Simon Keenlyside to "cross over" to sing Fagin

Simon Keenlyside as Fagin

The ageless barihunk Simon Keenlyside is crossing over from opera to musical theater this summer as he takes on the master thief Fagin in Lionel Bart's Oliver!.

Performances will run from June 2-July 2 at the Grange Park Festival. Other than his 2014 CD Something’s Gotta Give, Keenlyside has rarely waded into musical theater. The CD includes "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver! The musical premiered in 1960 and became and instant hit, almost eclipsing Charles Dickens' original story of the workhouse orphan who falls into bad company.

The Festival will also present Verdi's Don Carlo with Clive Bayley, Stefano Secco, Virginia Tola, David Stout, Ruxandra Donose, Alastair Miles and Jihoon Kim; Puccini's La Fanciulla del West with Claire Rutter, Lorenzo Decaro, Stephen Gadd, Alberto Sousa and Michael de Souza; and, Wagner's Tristan & Isolde with Bryan Register, Anja Kampe, Clive Bayley, Sara Fulgoni and Stephen Gadd.

On June 10th, they'll present a recital with the amazing tenor Javier Camarena. Tickets and additional information is available online.

After his run in Oliver!, Keenlyside heads to the Munich Opera Festival to perform Giorgio Germont in Verdi's La traviata and Renato in the composer's Un Ballo in Maschera. 

You can also catch him in theaters in the MET Live in HD simulcasts on October 22nd when he sings the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni. He'll be joined by Rolando Villazon as Don Ottavio, Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Malin Byström as Donna Elvira, Serena Malfi as Zerlina and Kwangchul Youn as The Commendatore.