Oliver! - the search begins
Feature by Lizzie Guilfoyle
BBC ONE’s latest reality competition, I’d Do Anything, which aims to find an actress for the role of Nancy and three young actors who will share the title role in Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, begins airing on Saturday, March 15, 2008.
As with How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, the series will begin by charting the progress of contestants from regional auditions – held in Belfast, Manchester, Glasgow and London earlier this year – to the final shortlists.
For the would-be Nancy’s, it won’t be until week three that they need to impress viewers as well as the panel of judges which, once again, will be headed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Joining him will be John Barrowman, Denise Van Outen and Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage) who replaces vocal coach Zoe Tyler.
However, the would-be Olivers will not face a public vote although they will need to impress the judges each week with individual music tasks and group performances.
Humphries comes to the panel having originated the role of Mr Sowerberry in the 1960 West End production of Oliver!, a role he reprised on Broadway in 1963. Later, he played Fagin in the musical’s 1967 revival at the Piccadilly Theatre, as well as in Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 production which was directed by Sam Mendes at the London Palladium.
The new production will again be produced by Cameron Mackintosh although as yet venue and dates have not been announced.
Based on Charles Dickens’ 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.