Jim Winn/Daily NewsCarrie Kelley, 18, and Aaron Senters, 17, run lines Tuesday during a dress rehearsal of Bowling Green High School's &#8220Les Miserables” at the Capitol Arts Center.

&#8220Les Miserables” – Victor Hugo’s classic story of struggle and redemption in 18th-century France – is being brought to the Capitol Arts Center stage by Bowling Green High School students this weekend.

&#8220It’s a tough novel and a tough story,” said the musical’s director, Tim Sexton – who is choir director at BGHS – but the students &#8220are doing fantastic. I have a very talented and mature cast who have taken the story and really taken off with it.”

Sexton said he thinks audiences will enjoy &#8220Les Miserables” – the story of Jean Valjean, who was thrown into prison for stealing a loaf of bread at a young age and steals again after his release, before reforming and being chased by a police inspector for the rest of his life.

&#8220We rented our costumes from a company in Florida, and most of them are supposed to be kind of drab,” Sexton said. &#8220It’s about les miserables, or the miserables, and there wasn’t a lot of money to go around” because of the French Revolution.

After Valjean becomes a wealthy, generous factory owner under an assumed name, there are more elaborate costumes in the show.

Senior Aaron Senters likes playing Valjean.

&#8220He becomes an upright citizen and very stern, very spiritual after he gets out of prison,” he said.

Still, the role of a man who also takes in Cosette, the daughter of a poor, dying woman, Fantine, has been tough for Senters &#8220because I’m not very serious and it’s a very serious role,” he said.

He most likes that &#8220Les Miserables,” which was a hit on Broadway and made into films, &#8220gives me an opportunity to showcase my vocal abilities as well as acting abilities.”

Carrie Kelley, the senior who plays Fantine, said she thinks an audience will love the production because &#8220it’s a really good show and it’s really touching.

&#8220I really like the music, personally,” she said. &#8220When a lot of people think of musical theater, they think of ‘On My Own’ or ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from ‘Les Mis,’ so it’s really great to be able to perform in the show that they’re in.”

Still, acting in the show as a woman who becomes a prostitute so she can support her daughter has been tough for Kelley at times.

&#8220A lot of it is trying to harness emotions that can relate to it,” she said. &#8220Obviously I’ve never been through anything like she’s been through, but I have been overwhelmed, so I tried to get into the mindset of what that felt like.”

The show was also challenging for Sexton.

The staging of a battle scene in the second act &#8220was probably the toughest part of the show to put together,” he said.

He said he now thinks audiences will enjoy the scene, which includes five students in the orchestra pit and a set primarily made by students in a carpentry class.

&#8220It’s really neat,” Sexton said of the set. &#8220It was designed by one of the students, David Speer, a senior who is also in the show as Marius, the love interest of Cosette.”

The musical, which is &#8220like an operetta,” is Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Sexton said.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and may be bought at the door or by reservation before the end of the school day Friday by calling BGHS at 746-2300.