Lionel Bart’s OLIVER! • A Staged Concert

Lionel Bart’s OLIVER! – A Staged Concert:

THEATRE: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre

PRODUCTION TEAM:

• Patrick Tierney – Director
• Aaron Kaplan – Music Director
• Johanna McKenzie Miller – Artistic Director
• Tiffany Gates – Executive Director
• Matthew D. Carney – Casting Director
• Mitzi Smith – Casting Associate

PRODUCTION DATES:

• See the show page.

PAY RATES:

• PRINCIPALS (FAGIN & NANCY) – $225 Rehearsal Stipend, $70/Show
• ENSEMBLE (ALL OTHER ADULT ROLES) – $200 Rehearsal Stipend, $60/Show
• INTERNAL UNDERSTUDIES (ADULT ENSEMBLE) – Additional $50 Rehearsal Stipend
• YOUNG PERFORMERS – Metropolis School of the Performing Arts (SOPA) Tuition Stipend of $250 (good for use toward a SOPA group class or tuition for a SOPA production).

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS:

• DATE – Saturday, November 15, 2025
• TIME – 10am – 4pm CST
• LOCATION – Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell Street, Arlington Heights, IL 60005, 2nd Floor.

APPOINTMENTS:

• You may sign up for an appointment slot via Sign Up Genius HERE.
• If you are unable to obtain an appointment, we will accept walk-ins.
• Walk-ins will be seen on a first-come, first-seen basis.
• If you submitted a video via Actors’ Access, you do not need to attend the open call.

PREPARATION:

• Please prepare a one-minute (32 bars or less) cut from your book that showcases you.
• Bring your sheet music in your key and your headshot, and your resume.
• An accompanist will be provided.

CALLBACK AUDITIONS:

• ADULT ROLES – Thursday, November 20, 2025, 5p-10p*
• YOUTH ROLES – Saturday, November 22, 2025, 10a-5p*
• *Dates and times are subject to change.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
All characters (with the exception of Oliver, Dodger, Fagin, and Nancy) will double as members of the ensemble.

• OLIVER TWIST- (8-10 years old) Orphaned and abandoned from an upper-class family, Oliver ends up in the workhouse. He is innocent and good-hearted, with a strong spirit.
• ARTFUL DODGER- (12-15 years old) The cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets, he introduces Fagin to Oliver. He is a good soul despite his “occupation.” Dodger is lively and self-assured.
• FAGIN- (40+) A conniving career criminal and conman. He takes in homeless children and teaches them to pick pockets for him. A leader, a vagrant, a father, a teacher, a lost soul and an eccentric.
• NANCY- (20s-30s) A graduate of Fagin’s “school of thieves” and tragically involved in an abusive relationship with Bill Sikes. She is a career thief, hardened and streetwise beyond her years, but also intelligent, caring and good-hearted. She longs for a better life. A mother figure to Fagin’s gang.
• BILL SIKES- (30s) Perhaps the most infamous graduate from Fagin’s gang. Nancy’s brutal and abusive boyfriend.
• BET- (18+ to play 15) One of Fagin’s former pickpockets. She looks up to Nancy and is caring and good-natured.
• MR. BUMBLE- (40+) The domineering Beadle (a minor official who carries out various civil, educational or ceremonial duties) who runs the workhouse. Pompous and self-absorbed, greedy and uncaring.
• WIDOW CORNEY- (40+) The sharp-tongued, domineering matron of the workhouse. A widow, she will do anything to get Mr. Bumble’s attention.
• MR. SOWERBERRY- (40+) The Undertaker. Lives up to his name. He is stingy and ruled by his wife. Slimy.
• MRS. SOWERBERRY- (40+) The Undertaker’s wife. She rules the roost and is stingy and mean-spirited.
• MRS. BEDWIN- (30+) The Brownlow’s housekeeper. She cares for everything and everyone and is wise and kind-hearted.
• CHARLOTTE- (20s) The rude but also flirtatious daughter of the Sowerberrys.
• NOAH CLAYPOLE- (20s) The Sowerberrys’ apprentice, he bullies Oliver about his mother and enjoys a flirtatious relationship with Charlotte. A downright bully.
• MR. BROWNLOW- (50s) A distinguished older gentleman of wealth.
• DR. GRIMWIG- (30+) A silly doctor who thinks he knows more than he actually does.
• OLD SALLY- (50+) A pauper with an important secret.
• WORKHOUSE ORPHANS- (8-14 years old) Children who live and work as child labor at a workhouse. Dream of a better life. (Will double as the town’s children.)
• FAGIN’S PICKPOCKETS- (8-14 years old) Children who are loyal to Fagin and make the best of their lives of thievery in exchange for room and board and someone to call “family.”