Sing Hosanna! opens 2025 season with Oliver Twist adaptation
The local theater group Sing Hosanna! will present its first show of 2025 with Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!,” a stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel “Oliver Twist.”
The production shows on Friday and Saturday, March 21 and 22, at the Succop Theater at Butler County Community College.
The original “Oliver!” musical premiered in London in 1960 before coming to Broadway in 1962. This year will mark at least the third time Sing Hosanna! will present a performance of “Oliver!,” having already done so in 2010 and 2015.
The show starts Caleb Doverspike as the titular character, Ella Sutara as the Artful Dodger, Mia McGrady as Beth, Michael Traverso as the antagonist Bill Sikes and Mary Ann Mangini as Nancy.
Ralph Christy, the group’s show director and executive producer, said this year’s presentation will use a cast and crew of “around 45” people, roughly half of whom are children. According to Christy, the group’s use of children and teenagers in its shows is what sets its group apart from other local theater organizations.
“We are one of the few that always has kids in our programs,” Christy said. “Anybody can be in our group if someone tries out. They might be in the ensemble and they might not be a lead, but they can be in the show.”
While the organization performs their shows at the Succop Theater, their base of operations is at Stewart Hall on West Airport Road in Penn Township.
“It’s a very old building,” Christy said. “We bought it well over 10 years ago and it’s our rehearsal site.”
The show opens at 7:30 p.m. March 21 at and 2 p.m. March 22. Tickets are available online through TicketLeap, or over the phone by calling Sing Hosanna! at 724-290-8900.
