Big Sandy Theater Company is rehearsing for their upcoming production of the Musical Adventures of Oliver Twist. The production of Charles Dickens’ work will be showing March 6th and 7th. The choice to perform the melodrama is a departure from the company’s more traditional comedic shows. The large cast of 35 players features a broad range of ages and experience levels, with familiar cast members and new faces.
Amanda Hoffman, who has co-directed every Big Sandy Theater Production, explained the rationale behind the choice of an Oliver Twist musical for this year’s show: “We really decided on Oliver because we wanted to do something different. We definitely wanted a musical, but just something to broaden and push our veterans’ abilities a little bit. And I think this is definitely doing that. I’ve always liked the story of Oliver. It is a nice, big play and something different.” Amanda and Dianna Keane, who also has co-directed every Big Sandy Theater production, reviewed scripts before narrowing the choices down to five options, most of which were Disney related, but lacked roles for older actors and actresses.
Another reason for the choice to shift from comedy to a dramatic show is the opportunity to challenge the actors: “We have a couple, like Warren Hartley, who’s been with us from the very beginning and Erik (Sietsema), who has also has been with us. We are making them play roles that they’re not necessarily comfortable with. Warren is going to be playing a guy that is pretty awful. Erik is kind of doing the same thing. We also have Abbey (Sietsema), who is kind of being pushed to her limits a little bit. She has to show a little bit more emotion. Everybody gets to play something they wouldn’t normally do. It’s really kind of fun to watch everybody kind of go outside of their comfort zone, but you can see the struggle.”
Michelle (Missy) Danreuther, who is assisting as a director in the production, explained the challenges: “We picked Oliver Twist because we wanted to challenge our people, our drama people, to be in character in a different way than they’re not used to. That’s why we thought we should change it up, because we’ve always done comedies, and we wanted to give the players a challenge. We also wanted to bring a warm production to Big Sandy that would be just a little different, something that would be out of character for our theater.”
Stephanie Drga, who is also helping in a directorial capacity, explained that, although the production is more serious than past shows, it is not without its lighthearted moments: “There are some elements of comedy, especially when people get into character appropriately. So there is a certain element of comedy for a local pastor singing about greed. There’s a certain element of comedy for the nice music teacher talking about how much he hates marriage. There’s just a certain element of comedy in our community. Rebecca (Wiehe)’s part where, she plays it comedically, even if it’s not a comedic role necessarily being so over the top is comedic.“
The mix of serious, dramatic material with its still relevant Dickensian social critique and touches of lighthearted whimsy results in a wonderful show that is both dramatic but fun often enough to lighten the mood.
The Musical Adventures of Oliver Twist will be staged on March 6th at 7 PM and March 7th at 3 PM.