The national touring company of "Les Miserables" has become a Utah theater phenomenon. Each day during this opening week, the Deseret News will take a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of producing the well-loved musical while managing personal lives.

Stephen Paul Cramer's wife and two young daughters stayed at home when he joined the national touring company of "Les Miserables" more than two years ago.Cramer (Courfeyrac and Jean Valjean understudy), would fly home on days off to see his family. "I understand in this business that 80 percent of the work is on the road," he said. But the separation made less and less sense. "I decided there was really no reason for them not to be out here with me."

"We had people saying 'you can't take the kids out there' " remembers his wife, Kim. "I have an adventurous spirit, and the kids adapt so easily. They don't care where they are as long as they have a bed to sleep in."

So after four months apart, the Cramers broke the lease on their home in Virginia and went on tour together.

Carly, who is now 3, and Margot, 5, are in tow when Mom drops Dad off at the theater. In addition to being together as a family, the kids find many among the cast and crew who are like a bunch of big brothers and sisters who tease and tickle and steal their noses.

The four children in the show have similar family-like relationships among the cast as well. Third-graders Alison Fidel and Maggie Martinsen, who alternate in the roles of Young Cosette and Young Eponine, get crocheting lessons from the women they often share dressing rooms with. Cameron Teitelman and Chris Carlson, the sixth-grade boys who alternate in the role of Gavroche, have interested onlookers backstage as they sort Pokemon cards.

"I think for what they sacrifice in terms of having the friendships at home, and maybe being in a school situation and those kinds of things, they gain in everything they see and learn out here and traveling around. Margot knows more about geography than any other 3-year-old I've met," her mom said.

Nancy Foster (ensemble and Cosette understudy) is a Brigham Young University student who has family both in Utah and Illinois. "Everyone in the cast is there to support each other, and you get to know each other like brothers and sisters because you're always together. Sometimes you argue with each other like brothers and sisters, but there's always someone to go to," she said.

Wade, her husband of just more than one year, was able to travel with her during the summer before he returned to school and his own performing schedule in BYU's' Young Ambassadors.

Their common performing interests make their times apart more tolerable. When school is out, the tour gives them opportunities to do things many newlyweds can't, like meet the president while guests of the White House for the Fourth of July. "How many couples get to do that?"

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Kevin Earley (Enjolras) took vacation from the show long enough to get married Oct. 25 and have a short honeymoon. Then he rejoined the tour and his bride, actress Julie Ann Emery, went back to New York City where she is working in film and television.

At some point, "We really want to be based in the same city, if possible," Earley said. "We support each other. If our careers take us to L.A. or to New York or to Chicago, that's where we're going to go. There is enough give-and-take in our relationship and in our careers that we keep both of them going forward."

Some in the cast fly from city to city while others pack a car along as the Les Miz tour crisscrosses the country. "We'll get together in groups and caravan," Earley said. "I have pictures of four of us at the Grand Canyon -- four of us who would not normally go to the Grand Canyon together. But since we did, that was kind of our family vacation."

The Cramers jealously guard the time they get to spend together as a family. The need for additional space in their accommodations often separates them from the main body of the cast. "Even if you don't see these people every day, I always feel like I can call someone and they're there, because everyone's out here in the same boat," Kim Cramer said.

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