Opening: Oliver!, Roaring, Simpatico & Good Boy

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OPENING WEDNESDAY, 14 January 2009 (previews from 12 December), Cameron Mackintosh’s major revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Starring Rowan Atkinson as Fagin, Burn Gorman as Bill Sikes and I’d Do Anything winner Jodie Prenger as Nancy, the cast also features 150 children, the logistics of which caused the cancellation of the first two previews last month (See News, 11 Dec 2008).

Oliver!!, which features songs including “Consider Yourself”, “As Long as He Needs Me”, “Oom-pah-pah” and “I’d Do Anything”, is directed by Rupert Goold based on Sam Mendes’ 1994 staging at the London Palladium. Goold is joined by two key members of Mendes’ original creative team, Matthew Bourne, who co-directs and choreographs the new outing, and set designer Anthony Ward.

OPENING THURSDAY, 15 January 2009 (previews from 13 January), Sam Shepard’s Simpatico, which premiered at the Royal Court in 1995, is revived at the Old Red Lion theatre, directed by Hannah Eidinow. The play is a darkly comic psychological thriller set against the cutthroat world of high stakes horse racing, and the cast features 2006 if.comedy award-winning comedian Phil Nichol.

OPENING FRIDAY, 16 January 2009 (previews from 12 January), {Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, a play for actors and orchestra by Tom Stoppard and André Previn first performed in 1977, is revived at the NT’s Olivier Theatre. Directed by Punchdrunk’s Felix Barrett and NT associate Tom Morris, the cast includes Toby Jones, Joseph Millson and Bryony Hannah.

– By Theo Bosanquet