Oliver! - further casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING the final of I’d Do Anything, Cameron Mackintosh has announced further casting for his revival of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver!, which opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on January 14, 2009 (previews from December 12, 2008).
Playing the villanous Bill Sikes will be Torchwood‘s Burn Gorman, with Julian Bleach (Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest for the RSC) as Mr Sowerberry and Rosemary Leach (The Shell Seekers, The Old Ladies) as Mrs Bedwin.
They will, of course, be joining Rowan Atkinson as Fagin, Jodie Prenger as Nancy and the three Olivers – Gwion Jones, Harry Stott and Laurence Jeffcoate.
Although Oliver! will mark Gorman’s musical theatre debut, he has previously appeared on stage in Pool (no water) and Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat.
As well as Torchwood, his screen credits include Bleak House, Coronation Street, EastEnders, Casualty, and crime dramas The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Merseybeat (TV); Layer Cake, with Daniel Craig and Michael Gambon, and 2006’s Colour Me Kubrick (film).
Based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel Oliver Twist, Oliver! is the story of a young orphan boy who runs away from an orphanage and becomes involved with a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor, the incorrigible Fagin. It includes the songs Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, You’ve Got To Pick-A-Pocket Or Two, As Long as He Needs Me, I’d do Anything and, of course, the title song.
The new production, based on Sam Mendes’ 1994 staging at the London Palladium, will be directed by Rupert Goold, Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre, who recently won the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director for his Patrick Stewart-led Macbeth which is currently playing on Broadway. Oliver! will mark his musical debut.
Joining Goold will be two members of Mendes’ original creative team – Matthew Bourne, who will co-direct and choreograph; and set designer Anthony Ward. Between December 1994 and February 1998, the Mendes’ production clocked up 1,366 performances and grossed more than £40 million at the box office.