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About the Show
"Oliver!" is based on the
novel "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, and tells the classic
tale of the orphan who endures life on the streets of London
in the 1880's until finally being re-united with his grandfather. The
musical was written by Lionel Bart, and
was first presented in 1963 in London,
where it played for over 2,000 performances at the New Theatre. It
features outstanding musical numbers including Food, Glorious
Food, Consider Yourself, and As Long As He Needs Me. The play won
three Tony Awards, for Composer and Lyricist, Conductor and Musical
Director, and Scenic Designer, and was turned into a 1968 film which won
the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Synopsis
The curtain opens on the sinister
interior of the workhouse with a bare dining table, center stage, where
the boys will sit. These pale-faced wretches can be seen peering through
the bars of a door at the back. Looming above two curving stairways
glows the legend "God Is Love" in rough letters. The door is
opened and the boys file to the table and sing Food, Glorious Food.
At the end of the song, the Widow Corney, who runs the workhouse and Mr.
Bumble, the parish beadle, enter and a thin gruel is served. Wolfing the
meager fare, the boys hopelessly stack their bowls, but the hapless
Oliver approaches Bumble with the entreaty, "Please sir, I want
some more." He is instantly subdued with the song Oliver. At
its finish, Oliver is locked behind the barred door as the rest of the
boys exit upstairs. Mr. Bumble and the widow flirt in the song, I
Shall Scream!
Oliver is brought forward, bag and
baggage, and is led off by Bumble who sings the haunting Boy for Sale.
Walking through the streets of London, they arrive at Mr.
Sowerberry's, the undertaker, where he and his wife sing of their
profession in That's Your Funeral. Oliver is "sold"
to the undertaker. Alone and frightened and surrounded by coffins on
stage, he sings the plaintive Where Is Love?
Oliver runs away the very next morning,
and is picked up hungry and tired in the streets by the Artful Dodger
who cheers him up with Consider Yourself. The Dodger leads
him through crowded streets to Fagin's kitchen. The boys come in and
Fagin himself appears and, with a mock solemn welcome to Oliver, sings
the fantastic You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two. Nancy, Bill
Sikes' girl and Bet arrive. The two of them, accompanied by the boys and
Fagin, celebrate their way of life in It's a Fine Life. The
action moves to the next morning when Fagin sends the boys off on a
pocket-picking expedition with the song Be Back Soon, Oliver among them. The stage now displays a
city scene and we witness the capture of Oliver, not for picking
pockets, but for simply looking guilty.
In the second act the curtain rises on the
"Three Cripples"-an underworld tavern-where Nancy is being
encouraged to sing a music hall number, Oom-Pah-Pah. Bill Sikes
enters and sings of his dreadful reputation in My Name. Fagin's
boys pour down the stairs telling of Oliver's apprehension by the
police, at the same time revealing that his innocence has been
established and that he is presently ensconced in the home of a rich old
gentleman. Fearful lest he give away their set-up, Fagin and Sikes
dispatch Nancy to get Oliver back. Fearful of Sikes, she sings As
Long as He Needs Me.
Meanwhile, at the home of his new-found
benefactor, the erstwhile ragged Oliver has become a well-tailored,
well-cared for little lad. Looking out of his bedroom window he observes
some passing street vendors crying their wares; he sings Who Will
Buy? A plea that his good luck and new situation in life will be
permanent. However, the moment he sets foot outside his benefactor's
house, Oliver is seized and dragged off by Nancy
to Fagin's.
In the next scene Fagin occupies the empty
stage and considers going straight in Reviewing the Situation.
Subsequently, Bumble and Mrs. Corney, now uncomfortably married,
discover that Oliver is the scion of a rich family. Their scheme to get
him back fails and Nancy, regretting her part in the capture of Oliver,
plans to return him to his benefactor at night on London Bridge. Sikes stalks her and kills her. He grabs Oliver and, after a chase, is
himself shot dead. Oliver is restored to his benefactor and Fagin, now
without boys, home and money, reprises Reviewing the Situation. |
About
the Production
The Crew
Cynthia Seckler,
Producer
Ruth Ann Pattee,
Artistic Director
Timothy Guiles, Music Director
Nina Brennan, Choreographer
Francis Moran, Photographer
The Cast
OLIVER........................... Brin
Schoellkopf
FAGIN..............................Jonathan Sanborn
NANCY.............................Sharon Dube
ARTFUL DODGER.............Corey Kline
BILL SYKES.....................Michael LeMay
MR. BUMBLE....................Karl Klein
WIDOW CORNEY.............Teresa Langston
MR SOWERBERRY..........Michael Carr
MRS SOWERBERRY........Nina Brennan
BET.......................................Emma Kessler
NOAH CLAYPOLE.............Stephen Guion
CHARLOTTE.....................Kerianne Morehouse
MRS. BEDWIN ..................Cynthia Seckler
MR BROWNLOW................Sal Spinosa
DR GRIMWIG......................TBA
ORPHANS/THIEVES:
- Eleanor Reilly
- Sadie Bolger - understudy
Oliver
- Devon Kiernan
- Tommy Maloney
- Isabel Carr
- Josh Seckler - understudy
Dodger
- Olivia Wimble
- Owen Leavey
CHORUS:
- Shannon Pitonyak
- Joanne Breidenstein
- Kirsten Reilly
- Brian Watson
- Ruth Ann Pattee
Want to look at the playbill?
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