The first musical I ever had the chance to be part of was Oliver!, which Western Christian College, where I attended high school, partially staged in 1974, when I was 15 years old. (Almost exactly the same age as my daughter is as I post this.) I say “partially” staged because we only did the musical numbers, narrating over everything else. (Somehow we thought the musical numbers were the easier part of staging a musical…still not sure why we thought that.) I played Mr. Bumble. Maybe 20 year later, I played him again, in a Regina Summer Stage production that also featured future Stratford performer Kyle Golemba as Oliver and future Broadway Star Paul Alexander Nolan as the Artful Dodger.
I hope I sang Bumble better the second time around then I did back when I was 15, but if you’re curious, here’s what I sounded like as a teenager. (My only comment? Get that boy some voice lessons.)
