Lionel Bart News

Beck Center Youth Theater closes its 66th season with Oliver! May 15 - 24, 2015 on the Mackey Main Stage. Featuring 56 Beck Center students, audiences will follow the adventures of the young orphan, Oliver Twist, as he explores the streets of London. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. A special student matinee performance will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 21. Tickets are on sale now.

Director, Peter Hopkins, who plays King Hildebrand in Princess Ida, is blessed with a first-rate cast.

Adventure Theatre MTC has announced the cast of this summer's OLIVER!, ATMTC's two-act steampunk reimagining of the musical by Lionel Bart.

Laat night, Sunday 12 April, Thriller Live played its 2,619th performance at the Lyric Theatre and passed the original 1960 version of Lionel Bart's Oliver! to become the 18th Longest Running West End Musical Of All Time.

Curve theatre, Leicester has announced its Christmas musical for 2015 will be a new production of Lionel Bart's masterpiece Oliver!. Opening on 2 December 2015, with previews from 27 November, the production also sees Paul Kerryson return as director.

Gary Naylor sees a show full of great songs and strong performances and the professional debut of Liberty Buckland - a name to remember.

Theatre Memphis has made its play selections for the 2015-16 season and they include a variety of entertainment that touches many bases. Featuring musicals, comedy, drama, classics and new work, the season offers options to Memphis patrons.

Artistic Director Molly Smith has announced the 2015/16 season lineup for the 66th season at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater.

Theater Latte Da and Hennepin Theatre Trust have formed a beautiful partnership called 'Broadway Re-Imagined,' in which they combine the resources of the Trust with the creativity and innovation of Latte Da to produce a Broadway-sized musical with all local talent and that special Latte Da twist. After the powerful rock musical Aida and the brilliant Ivey Award-winning Cabaret, they return this year with Oliver!, the 1960 musical based on Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. But don't let all those adorable moppets dancing around the stage and singing upbeat tunes fool you. Oliver! is not a light and fluffy happy musical, well, not solely anyway. It's also a dark and somber look at such serious issues as child abuse and neglect, the desperation of poverty, and violence. But fortunately, after all the death and darkness, the curtain call ends with a reprise of a happy number, so we can all leave the theater with that happy musical feeling. But perhaps we also leave with a deeper thought about the relevance and seriousness of what we just saw, wrapped up in a gorgeous musical theater package, to ponder further at a later date.

OLIVER!, an re-imagining of the iconic musical based on Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, directed by the nationally acclaimed Peter Rothstein, runs tonight, February 4-March 1, 2015, at the historic Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.

Looking for a place to 'act out' in 2015? The Main Stage, Inc. could be the place for you. The Main Stage is kicking it into gear with their 2015 season, and there's no slowing them down! They have included four productions, as well as a youth summer camp that will take place in June of 2015. I recently sat down with the Executive Director of The Main Stage, Jon West, to find out what makes this season much more special than the previous years. Let's take a look at the 2015 season for The Main Stage, Inc.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: GIGI opens in D.C., Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling take to the stage, PETER AND THE STARCATCHER heads off on another adventure and more!

According to Deadline, Geoffrey Rush has officially signed on to play OLIVER! composer Lionel Bart in Vadim Jean's upcoming musical biopic CONSIDER YOURSELF.

?CPCC Summer Theatre happily announces its 42nd season of summer stock for the Charlotte Metrolina region in Summer 2015.

Today in 1963, Oliver! opened at Broadway's Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 774 performances. Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, a successful Broadway production in 1963 and further tours and revivals. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1994-1998 and again from 2008-2011.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), currently celebrating its third season in its state-of-the-art theatre in Warwick, is pleased to announce two presentations in January - A Night of Broadway Classics on Saturday, January 10 and British Invasion starring OSTC "kid" alumni on Sunday, January 11.

OLIVER!, an re-imagining of the iconic musical based on Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, directed by the nationally acclaimed Peter Rothstein, runs February 4-March 1, 2015, at the historic Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.

According to the Guardian, OLIVER! is heading back to the big screen! British choreographer Matthew Bourne revealed that a new movie version of the 1960 musical is currently in the works. Bourne told the Guardian: 'We're reviving The Car Man - based on Carmen. There's also a film of Oliver! in the pipeline. Cameron Mackintosh is hoping to follow up LES MISERABLES with Oliver! and I've never really worked on a major film so that's exciting.'

It amazes me how a musical performed with little or no scenery, props, or costumes, and on a small intimate stage can become one of the preeminent shows of the season. That is exactly what Oliver! accomplished on opening night Saturday December 6 at the Off Center Theatre in Kansas City. This achievement speaks volumes to the creative team of Musical Theater Heritage that labored to near perfection.

Musical Theater Heritage closes out their 2014 season with two shows running in repertory: Oliver! and A Spectacular Christmas Cabaret. Beginning December 5 Oliver! runs on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday. A Spectacular Christmas Cabaret runs Mondays December 8, 15, and 22.