Musical veterans land big roles in “Les Miserables”

In the third installment of Cast Chats for Coal City High School's upcoming production of "Les Miserables," the newspaper sat down with female leads Lauren Phillips and Gabby Cinotto.
Both students will perform as selfless women who are willing to do anything to protect those they love.
Phillips character, Eponine, is love-struck for her best friend, Marius. She is the daughter of the Thenardier’s, although Eponine is more of a protagonist and is willing to lay down her life for her friends.
Fantine, performed by Cinotto, is a single mother who gets fired from her factory job. She then turns to desperate measures to earn money so she can provide for her daughter, Cosette.
Other than musicals, Phillips is involved in 17 different clubs and organizations including volleyball, soccer, drama club, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and speech team.         Out of the 10 shows Phillips has been in, her favorite role  was Ariel in Coal City Middle School’s production, “The Little Mermaid, Jr.” in 2012.
If she had to choose, Phillips says the number one goal on her bucket list is to go to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic because “it’s a beautiful vacation spot.”
Cinotto enjoys playing Fantine, but if she could be cast as any other character in “Les Miserables,” she would choose to be ensemble, because “they get to perform a lot of the songs and dances.”
Cinotto believes that actress/singer Selena Gomez is a worthy role model because of her achievement of “Woman of the Year” at the 2017 Billboard Women in Music event.
Despite performing in an opera musical, Cinotto’s favorite music genre is country because she grew up listening to it, due to the influence of her mother.
Audiences will not want to miss seeing Phillips and Cinotto portray these strong female leads in “Les Miserables” at the Coal City Performing Arts Center on March 8-11.
Advanced reserved seat tickets are $8 per adult and $5 for children and senior citizens by visiting bit.ly/CCLesMis.