Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!” has been staged so many times across so many decades that its songs, “Food, Glorious Food”, “Consider Yourself”, “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two”, barely need introducing anymore.
What changes each time is who is standing under the lights, and this time, South Africa is getting one of its strongest lineups yet.
Pieter Toerien and Cape Town Opera, working with Cameron Mackintosh, have announced the full principal cast for the musical, opening at the Teatro at Montecasino on 29 January 2027 and directed by Steven Stead, with one key role still unfilled, which is the young actor who will play Oliver himself.
Everyone surrounding that empty space is already locked in, and it’s a heavyweight lineup. Jonathan Roxmouth, whose credits span “The Phantom of the Opera”, “EVITA”, “JC Superstar”, “Sunset Blvd”, “A Handful of Keys”, “CATS”, “Sweeney Todd”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Key Change”, “Chicago the Musical” and “GREASE”, takes on the role of Fagin.
Bethany Dickson, known for “GREASE”, “BUDDY”, “The Buddy Holly Story”, “Sunset Blvd”, “Matilda” and “Singing in the Rain”, plays Nancy, and Graham Hopkins, previously seen in Agatha Christie’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” and “My Fair Lady”, plays Mr Brownlow.
The rest of the ensemble reads like a cross section of South African musical theatre. William Berger, whose credits include “The Barber of Seville”, “The Sound of Music” and “Bluebeard’s Castle”, plays Mr Bumble.
Richard Gau, known for “We Will Rock You”, “EVITA”, “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Dirty Dancing”, takes on Bill Sikes.
Daniel Anderson, who appeared in “The Tramp” and “Vincent”, plays the Artful Dodger. Chris van Rensburg, familiar from “The Addams Family” and “7de Laan”, plays Mr Sowerberry and Grimwig, while Dianne Simpson, who has performed in “The Sound of Music”, “My Fair Lady” and “Into the Woods”, plays Mrs Sowerberry and Bedwin.
Megan Spencer, seen in “The Royal Countess Zingara” and “My Fair Lady”, plays Mrs Corney, and Sunny Yoon, known for “Mamma Mia!” and “One Piece”, plays Bet. A full ensemble and a cast of 25 children round out the production.
The story itself has stayed largely unchanged since Dickens first told it. A young orphan escapes a brutal workhouse and lands in the streets of Victorian London, where he’s pulled between Fagin’s band of pickpockets, the Artful Dodger, the dangerous Bill Sikes, and Nancy, whose compassion for Oliver runs against everything else in her world.
It’s a story about resilience and finding family and belonging in the least likely places, and one reason “Oliver!” is still widely regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever staged.
The production will lean on the Teatro’s own scale, its choreography, costume design and staging, to bring Victorian London to life around that story, aiming to land with lifelong fans of the musical and newcomers meeting Oliver for the first time in equal measure.
According to Concord Theatricals, “Oliver!” opened at the New Theatre in 1960 and ran for more than 2,500 performances before transferring to New York in 1962, where it won Bart the Tony Award, making him the first British composer to receive one.
The show’s success continued well beyond that original run. Its 1968 film adaptation earned universal acclaim and six Oscars, and in 1994 the musical returned to the West End in a new production at the London Palladium, produced by Mackintosh and directed by Sam Mendes.
Bart’s work on “Oliver!” contributed to an international career spanning more than four decades, which also included nine Ivor Novello songwriting Awards.
nomathamsanqa.sithathu@nationalmg.co.za