Ensemble Member Really Doing the MOST to Communicate Complicated Backstory They Invented

by Katherine Pereira.

WESTON, MA — No one exemplifies the adage that "there are no small roles, only small actors" more than veteran of the East Weston Community Theatre stage, 22-year-old tenor Connor Fitzpatrick. 

“It is important when creating the world of the show for everyone on stage to feel like a real person,” said Fitzpatrick, explaining the preparation for his upcoming ensemble track in Les Miserables, hocking up phlegm in the most cartoonish French accent ever heard. “It is for the, ah – cómo se dice? – realism.”

Fitzpatrick, a Weston native, went on for 20 minutes, unprompted and undeterred, describing the full backstory he created. To the best of The Broadway Beat’s understanding, his main role as a revolutionary is Marius’s half-brother raised by one of the Lovely Ladies and pining after Éponine? Or something?

Fitzpatrick’s highly animated techniques appear to have caused friction in the rehearsal room.

“His big expressions and miming are really distracting. And he is always so close to me,” complained Jacob Clarkson who plays Marius, avoiding Fitzpatrick by hiding amongst the overcoats in the costume closet. “Plus, the way he looks at Hannah [Levesque, playing Éponine] is pretty off-putting. I think he decided their characters have beef?"

“Look, I just thought it would be a fun little exercise for the ensemble,” elaborated first-time director Victoria Marchowski, absolving herself of all blame and pouring a big glass of red wine. “You know, to make them feel a little more involved than providing harmonies and corpses. Most of them just came up with a name and called it a day.”

Fitzpatrick, or Jean-Luc François Philippe du Pontmercy as he insisted on being called, also revealed that he had requested an accessory to visually connect all of his characters, but at the time of publishing the costume designer had not yet responded.