Several years ago I went to see Oliver performed by our local Primary School (not the one my girls attended). The production was excellent, the children tackled the acting and singing roles and did very well.

My daughters High School are about to undertake a production of Oliver as part of the GCSE Drama. They auditioned for minor parts and as expected the Drama Group who are going to be assessed as part of their coursework got the leading roles except for Oliver that went to one of the younger pupils.

The odd thing is that the teacher is recruiting for a chorus of singers, those taking the leads are not going to sing they are just going to act. I find this really odd surely stripping the leads of the singing which is a huge part of the production, as I see it, will leave very little for the actors to get their teeth into. Can they hope for a good grade?

I could see other Musicals working with a seperate chorus but not Oliver!

I just wondered what other peoples thoughts were? What do Drama teachers usually choose?

Hope this is ok as a cafe topic?

I guess it's like PE? Perhaps they have their circle of pet pupils? (Speaking as someone who name was never called when chosing sides for basketball, until the very end). Maybe they feel it too big a part to ask of one person - what if the burden of it compromised their exam work?

At school I was never cast as a speaking part in any play - even though I won contests at national level for public speaking. I'm still not sure why.

I fully understand why the people taking Drama for GCSE have the main parts, it's part of their coursework after all! It's the choice of production I find really wierd!

When my eldest auditioned they asked her about previous experience, she told them that she had done Oliver as part of a professional summer school, they were impressed that she knew all the songs. She did find it a bit odd that they didn't ask her to sing at the audition. So it was obviously clear form the outset that the leads weren't going to sing. Needless to say she's not going to miss after school art classes (GCSE coursework) and band to learn songs she already knows and was taught by a professional voice coach.

This isn't sour Grapes, I just can't see Oliver as anything other than a Musical take away the singing and there's little left for anyone to show their skills.