OLIVER!
| MD, ‘OLIVER!’ The Port Tobacco Players, Inc. is casting Oliver!, the musical tale of a workhouse orphan who, after being sold to a funeral parlor, runs away to live on the streets of London where he is befriended by a group of boys trained by an elderly mentor to would-be pickpockets. Suzanne Donohue, dir. Runs Jan. 23-Feb. 15, 2009 Seeking-Oliver Twist: 9-12, the story’s protagonist, an orphan born in a workhouse, Dickens uses his situation to criticize public policy toward the poor in 1830s England, treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness most of his life, pious, innocent child, his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors, true identity is the story’s central mystery; Mr. Bumble: pompous, self-important beadle, a minor church official for the workhouse where Oliver is born, preaches Christian morality but behaves without compassion toward the paupers under his care, Dickens mercilessly satirizes his self-righteousness, greed, hypocrisy, and folly, of which his name is an obvious symbol; Widow Corney: matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born, hypocritical, callous, materialistic, hounds Mr. Bumble mercilessly after their marriage; Noah Claypole: charity boy, Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice, an overgrown, cowardly bully who mistreats Oliver and eventually joins Fagin’s gang; Mr. Sowerberry: undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed, makes a grotesque living arranging cut-rate burials for paupers, but is a decent man who is kind to Oliver; Mrs. Sowerberry: Mr. Sowerberry’s wife, a mean, judgmental woman who henpecks her husband; Charlotte: the Sowerberrys’ maid, becomes romantically involved with Noah Claypole, follows him slavishly; The Artful Dodger: cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets, real name is Jack Dawkins, though no older than Oliver he talks and dresses like a grown man, introduces Oliver to Fagin; Fagin: conniving career criminal, takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him, a buyer of other people’s stolen goods, rarely commits crimes himself, prefers to employ others to commit them and suffer legal retribution in his place; Nancy: young prostitute, a former child pickpocket of Fagin’s, Bill Sikes’s lover, her love for him and her sense of moral decency come into conflict when Sikes abuses Oliver, a noble character despite her criminal lifestyle, gives her life for Oliver when Sikes murders her for revealing Monks’s plots; Bet: a former child pickpocket of Fagin’s, now a prostitute; Bill Sykes: brutal professional burglar brought up in Fagin’s gang, Nancy’s lover, treats her and his dog Bull’s-eye with an odd combination of cruelty and grudging familiarity, his murder of Nancy is heinous; Mrs. Bedwin: Mr. Brownlow’s kindhearted housekeeper, unwilling to believe Mr. Bumble’s negative report of Oliver’s character; Mr. Brownlow: well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver’s first benefactor, owns a portrait of Agnes Fleming, was engaged to Mr. Leeford’s sister when she died, behaves with compassion and common sense and emerges a natural leader; Dr. Grimwig: Brownlow’s pessimistic, curmudgeonly friend, essentially good-hearted, his pessimism is mostly just a provocative character quirk; Chorus: four to six boys, four to five men, four to five women. Auditions will be held by appt. only for children Sept. 3, 7 p.m. and Sept. 6, 2 p.m. and for adults Sept. 8, 7 p.m. and Sept. 10, 7 p.m. No appt. necessary for adults. Prepare a musical selection, sheet music or CD accompaniment provided. Prepare to cold read. For more info and to schedule children’s appt., call (540) 653-1035. Nonunion. |
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