Oliver!

When doing Oliver! you need a great bunch of kids and these were just that. Being a youth production you also need there to be a balance between those playing adults and those playing children. Northampton Musical Theatre Company Youth Society did this beautifully, allowing some older and younger actors to shine. The whole company were very enthusiastic & constantly interacting with each other and all the characters on the stage. They brought to life every scene and worked as a great ensemble. The parts of Oliver, Dodger & Nancy had been double cast and I believe I saw Elizabeth, Leo & Evie. Dodger (Leo) was particularly cheeky with great stage presence and Oliver (Elizabeth) had a beautiful singing voice with very good diction throughout their dialogue too, and they interacted very well together. Fagin’s Gang were a great little group, the young girl in the striped skirt had good stage presence and was very animated on stage. Plus the littlest member of the whole company was very engaging.

There were also some notable performances from the ‘adults’ including Daniel Austin who was an excellent Fagin giving us great presence and a lovely accent providing us the comedy and pathos
required. His version of ‘Reviewing the Situation’ was fabulous and we heard every word of what can be very complicated lyrics. Evie Felgate was outstanding as Nancy, working all the comedy
with Fagin’s Gang but then bringing us down to reality in the scenes with Bill & Fagin. Her rendition of ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ was powerfully emotional, congratulations. Jack Garton
stood out in several roles including Mr Sowerberry and the ensemble, he was always engaged with the action and also gave a very controlled portrayal of Mr Brownlow. Other notable
performances came from Harvey and Cyndee (Mr Bumble and Widow Corney), Gracie as Mrs Sowerberry, Thomas & Alice (Noah and Charlotte), Ruby as Bet, Hope (Mrs Bedwin), Roxi (Dr.
Grimwig) and Alpher as Bill Sykes. ‘Who Will Buy?’ was very well sung by Louise, Ellie, Alice and Thomas – reaching those low notes.

The set was indeed a marvel of engineering by Phil Cave and superbly moved by the stage management team & crew, giving us lots of levels to do different scenes in. Costumes, Props,
Lighting and Sound were all good adding to the production overall. It is lovely to see companies making use of Production Managers and Assistants.  Rod did a fantastic job with the music, balancing the sound and vocals. We particularly enjoyed the band which was lovely to see when many youth societies are choosing to use the orchestral backings. The choreography by Melanie was really good and pitched just right to accommodate the space available. This great production of Oliver! was excellently directed by Katy giving us such a visual treat, congratulations to everyone involved.

Amanda Hall
NODA East Midlands Youth Co-ordinator

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.