Don't "Close Your Eyes" when you go to see Erik Ramstad's "Oliver Twist." "What Do You Do?" You hear that "Bill Sikes" and Oliver think "It's a Grand Life," but "That Boy is Nothing but Trouble."
These are some of the songs in this version of the Charles Dickens' classic as adapted by Mary Donnelly and George Strid.
The story is the familiar one, of an orphan who finds adventure and intrigue, but it's a shortened version of the musical, designed for younger actors with less developed voices.
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Terry J. Aman/MDN - - MacKenzie Gleason as Fagin, left, congratulates Marie Cadwalader as Oliver on the young pickpocket’s success by taking it.
Music and chorus teacher Beth Rasch said that although audiences might not recognize the music, they will know all the usual characters.
"The songs are peppier, although it's a kind of dark story," she said.
Arnola Leverson is the accompanist, and Rasch has a cast of 25, with Oliver played by Marie Cadwalader and Abby Harr as The Artful Dodger. Fagin is portrayed by MacKenzie Gleason and Bill Sikes by Kiowa Joyner, with Madison Tiedman as Sikes' girlfriend Nancy. Robert Campbell plays Mr. Bumble and Lexi Hamm is Mrs. Mann.
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'Oliver Twist'
The performance begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday on stage in the Erik Ramstad gymnasium. The event is free and open to the public.
Other cast members are Monica Anderson, Jackie Schlecht, Keely Kroft, Mason Graves, Hannah Lium, Delynn Edington, Beth Cartier, Snowy Summers, Kenita Birnbaum, LeAnn Klein, Krystal Prestidge, Joshua Kragh, Denise Fred, Autumn Uskiewicz, Keely Whetham, Jordan Benson and Hannah Gilseth.