Oliver!

Another brilliant production from this very talented youth theatre company. There were brilliant performances from the main characters and from the very young chorus. Great credit must go to the directional team. David, Alison and Karen had done an amazing job. 

Toby Cass playing the title role of Oliver Twist was very convincing, as were George Usher, as the Artful Dodger and Joseph Usher as Fagin. Niall Sanderson and Katie Feltham, were a formidable team as Mr Bumble and Widow Corney, and Nicky Yielder was a very menacing Bill Sikes. Other minor leads were all well performed, but the star of the show was Molly Barton, playing Nancy. She really was a ‘tour de force’, she acted the character brilliantly, and her singing was superb. Her rendition of ‘As Long As He Needs Me’, was brilliant, and one of the finest pieces of musical theatre I’ve seen in a long time.

There were some lovely  ensembles, the opening scene in the workhouse was very effective. I particularly enjoyed ‘Who will Buy’, as a choral ensemble and production number I thought it worked extremely well, and was  a lovely idea.

The set worked very well and the scene changes were very slick, well done to the unsung heroes in the crew. Lighting was very effective and atmospheric, and the sound very good. Special mention must go to the orchestra. They were very well led by Alison Bedford, and the dances were very good and suited the period, well done Karen.

It’s difficult to find any criticism with the production, which is very strange  for me. It was truly outstanding from start to finish, and its my hearty congratulations to everyone concerned, and as always the company hospitality was first class.

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