Oliver

It was a full house for opening night at SODS Oliver. The set was impressive and worked for every scene. The scene changes were slick, and the stage crew were dressed in sympathy with the era.

From the outset the music was impressive; James Green was a brilliant musical director and the music levels were balanced well too.

When I saw the show, the younger cast members were part of team Bumble. The orphans and Fagin’s gang were dressed well, with dirty faces and of varying age. The younger members of the cast were confident, they sang and danced well and acted well, even when not directly involved with the action. I was impressed with their singing and harmonies but there was a couple of late mike pickups so occasionally the first few of words of a phrase was lost.

Oliver is set in the Victorian era and reflects the social issues of the time. Love, exploitation, crime, violence and justice are some of the themes that are demonstrated.

Oliver was played by Freddie Cathan. He had a beautiful voice that suited the songs well. The Artful Dodger was played by Bailey Montella. He was a cheeky chap who confidently took Oliver under his wing. The character was in safe hands with Bailey who also had a good voice and stage presence.

There was good characterisation throughout this show, and this was true for both adult and child performers. The ensemble pieces were colourful, harmonious and the placing for the tableaus was impressive.

The talent among the cast was plentiful and as many of the characters in Oliver are well known I thought the representations were really good despite any age differences. I’ll highlight a few of the cast here.

Mr Bumble was played by Jonny Buxton. He had a booming speaking voice and a wonderful tone to his singing voice. Jonny appeared in some of the ensemble scenes too. The Sowerberrys (Les Cannon and Amy Letcher) were convincing characters with equally good voices. They bought Oliver from Bumble to work for their undertaker business and Oliver was treated worse than the dog.

Fagin was the leader of the pickpocket gang, and Ross Howard did a great job of bringing the character to life. He was a younger version of Fagin than I had seen previously and he displayed good characterisation, a voice with good tone and good relationships with the other characters. Patriarch to his gang and Nancy and subservient to Bill Sikes. Nancy was played by

Jess Byford. This character was attractive, with a good stage presence and a powerful voice. Bill Sikes was a very powerful and domineering character portrayed by Nick Bright. For the modern woman it is hard to understand why Nancy would love Bill but as a woman of her time Nancy is a product of her upbringing. She is too kind hearted for her own good and sees the best in everyone. She knows Oliver would have a better life with his own family.

The death scene for Nancy and Bill was well staged and Oliver is eventually reunited with his grandfather Mr Brownlow, played by Dick Davies. Brownlow was a higher class to most of the other characters and the contract was well defined.

The show was well directed by Simon Lambert and the themes were easy to understand. The music by James Green and his nine-piece orchestra was excellent and the use of the stage and choreography (Samantha Coles) of adult and child characters was spectacular.

I commend Southend Operatic and Dramatic Society for their hard work and talent. Thank you so much for my invitation.

 

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