New Oliver! revival to open in West End

A brand new production of Oliver! is to run in the West End this year.

Lionel Bart’s musical will make its premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre from 8 July – 7 September 2024. It will then transfer to Gielgud Theatre in London from 14 December 2024 – 6 April 2025.

The revival is a new revision by Cameron Mackintosh, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne.

On the cast in both Chichester and London are Simon Lipkin (Guys and Dolls, Avenue Q) as Fagin, Shanay Holmes (Miss Saigon, The Bodyguard) as Nancy, Aaron Sidwell (Henry VI, Wicked) as Bill Sikes, Billy Jenkins (Les Misérables, BBC’s Dodger) as the Artful Dodger and Philip Franks (The Rocky Horror Show, Witness for the Prosecution) as Mr Brownlow.

The orphaned Oliver escapes the harsh Victorian workhouse and takes refuge in London’s murky underworld with the wily gang leader Fagin and his team of resourceful pickpockets led by the Artful Dodger.

He finds a friend in the kind-hearted Nancy and when he’s wrongly arrested for stealing, Oliver meets an unexpected saviour; but is happiness truly within his grasp?

On the creative team are co-director Jean-Pierre van der Spuy; designer Lez Brotherston; musical supervisor and conductor Graham Hurman; lighting designers Paule Constable and Ben Jacobs; sound designer Adam Fisher; video designer George Reeve; original orchestrations by William David Brohn; orchestral adaptation by Stephen Metcalfe; casting directors Felicity French CDG and Paul Wooller CDG; children’s casting director Verity Naughton CDG.

Oliver! is produced in association with Cameron Mackintosh.

Chichester Festival Theatre’s 2024 season will also include adaptations of The Other Boleyn Girl by Mike Poulton and Coram Boy by Helen Edmundson, as well as new plays like Redlands by Charlotte Jones and Cinderella with music by Jason Carr.

The Minerva Theatre will feature adaptations like Laura Lomas’s The House Party and the stage debut of John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, alongside classics and new works directed by renowned figures.

Adding to the theatre’s allure are plans for The Nest, a new studio space set for 2025, aimed at fostering emerging talent and community projects, and the appointment of Miranda Cromwell and Hannah Joss as Associate Directors.