LES MISERABLES School Edition Next Onstage at Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts

Les Misérables School Edition - the musical adaptation for younger actors of Victor Hugo's timeless and iconic novel about the life of Jean Valjean - is next up for Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts May 17-June 2.

Hugo's emotional, touching and uplifting story set to music follows an ex-convict through 19th century France as he creates a new life for himself. Directed by Denise Parton, this production features a cast of students who are 18 years old or younger.

"I have always been very selective with the stories I tell," says Parton. "I will not direct just for the sake of directing. It must be a story I believe is worth telling. Is the story redemptive? Can the cast as well as the audience relate? Is it a life changing aspect?"

Les Misérables centers around Jean Valjean (Sam Downer), an ex-convict who is released from 19 years of unjust imprisonment for stealing a loaf of bread. As the outcast faces a lifelong struggle for redemption, he is relentlessly pursued by police inspector Javert (Wil Hansen,) who refuses to believe Valjean can change his ways. During his multi-year journey back to respectability, Valjean encounters Fantine (Karisha Glover) and vows to find and raise her orphaned daughter, Cosette (Macey Rose). After years of solitude, Valjean risks his own life to save the man she loves in the Paris student uprising of 1812. It is then he is reunited with Javert and the rest of the story unfolds.

Featuring the well-known songs, "I Dreamed a Dream," "On My Own" and "Bring Him Home," Les Misérables is arguably one of the best loved musicals of all time. It is a story of redemption and how one life can change the course of many years.

Tickets start at $14 and are currently on sale at www.boroarts.org, or by calling 615-904-2787. Les Misérables runs Friday, May 17, through Friday, June 2, with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings, with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.