Palm Canyon Theatre Opens 21st Season with 'Oliver!'

PALM DESERT, CA - From Palm Canyon Theatre: Straight out of training at the Palm Canyon Theatre’s Summer Kids Camp, about 30 talented young actors, as well as company members and professionals will come together to bring the English musical Oliver! to the stage in Palm Springs. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Original Score, Lionel Bart wrote the Oliver! music and lyrics based on the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist.

Oliver! is set in Victorian England where a malnourished orphan escapes to London and finds acceptance amongst a group of petty thieves and pickpockets led by the notorious Fagin. Tom Warrick, winner of the Desert Theatre League award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical for his 2009 PCT performance as Fagin will reprise the role. The show will be led by PCT’s co-artistic director, Se Layne, who will both direct and choreograph the cast that features many company favorites including Allegra Angelo, Amanda Burr, Leslie Benjamin, Natalia Fernandez and Mat Tucker.

The plot thickens when Oliver is captured for a theft he did not commit, and the benevolent victim, Mr. Brownlow, played by Peter Nickolson, takes him in. Fearing the safety of his hideout, Fagin employs the sinister Bill Sikes, played by Sam Schwartz, and the sympathetic Nancy, played by newcomer Johnelle Walker, to kidnap him back, threatening Oliver’s chances of discovering the true love of a family.

Oliver will be played by 11-year-old Fabrizio Ibanez. This is Ibanez’ eighth main stage production with PCT. He was last seen in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Benjamin. He was also nominated for a DTL award for his role as Nathan in The Full Monty. Jake Mule will play Dodger. Mule has been acting since he was 7-year-old and has been seen in many PCT musicals, most recently as Tommy in The Music Man. Mule ranked in the top 10 in The English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition at Lincoln Center in New York.

Steven Smith and Jaci Davis are co-musical directors. Peter Mins and Derik Shopinski will team as the show’s costume designers. Lighting and set designs are by J.W. Layne, co-artistic director of PCT, who will utilize a new lighting system this season, courtesy of the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation. Also new: two air conditioning units, purchased with funds raised through a recent Go Fund Me campaign and installed by Blair Heating and Air.

Oliver! opens at the Palm Canyon Theatre on Friday, September 22, and runs through Sunday, October 1. Show times are

8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. Tickets are $32-$36. Student tickets are $15, with valid ID; student tickets must be purchased at the Box Office. Season packages are also still on sale for as little as $120 for four Broadway musicals.

For tickets or more information, call the Palm Canyon Theatre Box Office at 760-323-5123 or order online: PalmCanyonTheatre.org. The Palm Canyon Theatre is located at 538 North Palm Canyon Drive, at the corner of Alejo Road and Palm Canyon Drive. Box Office hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Image via Palm Canyon Theatre