Rochester First: RAPA concludes season with "Oliver!"
By Mark Gruba
Premier Theatre and RAPA will present “Oliver! The Musical” April 22-27 at the Kodak Center for Performing Arts.
Director Eric Johnson and actor Hector Manuel discussed the musical production Friday during News 8 at Noon.
“It’s a perfect family show for kind of kicking off the Spring,” said Johnson. “It has classic music that you’re going to recognize as soon as you come into the theatre, ‘Food Glorious Food,’ ‘Consider Yourself,’ ‘I’d Do Anything,’ all of the great hits, classic hits that are still entertaining today, for kids, for the whole family. And it’s not too long of a show either. It’s a perfect length for younger kids, introducing them to theatre for the first time.”
Manuel plays Dodger in the show. “It was kind of cool because I get to play the big brother of the gang, which is awesome, and it’s a great role for someone like me who enjoys being a big kid, so it’s a lot of fun, especially doing ‘Consider Yourself’ a million times. That’s my favorite.”
Johnson said this is the largest RAPA production to grace the Kodak Center Stage. “We have a cast of over 50, and over 25 of them are kids, because we open the full show with ‘Food Glorious Food’ and the orphanage. So you get to see the kids at the beginning. Then you get to meet the gang, Fagin’s gang in the second half, so it’s a really cool production to bring the whole community together.”
Manuel added, “Every song in the show is basically a show-stopper, so that’s really cool. And sometimes you miss your cues because you’re too busy listening to Nancy go to town on her song, so it’s really cool to be involved in such a great production.”
RAPA is partnering with Children Awaiting Parents for the musical run. “We partnered with Children Awaiting Parents in the fall with ‘Annie’ and it was such a great partnership that we’ve decided to continue it at the end of our season with ‘Oliver,'” Johnson said. “So we will have members of their organization collecting donations after all of the shows. We were able to raise a couple of thousand dollars in the fall for them, so hopefully we be able to do that again this time.”
For your tickets to see “Oliver! The Musical” call (585) 254-0073 or click here.
Source: https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/rapa-concludes-season-with-oliver/