Australian actress Tamsin Carroll has been cast as the alternate Nancy in the forthcoming revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, which plays at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane from 12 December (press night 14 Janaury).
Carroll will star in the musical for two performances a week, playing the role that I’d Do Anything winner Jodie Prenger will occupy for the other six shows. Sarah Lark, a losing contestant in the BBC reality show that cast Prenger, has been confirmed as the understudy for both Nancys in the show.
Carroll has won several awards for her portrayal of Nancy in an Australian production of Oliver! The actress’s other stage credits include Dusty, Grease, Shout and The Rocky Horror Show.
Also announced in the cast are Julius D’Silva as Mr Bumble, Wendy Ferguson as Widow Corney and the members of the ensemble who complete the cast. They join the already confirmed Rowan Atkinson as Fagin, Burn Gorman as Bill Sikes, Julian Glover, Rosemary Leach, Julian Bleach and Louise Gold.
While leading lady Prenger was cast by public vote in the BBC television show I’d Do Anything, the three boys who will alternate in the role of Oliver – Laurence Jeffcoate, Gwion Wyn Jones and Harry Stott – were handpicked by producer Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber on the same television programme.
This production of Oliver! is based on Sam Mendes’s 1994 staging at the London Palladium and is directed by this year’s Laurence Olivier Award-winning director Rupert Goold (Macbeth, Six Characters In Search Of An Author). Based on Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist, the story follows young orphan Oliver as he travels through the dark underbelly of London society. The musical score that accompanies his journey includes the much-loved tunes Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, I’d Do Anything and As Long As He Needs Me.
Carroll will play Nancy on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, with Prenger performing on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, plus Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
CB