Oliver!

For their milestone seventieth anniversary production, Sale Nomads chose a true crowd-pleaser to mark the occasion with Lionel Bart’s ‘Oliver!’ - a show full of musical hits that just keep coming – from ‘Consider Yourself’ and ‘You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two’ to ‘I’d Do Anything’ and ‘Oom Pah Pah’ and of course one cannot forget the shows signature anthem ‘As Long As He Needs Me’.

This family musical has long been a favourite with audiences due to its catchy score, memorable characters and gripping story based on the Dickens’ classic ‘Oliver Twist’.

Oliver famously asks for more in the opening scene at the grim Victorian workhouse which is ruled over by Mr Bumble played agreeably pompous if slightly subdued by Martin Wiggan and the flirtatious and power-hungry Widow Corney, played with virtuous energy by Carmel Price.

Josh Moreton breezed through the performance with ease carrying the title role which is purposely written relatively thin to not put too much demand on a young performer and requires very little gusto to get through it with many of the people he encounters carrying the lion’s share of the scenes. Josh is capable of far more than this part demands and was evidently hungry for an advanced character to comprehend, as he declares in his first scene, he was literally craving for more to sink his teeth into.

Since gloomy musicals became all the rage in the mid-eighties thanks to ‘Les Misérables’ storming the musical theatre scene, productions of ‘Oliver!’ have since become much darker than originally intended with costumes getting grubbier, hair greasier and faces given an extra layer of dirt offering a presentation which is suitably faithful to the setting leaving memories of the colourful, chirpy and slightly tedious ‘Oliver!’ in the past. Here, I would have liked to have seen a bolder impression from the overall vision as we didn’t really get as much underworldly imagery as I’d have liked nor did we get the excessively jolly “Victorian England was a happy time” impression that so many productions of this classic once conveyed. I found this production somewhere in limbo between the two which left a slightly timid stamp on the overall exposition.

Fagin as Bart saw him isn’t quite the Fagin that Dickens concocted. Though, for my money, you need menace as well as comedy and Richard Ross delivered an outstanding portrayal. The physicality, Jewish accentuations, shifty eyes and overall grounded act made this the biggest impression of the evening. Ingeniously, Richard made sure every box was ticked ensuring glimpses of the legendary performers who’ve owned this role before him were given a polite and respectful nod whilst also being brave enough to include his own flourishes and dare I say ‘add libs’ which I’m surprised to say heightened and tailored the character to make it his own rendering, all his weird and wonderful quirks were hilarious for a performance which possesses all the necessary ingredients of an excellent Fagin …and the finest interpretation of ‘Reviewing The Situation’ I’ve seen to date.  

Musically, proceedings were under the very capable baton of Peter England who had assembled an impressive throng of musicians to support this production making a striking statement. Peter skilfully controlled his troop of players whilst allowing the cast to ride the emotions and hold a pause for as long as it needed. It is rather a pity that this score hasn’t been exchanged with one of the many revived and reenergised orchestrations that’ve been produced since this original release, in comparison, this arrangement does seem somewhat bland if you’re used to the more layered and exciting reworks but regardless of that, Mr England ensured credit was done on his part for the production and the society.

Domonique McClafferty savoured her performance as Nancy, her emotion came through equally as commanding whether through song or speech relishing her ‘Fine Life’ and ‘Oom Pah Pah’ sing-a-long ditties before the two renditions of ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ which were both well received with sumptuous applause. I’ve always favoured the scene where Nancy confesses to Mr Brownlow then agrees to give Oliver back to him and Domonique’s craft as an actress was truly showcased here to which I was most obliged given that it’s - rather oddly I suppose - one of the scenes in the show I have such regard for.   

When a show such as this one is produced time and time again things tend to become a little predictable. The set design was very much reminiscent of previous incarnations of the musical and the layout and pattern of each scene followed suit. Costumes, props and furniture all appeared authentic and accurate for the time, however, I bring up my frequent reference to my half a prop gripe - why go to the extent of sourcing (or hiring) an authentic tea set then allow the cast to mime the liquid in the tea pot… the easiest part of the prop to source? It only makes your actors look absurd to mime half of what they’re doing. Mime everything or have everything, half and half is peculiar.              

It's impossible not to come out of the theatre humming one of the many catchy melodies which feature in this show, some of which stayed with me for several days after. A couple of theatre gremlins were playing their tricks during this particular performance with the odd memory lapse and accents wandering across different regions of the UK. The ambience of this production felt intimate which is a rare treat for a show which is so often presented in a larger, more traditional venue.

Overall, this ‘Oliver!’, directed by Dianne Hatton, had elements that were a breath of fresh air, the cobwebs of this old piece hadn’t entirely been brushed away but the youth performances give off just the right air of innocence without becoming too sickly sweet, they were all having a blast as the two ensembles of a mixed sex workhouse (??) and later as Fagin’s gang. I was appreciative of the choice to not swarm the stage with too many young ‘uns, this was a much more manageable assembly.

Congratulations on your milestone, Sale Nomads and may we enjoy another seventy years!

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