Commentary by Andy Young

I just spent the last four weekends at Panola Playhouse for their performances of Les Miserables.  As a “stage dad” over the last 4 years, I have seen many plays. The joke is, if you don’t want to help while your kids participate, then don’t make eye contact with the stage manager, house manager, tech people, or actors! They will put you to work vacuuming, selling tickets, going to get food and supplies, or cleaning bathrooms.
      But it’s all worth it! For anyone who saw Les Miserables, I don’t have to tell you anything, but for those who didn’t let me “set the stage” pun intended.

     You walk into a 120 seat theater and think, NO WAYcan they pull this off! Les Mis is the Super Bowl of acting, the World Series of theater, the heavyweight championship of the arts! Then the curtain opens, and from start to finish you have to remind yourself that you’re in Sardis, Mississippi. Not Memphis, not New York, but Sardis, Mississippi! Small building, small stage, small budget, HUGE talent! From Jean Valjean’s booming voice, to Fantine’s emotional “I dreamed a dream”, to Eponine’s tear jerking death, you just witnessed an elephant singing and dancing on the head of a pin!! In SARDIS, Mississippi !!

     The next time someone tells you to go see a production at Panola Playhouse, DO IT !!  Yes, in Sardis, Mississippi !!!