Tom Edden Cast as 'Fagin' in OLIVER! at Crucible Theatre, Nov 29

Sheffield Theatres today announces that Tom Edden will play Fagin in Artistic Director Daniel Evans' production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!. The production runs from Friday 29 November 2013 until Saturday 25 January 2014 at the Crucible Theatre.

Edden takes over the role from the previously announced Phil Davis who has had to withdraw from the production due to family reasons. He joins Ben Richards who plays Bill Sikes.

Based on the novel by Charles Dickens, Oliver! is the story of an orphan who runs away from a workhouse and falls in with a gang of boys trained to be pickpockets by gang leader, Fagin.

Oliver! is Daniel Evans' third musical for the company, after last year's My Fair Lady and the world première of Tim Firth's This Is My Family.

Tom Edden's theatre work includes his critically acclaimed performance of Alfie as part of the original cast of One Man, Two Guvnors at The National Theatre and then the West End. On its transfer to Broadway, Edden received a Tony Award Nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role, as well as an Outer Critics' Circle Nomination, and went on to win The Drama Desk Award in the same category. His other theatre work includes A Little Hotel on The Side (Theatre Royal Bath), 101 Dalmatians, Hamlet (Royal and Derngate), Arabian Nights, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Creation Theatre), and Picture Of Dorian Gray (Big Telly Theatre). For television, his credits include Dr Who, Stuart: A Life Backwards and Spartans; and for film, Mike Leigh's Untitled 13, The Wolf Man, and he has recently completed filming on Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella.

Lionel Bart (1930-1999) is a writer and composer. His principal works include as lyricist, Lock Up Your Daughters; and as composer and lyricist, Fings Ain't What They Use T'Be, Blitz!, Maggie May, La Strada and Lionel!.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Daniel Evans directs. As an actor, his previous work for the company includes Company, The Pride, Cloud Nine and The Tempest. As director, he previously directed An Enemy of the People - the opening production of his inaugural season,Racing Demon as part of The David Hare Season, Othello, Macbeth, My Fair Lady, The Full Monty (transfers to the West End next year), andThis Is My Family. An award-winning actor and director, Evans' work includes Sunday in the Park with George (Menier Chocolate Factory, Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway) - a role for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical (his second Olivier Award, the first being for Merrily We Roll Along in 2001) and a Tony Award nomination. His extensive credits include work with the Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre. Evans is a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Tickets for Oliver! are on sale now, priced from £17.00* and are available from Sheffield Theatres' Box Office on 0114 249 6000 or atsheffieldtheatres.co.uk