The Tampa Stage Manager Behind the World’s Most Famous Barricade

by Avery Anderson

As Les Misérables returns to the Straz for its tenth visit, production stage manager Ken Davis — a Wellswood local with 30 years on the road — reveals what it takes to run a show that never stops moving.

Les Misérables doesn’t need an introduction in Tampa — the show has toured through the Straz Center nine times in the past four decades, practically earning “annual tradition” status. But this year’s return comes with a twist: one of the people calling every cue, solving every crisis, and steering this global theater machine actually lives here.

Ken Davis, production stage manager of the North American tour, keeps Wellswood as his home base when he’s not managing — quite literally — everything you see on stage.

“At its simplest, like I always tell people who ask that very question, I manage the stage. It’s actually in the title,” he said. “I’m ultimately responsible for everything that happens on stage both creatively and technically.”

That includes lighting, sound, set, orchestra, performers — all the pieces that make Les Mis feel like Les Mis. “I’ve been likened to an air traffic controller, making sure everybody knows where they’re going safely,” he added.

It’s a big job because Les Mis is a big show. The tour travels with roughly 80 to 85 people: 40–45 cast members, 15 musicians, a crew of 20, management, and even a schoolteacher for the five child actors. Davis laughed as he recalled: “When we’re checking into the hotel, you best just step aside ‘cause [we’ll] run you over.”

The Worst Audition, the Perfect Job

Stage management wasn’t Davis’s plan.

“I was a performer in high school,” he said. And like many theatre kids, he believed performing was the door into the life he wanted: “I wanted to make people feel like I felt that day that I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know what this is, but I have to be a part of this.’”

But his first college audition was its own plot twist.

“I gave the absolute worst audition ever,” he said. “They probably still use it as a way not to audition.”

That door closed. Another opened.

“I eventually got into the technical side of things in college and found this avenue of stage management,” he said. “It exercised that creative side… and the other part of me, the organizational, logistical, logical guy.”

From there came decades on Broadway tours — Chicago, Hairspray, Ragtime, The Lion King — years of hotels, airports, and “starving for a minute like most people do.” But one show eluded him.

Les Misérables.

Living Inside a Modern Classic

Davis still remembers seeing an early tour in his twenties.

“I can remember to this day some of those moments,” he said. “I had every version of the show possible… records, cassettes, then downloads.”

With a 40-year global footprint — London, Madrid, Shanghai — Les Mis is what Davis calls a “modern classic.”

And performing it in Tampa carries weight.

“This is the 10th time it’s coming to Tampa,” he said. “People know it… and probably have heard of some of the songs. Now I get to hear it every night live, which is kind of amazing.”

That legacy shapes his job.

“We know that we’re part of that legacy and it’s been entrusted to us,” he said. “Somebody is seeing it for the 10th time and somebody’s seeing it for the first time. They should both get the same experience.”

At every new city, he reminds the cast and crew what’s at stake.

“Remember that tonight somebody is seeing their first Broadway show and somebody’s seeing their last Broadway show, and with that comes some responsibility,” Davis tells the company each night.

The Broadway Road… Leads to Tampa

For a guy who has spent half his life living out of a suitcase, Davis talks about Tampa with the softness of someone who chooses it.

He grew up visiting Madeira Beach every summer. Busch Gardens was “always a highlight.”

Later, he landed here by accident when a former theme-park colleague hired him to work for Norwegian Cruise Line’s secret entertainment facility in Riverview.

“Not many people know that. It’s a top little secret facility over there,” he said.

He moved here, stayed here, and — like many touring artists who discover Tampa — fell in love with it.

Today, he lives in Wellswood “with all the peacocks.”

Between cities, he returns to the Riverwalk, Ybor, Armature Works — places that didn’t exist when he first toured through long ago.

“When I first went to Tampa… the Riverwalk wasn’t there and Armature Works wasn’t there,” he said. “Now… it’s really cool.”

St. Pete, especially, gets him dreaming.

“I love St. Pete,” he said. “A little bungalow in St. Pete might be the dream retirement house.”

But more than anything, Tampa’s geography — and its vibe — makes it easy to exhale.

“You can fly to Miami in an hour,” he said. “The beach is close by. Getting to Orlando… eventually it is just one big city between Orlando and Tampa.”

And he loves that we sometimes forget how good we have it.

“Sometimes we’re like, ‘Oh, it’s Saturday. What should I do?’… I’m like, over the bridge there are places people dream of going their whole lives.”

Why Now, Why Here

When Les Misérables returns to Morsani Hall Dec. 10–14, it isn’t just another stop on a world tour. It’s a homecoming for the guy who runs the entire operation — and a chance for Tampa to meet the person who makes the magic feel seamless.

If You Go

What: Les Misérables

When: December 10–14, 2025

Where: Morsani Hall at the Straz Center

Run Time: Approximately 3 hours with intermission

Tickets: On sale now through the Straz Center