Saying ‘Au Revoir’ to Life as The Miz Kids : Young Cast Members Say Return to ‘Civilian’ Status Has Its Ups and Downs

For 14 months, they were The Miz Kids, shuttled daily by moms to the Shubert Theatre for their roles in the just-departed “Les Miserables.” For some, it was their first professional acting job. For most, it meant an indefinite hiatus from regular school.

Singing lessons. Shopping for an agent. Little time for sleep-overs and palling around with civilian friends. The show has opened doors, made them demicelebrities. But now what?

Most of the children are looking forward to the time off--some in mountain cabins, some in Europe.

Jessica Ann Lightbourn, Amanda Jo Steppe and Phillip Glasser have been with the show since it opened, except for the week of vacation offered every six months. “We’ve kind of gotten used to coming here in the morning and going home at night,” said 11-year old Maggie Dawson. “It’s going to be weird going to sleep early and waking up early.”

Each child has had to be at the theater an hour before every show, six days a week, either to perform or stand by. Phillip and Brian Fessenden alternated in the role of street urchin Gavroche. Jessica, Amanda and Maggie shared the roles of young Cosette, the child represented in the show’s ads, whose character grows up to become one of the romantic leads, and Eponine, the daughter of the evil innkeepers.

How prepared were the young actors for the effect of the show on their lives and on family life? “I knew it was going to be a lot different than my usual thing,” said Maggie, who lives in Thousand Oaks. “I knew it was going to be a really big commitment.”

Brian, almost 10, of Northridge joined the show in March. “When they told me I’d be staying up late at night,” he admitted, “I thought it meant going from 6 to 9. I didn’t know they meant 11 o’clock. “

There were other adjustments.

“I used to have really good friends at my school,” said Jessica, almost 12, who’s from Simi Valley. “Now, everyone treats me different. The people who used to not hang around with me and think I wasn’t that great--now they’re all over me when I come to school. You’re like a popularity scale for them. You bring them up. After you stop doing the show, they stop being your friend. I think that’s wrong.”

“I’m used to it,” announced unofficial group leader Phillip Glasser, 10, of Tarzana. “I’ve been out of school working a lot. I was out two years doing ‘American Tail.’ But with something like this, you’re totally out of school.

“Sure, some people try to be your best friend, because they think you’re going to be real famous like Michael Jackson. That’s why I like being friends with people in the acting business. You have the same feelings.”

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In the green room at the Shubert, the young actors’ alliances to each other certainly seem solid enough. Best friends Phillip and Maggie share a single chair, as do Jessica and Amanda, also best buddies.

Jessica denies any rivalries. “I think we’re all equally the same--in singing and acting,” she said firmly. “That’s why we were picked. If someone was better, why didn’t they just pick them to be Cosette?”

The rigors of the run don’t appear to have dampened their enthusiasm. Although wary of an acting career at first, Jessica now says, “This is for me.”

Amanda, almost 10, of Glendora, also recalls initially “not thinking I was that great. Unless somebody comments on you, you’re not sure how you did. But then I got a vocal teacher, and she started to help me, telling me, ‘You’re great.’ Now I’m sure this is what I want to do.”

Some are already looking forward to post-”Miz” projects. Jessica and Amanda plan to audition for a piece about child abuse written by fellow “Miz” cast member Stephen Breithaupt. The show has helped get commercials for Maggie and Phillip; now the two plan to cut a record together.

And Phillip is working on a TV pilot, “The Hobys,” which he describes as “a miniature ‘Honeymooners’--and I play Ed Norton.”

Although all maintain that they’ll miss the show and the adult cast members who befriended them, there’s also a sense of looking forward to re-establishing a regular home life--and freeing their mothers to devote more time to the other children in the family.

“I think it’s important for me to be a normal kid for a while now,” Maggie said. “I’ll still go on interviews, but I think it’s good for me to spend time with my family and friends.”

Only Brian has plans to continue with “Les Miz”--albeit in a scaled-down version. “I’m going to be doing it at my house,” he said of upcoming neighborhood performances. With a $47.50 Shubert price tag?

“Naw,” he said magnanimously. “Pay what you will.”

Arkatov is a regular contributor to Calendar.