LES MIS V PHANTOM: Build-Up To The Match

Chris Key

The LES MISERABLES company have been asked by the lovely people at BWW:UK to blog about the forthcoming charity football match between LES MISERABLES and The Phantom Of The Opera. As the organiser of the event, I have decided to go first, so here goes...

I thought I would start by saying how the event came about. I have been involved with Les Misérables since 2002, firstly as a member of the cast and then as Resident Director for the past three years. As many of you will know, the show has been running for nearly 28 years and there are some people that have been involved in the show since the beginning. There is also a large Les Mis family of cast, crew, wardrobe, wigs, stage management who have come and gone, and come back again, then gone again, since its conception. I am proud to be part of this family and have made many friends during my time on the show, and am privileged to be involved with this wonderful musical.

One such person who has been involved since the beginning is our Head of Wigs, Melanie Oakley-Dow. I have worked with Mel at both the Palace Theatre and The Queen's, and she has always been an integral part of the running of this show. Sadly, over the course of the last 10 years, I have watched her battle with breast cancer. On a number of occasions she has beaten it, only to see it return and has undergone gruelling sessions of chemotherapy and medication to try and beat this disease. She continues to fight it now and shows amazing strength and courage in this battle.

As a result of her illness, she hasn't been able to work on the show and is missed by her department and all that know her. Last year I was thinking about Mel and how useless I felt at not being able to do anything to help. I wanted to show in some way that we were behind her and raise money for a charity of her choice in the process. There were a number of football fans in the cast and I knew the Resident Director of Phantom, Sam Hiller, was a big fan too. He also worked with Mel on Les Mis and was keen to get involved. Hence Les Mis V Phantom was born!

Mel Chose Macmillan Cancer Research as the charity and we raised over £12,000 through the Justgiving website page and from the day itself. The popularity of Mel was evident in both the lead-up to the match and on the day itself, with help, donations and support from original cast members Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball, Frances Ruffelle and Rebecca Caine and alumni such as John Owen-Jones, Gareth Gates, Matt Lucas and many more.

On the day of the match I vowed to do it again and Mel said she would be there and I'm delighted to say that she will be.

When it came to organizing this year's event, Sam and I decided to raise money for a different charity and decided to focus on children with cancer. We chose Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and spoke to Mel for approval.

It was at this point that I was introduced to the plight of Lizzy Bremer, a brave 2-year-old girl, fighting Neuroblastoma at Great Ormond Street. Once again, the LES MISERABLES family was prevalent. Lizzy's father, Alex, was a Deputy Master Carpenter at The Palace Theatre and met his wife, Miriam, a dresser at the time, whilst working on the show. Alex and Mel are good friends and the Les Mis connection to Great Ormond Street made this the perfect choice.

Nueroblastoma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer and it is hard to imagine the pain and suffering that Lizzy went through and the effect it had on the whole Bremer family. I started to liaise with Alex who kept me informed on Lizzy's progress. She was a fighter and was surpassing their expectations.

Sadly, Lizzy's condition took a turn for the worse and, shortly after her second birthday, she died.

Alex and I had been trying to meet up for some time but had never quite found the opportunity. One occasion when we were going to meet, Lizzy was rushed back into Great Ormond Street. I first met Alex at the funeral of his daughter. I felt I needed to go. I had seen her smiling face on all of our publicity and, through numerous conversations, felt I knew the family.

It was a heartbreaking day, and yet the family handled it with amazing courage and dignity, and Alex spoke with such love, affection and strength. It was evident that, should she have had the chance to, Lizzy would have grown into a wonderful young lady with a passion for performance.

He also spoke fondly about Great Ormond Street and the help and care they gave to Lizzy and the family during this difficult period. The support of the staff at GOSH was invaluable for the whole Bremer family. In fact, when Lizzy was due to visit the hospital for treatment, and the family feared about what she was about to endure, Lizzy greeted the nurses with a huge smile; such was her fondness for them all.

Not long ago I was invited to Great Ormond Street to see the work they do there. I went with a slight trepidation. The thought of going into a hospital for sick children made me nervous. Selfishly I was worried about what I might see. How wrong I was. It is an amazing building and full of hope. A lot of the children I saw had smiles on their faces and it was evident that they were in remarkable hands.

It is clear what the aims are for this great hospital. There is an old part of the building and then the new, state of the art facilities, and the goal is to get the entire building up to that standard. This can only be done with the help of the fundraisers.

I hope that on August 11th at Bromley Football Club, we will reach our target, raise money for this wonderful cause, pay tribute to the beautiful Lizzy Bremer and her family and show support to Mel, Adrian and Florence as Mel Continues to beat this disease.

Thank you for your time, I hope you can support us by attending the match or donating on the justgiving page.

Tickets at www.lesmisvphantom.co.uk

Donate at www.justgiving.com/LesMisVPhantomPart2

All money raised will go towards Great Ormond Street Hospital's Theatre for Theatres campaign. More information can be found here: http://www.gosh.org/gen/events-and-appeals/appeals/theatres-for-theatres/

To post a comment, you must register and login.