The Area Stage Company is excited to announce that OLIVER! the musical, featuring a talented cast of 37 young actors, will open on March 6th. This will be ASC’s final production at the Riviera Theatre, its home for the past 11 years, before the company expands into its new 7,000 sq ft home at Sunset Place.
OLIVER!, an award-winning Broadway favorite and a musical adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel, first premiered on the West End in London in 1960 with music, lyrics, and libretto by Lionel Bart. The tale springs to life on the streets of Victorian England where we meet Oliver, a malnourished orphan in a workhouse who escapes to find acceptance by a group of pickpockets led by the comedic but sinister Fagin. When Oliver is captured for a theft that he did not commit, the benevolent Mr. Brownlow takes him in. Fearing the safety of his hideout, Fagin employs the sinister Bill Sikes and the sympathetic Nancy to kidnap Oliver back, threatening his chance to find love. The show features the well-known show tunes “Food Glorious Food” and “Consider Yourself”, and the heart wrenching ballad “As Long As He Needs Me”.
ASC’s own award-winning Associate Artistic Director Giancarlo Rodaz will direct and design the musical, having just received the prestigious 2019 Silver Palm award for his innovative direction of She Kills Monsters and The Wizard of Oz , and fresh off an extremely successful run of his Matilda the Musical in the Fall.
OLIVER! will be performed in its entirety by Area Stage Company’s Conservatory students, ages 7 and up. The running time is 2 hours. Performances are on Fridays at 7:30 PM; Saturdays at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM; and Sundays at 5:00 PM, from March 6th to March 21st, 2020. Tickets are $15 - $25.
Visit https://www.areastagecompany.com/oliver-tickets for tickets.
ABOUT AREA STAGE COMPANY
Area Stage Company is an award-winning, non-profit professional theatre company that for 30 years has staged provocative, world-class theatre and musical productions becoming one of South Florida’s most influential theatre companies. ASC now houses a professional theatre company, a conservatory for young performers, and a theatre program for people with developmental disabilities. Area Stage won the coveted title of “Best Theatre Company 2019” in the Miami New Times Readers Choice Poll. It is the organization’s fourth “best theatre and best venue” ranking.
ABOUT DIRECTOR GIANCARLO RODAZ
Giancarlo Rodaz is the Associate Artistic Director for the Area Stage Company. He has been directing and designing productions at ASC for eleven years. He has just completed direction, lighting and design for Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical to significant critical acclaim. Lighting design credits include: The Wizard of Oz RSC, The Little Mermaid , She Kills Monsters , Cabaret , Shrek the Musical , Ride , The Nether (Carbonell Nominated; Best Lighting Design). ASC directing credits include: The Wizard of Oz RSC, The Little Mermaid , She Kills Monsters , Shrek the Musical , and Ride . Conservatory directing credits include: The Wild Party , Heathers , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , The Lion King JR , My Son Pinocchio JR , Annie JR , Alice in Wonderland , The Little Mermaid JR , The Wizard of Oz YPE. Playwright/directing credits: Catherine & The Accident , It’s A Small Play , and Don’t Fear the Rain at Microtheatre; Rise of the Titans , which premiered at the Arsht Center; Masque at UM; and Janis Matthews & The Dodo Scouts , Waves Against A Withering Shore , and The Lone Wolf of Honeysuckle Valley at the ASC.
