What: Oliver!
Where: SkyCity Theatre.
When: Oct 29 to Nov 2
"Please sir, I want some more" may be a classic line from the musical Oliver! but it took on a twist when Raymond Hawthorne went searching for boys to star in the Auckland Theatre Company's end-of-year show, and its biggest production to date.
Along with choreographer Vicky Horton and musical director John Gibson, Hawthorne wanted something more substantial than the ability to sing - and to look like a child from a Dickensian workhouse - from the 70 to 80 youngsters who attended open auditions in May.
They were on the hunt for boys who could sing with an innate understanding of what the songs were about. Conrad Edwards, 12, and Mitchell Hageman, 11, stood out almost instantly from those who auditioned for roles including Oliver, the Artful Dodger and members of pickpocket Fagin's gang.
"They used their inner feelings," says Hawthorne. "We could see that they were singing what the piece was about rather than just singing a song."
Casting Edwards and Hageman, who share the role of Oliver, was a stroke of luck for Hawthorne. The two boys are great mates and sit next to each other in the same class at Kristin School.
It isn't difficult to see why he picked them. They may be cherubic looking and small for their respective ages but they share an inner confidence, infectious enthusiasm - rather than star-struck naivety - and a love of language and performing which would appeal to any director.
It means Hawthorne can readily forgive them for not having read Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist upon which the Lionel Bart musical is based. Recuperating from rheumatic fever as a child, Hawthorne read the book by the time he was 10 and became a lifelong Dickens' fan.
Although he grew up on a Hawkes Bay farm, and could ride horses almost before he could walk, Hawthorne says he had no trouble picturing the squalid urban scenes of an industrialising Britain so vividly described by Dickens.
"I had imagination," he says simply. "I understood the darkness and the light. Living where I did, there wasn't much else to do but read, listen to the radio and ride my horse around."
While Hageman and Edwards may prefer Harry Potter and the Twilight book series, which they have devoured, both are already accomplished performers. Quickly building up a string of credits for acting in school and community shows, the boys figured if nothing else the audition process would provide them with experience.
Edwards, a musician and singer, started preparing early for the auditions and learned two songs; encouraged by his singing teacher, Hageman decided only the day before he would try out.
He was nervous, having left things to the last minute but was encouraged by dad Troy, who told his son he had faith in him. But he already had a major credit to his name after performing a solo last year alongside Geoff Sewell, of Amici Forever fame.
"I didn't know at the time that the boys were friends - it was a very happy coincidence," says Hawthorne, who started auditions five months ago because he wasn't sure how long he would need to find boys capable of taking leading roles.
The open auditions were followed by a series of callbacks with the list of youngsters progressively reduced until final decisions were reached and the successful contenders told in early October. Since then, rehearsals have been in full swing with intensive preparations during the school holidays.
Originally staged in 1960, it was the first time the Oliver Twist story had been told in a musical format and it struck a chord with audiences. It transferred to New York three years later, becoming Broadway's longest-running British musical and clocking up a string of Tony award nominations and wins.
Hawthorne remembers seeing the musical when it opened and being as spellbound by it as he had been by the book. Over the years he has worked on several other stage adaptations of Dickens' work and was thrilled to be asked by ATC to direct Oliver!
As with the book, the musical charts the rags-to-riches story of the orphaned Oliver as he escapes his miserable workhouse existence, travels to London and joins a gang of apprentice pickpockets working for the thief Fagin.
Just when Oliver thinks he has found a home and family, of sorts, he is falsely accused by the vicious thug Bill Sikes of exposing the gang. It looks like Oliver is about to meet a sad end but, through a twist of fate, he discovers it's a fine life after all.
Much depends on the skills and talents of its young cast, so Hawthorne agrees it was pivotal to find boys with the ability to complement the adult actors in his cast.
That list reads like a who's who of the performing arts scene: Mark Hadlow, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Michael Lawrence, Sophia Hawthorne, Helen Medlyn and David Aston to name just a handful of the performers, who, including musicians, total close to 50. It is the ATC's biggest production, ending a bumper year.
