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Penticton  

Pen-Hi kids tackle 'Oliver!'

Consider yourself at home — or at least entertained — at Penticton High's annual spring musical production of Oliver!

The classic musical is being presented April 25 to 27 in the Cleland Theatre at the South Okanagan Events Centre, and has involved over 100 students, from backstage costume and set design through to starring roles.

"There are 60 kids in the cast, double cast," said drama teacher Andrew Knudsen. "And there's a 30-piece band in there. It's been a big undertaking, last year's show we had a four-piece band on stage, so yeah it's an enormous production."

Grade 12 student Heather Lieskovsky plays the Artful Dodger in cast number two, which will alternate performances with another full cast in order to get as many interested students involved as possible. She's thrilled at the chance to sing with a big band.

"It's so much cooler than working with a stereo or backtracks," she said.

Josephine Kay, also in Grade 12, is playing the title role. Oliver is a young orphan in Victorian-era England learning to navigate the streets, so the role stretches her acting chops. 

"It's a really cool role because it's something I've never done before, being an 11-year-old boy — obviously, since I'm a 17-year-old girl," she said.

Kay added that the exploration of what poverty means have been big takeaways for her.

"The idea of being grateful for what you have despite having not very much is important, because even the people in the play who don't have very much, they make the best of what they've got," Kay said.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door, at the high school or at Banks Travel. Patrons are asked to bring a non-perishable food item as well for the Food Bank, in light of the musical's themes of hardship.

Shows start at 7 p.m. with one additional noon matinee on the 27th. 



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