Spotlight’s new ‘Oliver’ finally bows, after 3 years

The Spotlight Theatre’s new production, “Oliver,” opens tonight and it’s been a long three-plus years in the making.

Originally scheduled for April 2020, they were in two weeks into rehearsals when shut down by COVID. The current cast has five people from that original group, all in different roles, said director (and Spotlight co-owner) Sara Tubbs.

Tubbs played Bet in the show when she was in college. Her kids Cooper and Taylor were in the original children’s ensemble and are back in the new cast.

Cooper, 11, is the title role and he likes having so many other kids (14 total) in the show. He was last in Spotlight’s “A Christmas Story,” this past December, when his mom played the mother. Cooper said it’s easier to work with kids than adults in “Oliver.”

The award-winning musical adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel springs to life with some of the most memorable characters and songs ever to grace the stage, according to a show synopsis. Lionel Bart’s classic musical is based on the Dickens 1838 novel, Oliver Twist, and it’s one of only a few musicals to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

The only original 2020 show that Spotlight (1800 7th Ave., Moline) brought back soon was “The Sound of Music,” which Tubbs directed at the end of 2021. “It just felt right, and putting together a whole season, you have to strike a balance – of light and dark, comedy and drama, kid-friendly and sprinkle a couple for the adults,” she said this week.

“We felt this was the right time this year, to strike that balance and put it up,” she said of “Oliver.” “Christmas Story” had quite a few kids as well.

“This is definitely one of our biggest cast of kids since ‘Matilda,’ and ‘Matilda’ had 12 younger kids, and we had some high schoolers,” Tubbs said.

QC theater veteran Kirsten Sindelar (credits include Spotlight’s “The Producers” and “All Shook Up”), plays Nancy and was not in the 2020 cast.

When she was in the Black Box Theatre’s “Motherhood,” Amy Trimble (music director for “Oliver”) saw her and asked her to audition for “Oliver.” Trimble last music directed at Spotlight for “Big” in 2019.

Joe Urbaitis, who plays Fagin, is married to Trimble. Nancy in the story is an older member of Fagin’s gang, and the wife of Fagin’s terrifying associate Bill Sikes. Her big song in the show is about Bill, “As Long as He Needs Me.”

Urbaitis was in Spotlight’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Big” and “The Producers.” Working with Trimble is convenient since they can go over some of his parts at home, he said.

“I’ve grown up with this – the movie came out in ’68 and I was born in ’64,” Urbaitis said of “Oliver.”

“He’s fantastic. Everybody is,” Tubbs said, noting Fagin is not really evil, but more cartoonish. Bill Sikes is really the villain of the show.

“Dickens made the parallel between Oliver starting in the workhouse and Fagin wanting a group of thieves,” Urbaitis said. “He exposes evil in both of those and the good in both.”

Tubbs called Sikes “very cruel.” Sindelar said Nancy is more “the light to his dark, but she’s still sucked into that role. She still loves him no matter what he does. And she’s kind of the angel on his shoulder.”

Sindelar loves seeing the reactions of the kids when she’s on stage.

“It’s great, you see their bright eyes and even down in the green room, they’re still talking in their accent to you,” she said. “It’s just adorable.”

“It’s been a great group of kids – they’re super respectful; they’re so much fun up there, the energy,” Tubbs said.

“They’re very helpful, with lines and props too,” Urbaitis said.

The children also asked a lot of questions of Trimble during rehearsals about the show and history of the story. The kids picked up the English accent also very quickly, Tubbs said.

Eight families in the show

Tubbs said there are so many parents and their children in the show (eight families, including her) because they all just tried out.

“They all came and auditioned, they were all awesome and it just worked out that way,” Tubbs said. She’s very impressed with Dana Wright, who plays the rose seller, and Wright’s daughters Adelle and Sylvie are in “Oliver.”

They’re 14 and 11 and live in Illinois City, about 50 minutes from the theater, where they’ve done Spotlight Children’s Company shows. “Oliver” is their first main stage production, Dana said this week.

