Part-time carpenter Ian Record is the man with designs on turning Bermuda into Broadway -- at least for two weeks.

He has been working behind the scenes at City Hall on the sets for Les Miserables for the last four months.

And the amateur set designer has shown The Royal Gazette the masterpiece he created with four helpers, all working round the clock.

Now the stage is set for a show worthy of the mega-musical's famous producer Cameron Mackintosh.

Rumours that the Scottish theatre impresario will fly into Bermuda for one of the shows will not worry Mr. Record.

Because he's been leaving his desk at the Department of Education every evening to start work fine-tuning the theatre set.

Mr. Record, a school curriculum consultant on design and technology, says: "I certainly hope Mr. Mackintosh won't be disappointed.

"We've been working very hard to produce something a little bit different from the West End and Broadway shows. But it should still be something quite striking, a little spectacular.'' The 48-year-old has put the set together well inside his $6,000 budget.

But it has been necessary to cut just a few corners -- because he does not have the luxury of a huge stage or wing space.

Les Miserables, famous for its rotating barricade during one spectacular scene, will have a far simpler set in Bermuda.

But the effects will be just as startling, if Mr. Record's own track record is anything to go by.

The Englishman spent years working for a professional theatre group at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, Kent. Then he started picking up his old trade as an out-of-hours hobby after moving to Bermuda three years ago, working with the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society and then the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, who are behind the Les Miserables production.

Bermuda will host only the world's second full amateur production of Les Miserables, which only plays regularly in London and New York.

Shortcuts on the set include special lighting to create the prison scene, a simple table and candles to show the bishop's house and a roll-on barricade, instead of a turning one.

All the pieces are now in place. There's just a bit of touching up remaining, and some rehearsals for the stage crew to make sure all the props are in place in time for each act.

But even after all the equipment is thoroughly tested, the show's set designer will still have some last-minute jitters.

For Mr. Record, stage fright comes with the job.

"There are people coming to see this who have seen the show 14 or 15 times,'' he says. "They are going to come with expectations. I really hope they are not disappointed.

"But the show has to pay for itself and we are looking at 12 performances.

We've done the absolute best we possibly can.'' Lighting director Annette Hallett and director Emily Gray will help Mr. Record put the finishing touches to his work.

Their aim is to put on a performance worthy of Les Miserables' reputation -- after the London-based musical director Mark Dorrell visited Bermuda to give the go-ahead for the show.

Les Miserables runs from October 5 to October 17.