Isabel Lawrence
Editor-in-Chief
The NCHS Drama Department has been preparing for their fifth and final performance of the season: the spring musical Oliver, which can be seen on June 6, 7, and 8 at 7:30 pm in the auditorium. Following this year’s productions of All in the Timing, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, and the Harry Potter themed Dramafest, Oliver will close theatre’s year.
After four productions, in addition to a competition trip to Disneyland, NCHS theatre has had a busy year. However, according to Director Dee Alexander, Oliver will bring new elements to the stage that this year’s audiences have not yet seen. “I’m really hoping that following Beauty and the Beast, it’s another family friendly show, although its subject matter is a little bit darker,” Dee said. “I think it’s tone. I think it’s color. It’s a little bit darker, there’s some wonderful heavy acting scenes. It’s not a fantasy like Alice and like Beauty and the Beast. This one’s got a little bit more truth and depth to it.”
Cast member junior Megan Mistretta, who plays the Artful Dodger in the show, also recognizes the new mood of Oliver as compared to shows from earlier in the year. “The really special part about this show is that it isn’t a big spectacle, it is more of an intimate and serious show that really relies on talented actors who can sing, rather than singers who can act,” Megan said.
The show includes a range of numbers and scenes, as Megan has seen. “There are a lot
silly songs about how to pickpocket and impressing girls,” she said. “The show is not all fun and games though; the show revolves around crimes and injustice. While a lot of the music is happy and fun, there is also murder and abuse involved in the production.
The cast had to go through the long rehearsal process in order to reach this new level of seriousness. Dee has seen the work students have put into the show. “I think that after a season of fantasy and happy go lucky, I think that we’re ready to tackle something with a little more meat,” she said. “A little darker, depth of character. A lot of [students]have a very tough journey to go on.”
Sophomore Nancy Leville, who plays the title character of Oliver, has experienced this journey and the challenges it has brought. “My favorite part, but also the hardest part about playing [Oliver] is that I have to be a boy,” she said. “It’s a challenge but it’s a new experience.”
In addition to the new identity, Nancy and the cast have also had to learn to exist in another time period and location. “The setting really affects the show because it is set in London a long time ago, so not only do we have to adapt to the time period but we all have to speak in a cockney accent,” Nancy said.
The difficulties, however, brought the cast together, as Nancy experienced. “We have all become great friends,” she said. “This group of characters are the pick-pocketers and we hang out together outside of rehearsal along with practicing our pick-pocketing on the cast as a joke. We all have a really fun time.”
