You‘ll want more of glorious ‘Oliver‘

NOT all actors have the opportunity of immersing themselves in a famous role three times across three decades, but that‘s exactly what award-winning Port Elizabeth thespian Alan Williams will be doing when he steps on to the boards next week in Oliver!

It will be Williams‘s third outing as the deliciously conniving character Fagin in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist on which the much-loved musical is based.He first played the role in Port Elizabeth in the early 1980s.

On that occasion it was a production staged by the former UPE Cultura in association with Capab and then, in the early 1990s, he reprised the role in a production presented by Grey High School.

Only this time, it was a real Williams family affair with Alan‘s son Gareth – today a top international performer currently appearing in Chess the Musical in Johannesburg – playing the title role.

“It seems like they take me out of mothballs every decade or so,” quipped Williams.

“The first time I was too young to play Fagin so they had to make me look much older. The second time I was just about right and now they‘ve had to make me look younger.”

Williams said the opportunity to play a role a second or even a third time was a bonus.

“Often you do a role and afterwards you think how maybe you would have liked to do it differently.

“Here I have had that chance a second and a third time. Whether, of course, it‘s a better performance or not is a matter of opinion!”

To reprise a role certainly isn‘t new to Williams who has the arguably unique achievement of having played both Daddy Warbucks in Annie and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof twice in major productions.

He described the Pemads production which opens at the Little Theatre on Tuesday as very rewarding.

“The kids are the best and it‘s wonderful to be instilling an enjoyment of theatre as well as discipline in them – even if they don‘t pursue theatre later on.

“People are going to love the show – it‘s a real feel-good musical. Everyone involved has worked incredibly hard.”

Williams said director Greg Everard had allowed him two nights off intense rehearsals last week so he could nip up to Jo‘burg to see Gareth in a Chess preview.

“It was fantastic.”

Oliver!, by Lionel Bart, features some of the world‘s most loved numbers such as Consider Yourself, You‘ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two, I'd do Anything and Food, Glorious Food.

The production is the first major musical to be presented in the Little Theatre since the construction of the new orchestra pit.

There are two teams of children in the cast headed up by Seth Berry and Andre Visser as Oliver, and Kurt Rix and Jarred Steele as the Artful Dodger.

Musical direction is by Nici Coleman, choreography by Jerry Fortuin and lighting by award-winning David Whitehouse.

Tickets are available at the Walmer Park information kiosk. For further information contact Carli Grobler at 072-9674882.

Brett Adkins

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