“The experiences they have, they’re so much fun and they learn so much,” she said. “They have so much fun and they meet a lot of amazing people.”

“When they do Children’s Company, they only rehearse once a week. So it’s a lot more manageable and I just sit in the car and read or do whatever,” Wright said, noting her husband suggested she try out for “Oliver,” too, since she did theater when she went to Rockridge High School (class of 2002; she currently teaches 6^th-grade literature at Rockridge).

“So we all three of us auditioned and we were all offered roles. So it became a family affair,” she said. “We love the musical, we love the music, love the story and quite honestly, this time of year works out to where we can do something like this.”

Making friends at Spotlight is the best part of the experience for the family.

“They do such a wonderful job of bonding the cast and they’re so inclusive and every experience they’ve had at Spotlight and now myself as well, we walk away with having met some really incredible people,” Wright said.

She’s proud of her daughters for being theater pros already, but Dana said: “I’m extremely rusty. I mean, we are really knocking the dust off of things. It’s been over 20 years for me, but the cast — the cast and the staff are just so supportive. They’ve really prepared us. So I’m starting to feel better and better about it.”

Dedication of cast and crew

“I’ve been so impressed by the dedication, both of the staff and the cast,” Wright said. “I mean, these are people in the cast and staff who work other jobs. They’ve got these full lives every day and they take time out of their lives to just put something really beautiful out into the world for their community.

“And I’ve just been really impressed to remember all of the things that you have to remember and to do it with so much passion, with just everyday people,” she said. “I just think it’s a really cool, really magical thing that Spotlight does.”

Being in theater helps to instill self-confidence in the kids, Wright noted, crediting Spotlight owners Brent and Sara Tubbs.

“Brent and Sara have really given my kids so many gifts in so many ways and we just feel really lucky to have met them and have discovered Spotlight and I feel like tt’s taught them so many skills beyond just the stage,” Wright said.

“Neither one of my children struggle at all with speaking in front of people or making eye contact,” she said. “Tweens and teens, you get to be a little bit more apprehensive about getting out there and putting yourself out there. And I think the theater really supports that individuality. and that they feel much more comfortable in their own skin because they’ve been able to experience that and be with so many different people.”

“So much heart”

Tubbs said there’s something for everyone in the musical tale.

“You’ll laugh; you’ll cry. There’s a lot of drama,” she said of the show. “There’s so much heart in the show.”

Cooper sings the standout ballad “Where is Love?,” which is very emotional, his mom said.

“I definitely have cried a few times,” Tubbs said. “It’s pretty surreal, being in the show when I was in college and now getting to direct my child. I tear up seeing it.”

“I love the classics; I feel like they’re in my wheelhouse,” she said, noting she also directed “Matilda” (which opened on Broadway in 2013) at Spotlight in 2019.

Mark Kulhavy (who’s in the show with his wife Shana) posted Friday morning on Facebook that he auditioned for his first musical three years ago, hoping to get Bill Sikes. He was cast, but in a different role.

“Unfortunately a little thing called Covid-19 got in the way and the show was postponed and then eventually cancelled. Since that time, I had the privilege of being cast in two other shows,” he wrote.

“Eventually, I found out that ‘Oliver’ was to be rescheduled as part of the 2023 season. I knew what I wanted to do and that was to go get what I wanted so badly and that was the role that evaded me three years prior,” Kulhavy said. “Finally audition day came and I was a bundle of nerves. But, I went out there and showed them the best Bill Sikes I could. 48 hours later I received the call from the director offering me the role. I remember standing in the middle of Hy-Vee with tears in my eyes as I accepted.

“Over the last several months, I’ve worked my ass off to attempt to strengthen my weaknesses and try to become the best Bill Sikes I can be,” he wrote. “Although I still have a lot to learn, but I feel more ready then ever for this show.”

Performances will be at 7 p.m. April 14, 15, 21, and 22, plus Sunday matinees (April 16 and 23) at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 general seating, $25 floor (+$2 ticket fee on all tickets), available at the Spotlight website HERE.