Nicholas Nickleby : The Musical
Chesterfield Operatic Society is to stage the world premiere of a new musical at the Pomegranate Theatre. Based on the Charles Dickens novel – Nicholas Nickleby : The Musical – has been created by Derby-based author and composer Dave Culling.
The musical tells the story of the eponymous Nicholas who takes his family to London to seek assistance from his uncle after the death of his financially replete father.
Taking an immediate dislike to his nephew, Uncle Ralph finds a position for Nicholas under the sadistic Mr Squeers and his interminable wife, owners of a boarding school in northern England. In the meantime, Ralph seeks to use Nicholas’s beautiful sister, Kate, as a ploy to influence his investors.
Nicholas flees the school with the crippled Smike, an orphan with no memories of his former life before he was brought to Dotheboys Hall. On their journey back to London they meet up with Vincent Crummles and his acting troupe, befriend Ralph’s good-hearted secretary Newman Noggs and ultimately rise over adversity.
It is a tale of hope and redemption set against a backdrop of many memorable characters.
