Broadway World!

It's good to be back chatting with you from LES MISERABLES at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Florida!

Last time we all got to hang out together I was revolutionary on the island of Nollop in LMNOP. Now, I'm a revolutionary in France. Well...a revolutionary....a prisoner, sailor, butler, beggar and drunkard.

Character actors end up wearing a lot of hats - and quite a few wigs. It is the best job in the entire world. Sure, it is fun to get the girl - but growing up, I wanted to be an architect, a poet, a dad....well, everything! Instead, I have ended up being a policeman, miner, teacher, drug addict, preacher, drag queen, soldier, gypsy, a Vietnam vet, cowboy, political leader, pirate, marooned castaway, bank robber, circus freak, ballet dancer, Irish poet, imprisoned royal, steward, murderer, and pajama factory owner. I have always liked playing different roles since I was young.

My astrological sign (Leo) and The Book of Birthdays said the same thing (in fact, it was rather insistent): that I would end up playing a lot of different people in my life. But horoscopes don't come with instructions; how do you make a bunch of characters and then make them all unique? There are a lot of different ways - and while hats and wigs work great, I like to go with good psychology and a couple of meaty secrets.

I try to think of a few different things each character would never tell anyone, and then I think of the reasons why - and suddenly I'm knee deep in the role.

The best thing to do, when you are wearing so many hats (literally, so many hats) is to make sure you know as much about your character as possible. I like to have a name for every ensemble character I play, and a set of circumstances.

In the Maltz Jupiter Theatre's LES MISERABLES, I think I have the most fun as my sailor character, Calixte. Mostly because I get to work with the talented Siri Howard and make a few choices I don't usually get to make on stage! He is a brash guy, with nothing to lose. So what is his secret? ....I'm not telling. ;-)

But I did use a few of the more upsetting manners of a previous character from LES MISERABLES at North Shore Music Theatre to build Calixte.

At North Shore, I played Bamatabois. Now, my Bamatabois? He is short of temper and stature, struggling to keep his status as an aristocrat, and was constantly made fun of when he was in school by the girls he liked. I took the mean bits of him and created this masochist.

Our director and choreographer at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Mark Martino, was so generous in letting us create characters and let them interact how we felt they would.

One of my characters, Feuilly, is a fan maker and part of the students' brigade. I found that my character was always ending up near actress Anna Kelly, one of the women who helps at the barricade. Ironically, she is also in the streets with me as a beggar. We built a relationship around those moments when we were near enough to interact, and now my scenes with her are pretty much my favorite parts of the show.

She bandages my arm after I am shot at the barricade, and helps give me courage to continue on even after I make sure she has left for a safer location.

So... between the battles and the illegal sale of women, drinking, and belting - there is never a dull moment when you are in the ensemble of LES MISERABLES.

One thing is for sure: I am part of an amazingly talented group of actors here at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. So for the next few weeks, I want to take off my actor hat, put on my writer hat - and interview a few of these cast members who are so fantastic. There are many Broadway LES MISERABLES veterans in the cast and they have amazing stories. I'm just glad to have been a part of one of them!

So, come check the blog out next week when I interview Broadway's Siri Howard and Richard Vida. They have some stories about hats you won't want to miss!

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