‘Oliver!’ comes to the high school

“Please, may we have some more?”

That’s the response actors and actresses at Woodbury High School are hoping their audience will have next week.

The school’s fall musical, “Oliver!:, will see Samuel Ellis, a second-grader from Liberty Ridge Elementary School, joining Nancy, Fagin, Bill Sykes, Mr. Bumble and the Artful Dodger on stage.

The lead characters will be played by high school students, while the towns children and orphans are performed by dozens of elementary students from around Woodbury.

“It’s been really crazy trying to learn everything,” said David Christensen, a senior who is playing Mr. Bumble.

“The big struggle for me is trying to hold down a British accent, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Auditions were held back in September, with rehearsals getting underway swiftly, and the first of eight shows will take place next Thursday (Nov. 13).

It’s the 30th musical staged by husband and wife teacher partnership Jon and Karen Seashore at Woodbury High School, who also directed ‘Oliver!’ as their second show at the school.

Nick Meryhew, a sophomore appearing in his first show since moving to the high school from Lake Junior High, plays Fagin.

“I figured maybe I would get chorus or something,” he said, explaining his surprise at being named for one of the lead characters.

“It’s quite a jump from the junior high to here; at Lake we didn’t even really have a stage - we had a cafeteria with curtains.”

Fellow former Lake student Heather Mohr, a junior, plays the Artful Dodger.

“It’s interesting to play the Artful Dodger because in the very beginning the character was supposed to be a boy, so we had to change a few of the lines,” she said. “I think adding the costume really helps. The character herself is really fun and she is a little scoundrel; she’s not hardcore bad.”

Shows will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 and at 2 p.m. on Nov. 16 and 22.

Ticket prices are $7 for adults and $5 for students (grade 12 and under) and all tickets are reserved.

To book tickets, visit the WHS website www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/whs, click on “activities” and then view “fall musical.”

Tags: news, oliver, woodbury, high, school, seashore