"Do you hear the people sing?" That's a refrain from "Les Miserables," the Tony Award-winning favorite, and it surely will ring through the rafters when Diamond Head Theatre holds auditions for the highly anticipated community theater debut of the Alain Boublil-Claude-Michel Schonberg blockbuster, opening Sept. 26.

Peter Lockyer and Melanie Tojio Lockyer will direct and choreograph, with musical direction by Phil Hidalgo. "Les Miz" likely will attract a coterie of Island singers and actors eager to recreate the glory and spirit of original.

Lockyer has extensive Broadway and touring credits; he played Marius, the show's romantic hero, for six years on Broadway and also in the show's China and South Korea premieres. He's also played Chris in "Miss Saigon" and the Phantom and Raoul in "The Phantom of the Opera."

Lockyer's wife, Melanie, was home two years ago to co-direct and choreograph "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at DHT; you may remember her as an aspiring Island trouper who went on to play Kim in "Miss Saigon." She most recently helped mount "Saigon" at The Muny in St. Louis with a cast of 101 and a real helicopter flying in, over and out of the 12,000-seat outdoor theater. Melanie now works as a casting director in New York.

"We are thrilled to be coming home to work with the local talent on this beautiful show," she said. "We hope everyone who is interested will come out to sing."

Auditions will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at DHT. I'll bet those tapped to play Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, Marius, Eponine, Enjolras, Thenardier and Madam Thenardier, among others, will be future Po'okela honorees.

TRYOUT DETAILS: WWW.DIAMONDHEADTHEATRE.COM. ...

AROUND TOWN: When Manoa Valley Theatre publicist Aubrey Hawk was taking Mele Young's muscle-conditioning class the other day at the Honolulu Club, she ramped up to remixes of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from "Evita," "Hand Jive" from "Grease" — and, ahem, "Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Show." "The class went wild, clearly many having seen the MVT show," Hawk said.

Tony Young, Mele's spouse, used to teach at the Honolulu Club, too; he's in "Rocky Horror." You may recall that he won the national aerobics championship in 1993. "He still has the highest kick in town ... even higher in heels," said Hawk of Tony's performance in the MVT show, closing this Sunday. And Mele quips about hubby's transvestite shtick, complete with fishnet stockings: "Try being married to a guy who has better legs than you!" ...

Comedic actor Ted McGinley and a party of 10 enjoyed themselves at Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar at the Waikiki Beach Marriott a few nights back. You may not recognize his name, but you would surely recognize his handsome face — he played Jefferson D'Arcy on "Married ... with Children." Other TV credits include "Happy Days" and "The Love Boat"; in films, "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Wayne's World II." ...

WHEE, THE PEOPLE: Though the 45th anniversary of Ernest Chang's Piano Studio won't be till Sept. 2, the veteran keyboarder-instructor is celebrating early, with an anniversary recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Tong-Il Han, Chang's longtime pal from their Juilliard School days together, will guest-perform as he frequently does during five-year milestones. Han's recital culminates a summer piano festival that has attracted 40 Korean students and teachers this week at the Brigham Young University campus in La'ie. Seol-Hwa Kim, 15, an award-winning pupil from the Han Piano Academy, is on the recital bill, too. For tickets, call the Chang studio at 536-0218. ...

The Hawai'i Theatre Center docents staged a going-away lunch for fellow docent-organist Wes Jones, who is retiring and moving to Colorado after more than 30 years in the Islands. Jones has played many Waikiki piano bars and gigged at 18,270 weddings — and counting. That averages out to more than a wedding a day for each of his 35-plus years here. ...

ITEMIZATIONS: Entertainer Matt Yee has been visiting, after toiling in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas. He relays that he hung out with Broadway vet Chita Rivera, each catching the other's performances. "I love Matt Yee," she told one of her sell-out audiences. ...

Donna Butterworth — who was Little Eleu as a child star, appearing in Waikiki showrooms and in Elvis Presley flicks in her heyday — was injured in a car accident in Los Angeles. She received kokua from magician Jeffrey Hansen, with whom she has been staying, according to magician Fred Ball, aka Professor Fun. ...

And that's Show Biz. ...

Show Biz is published Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com or fax 525-8055.