Oliver

Stepping into the Theatre complex you knew that you had come to watch Oliver as there were streams of handkerchiefs draped around the foyer and stairs, with many more strung across the auditorium. The Tabs were open showing an impressive double height set, that doubled for the workhouse, street scenes and finally London Bridge, with scenery flown in for Fagin’s den. Set pieces came in and out as necessary for The Sowerby’s undertakers, Mr Brownlow’s House and the Three Cripples Inn. There was a well-designed lighting plot and there were no problems with sound, the Band was kept in good check with good sound levels, always a much better performance with live music, much thanks to Steve Hession.

This is such a well-known show that the story follows quite strict lines, although that does not preclude the director making changes and adaptations with characters as needed. The show started with the workhouse children coming down the sides of the auditorium and into the workhouse. It nice to see that the stage was not over crowded with youngsters, only 20 of them but they were well drilled in their choreography and singing, giving a very good rendition of ‘Food, Glorious Food’.

The Youngster’s singing was excellent throughout, the vocals for the 12 youngsters in Fagin’s Gang was very good with their repertoire of five very well-known songs in the first act, I particularly enjoyed ‘Consider Yourself’, ‘It’s a Fine Life’ and ‘I’d do Anything’. I would have liked to have seen all four white umbrella’s the same size as they are supposed to represent carriage wheels, the coconuts were a good touch. These scenes were well performed, well-choreographed and well sung. I felt there was a good rapport between Oliver and the Artful Dodger. I admit that I only saw Harrison Grant, Oliver and Finlay Gibson, Dodger on both visits, they were both very good young actors. I noticed that Harrison was fully involved in every action and scene, aware of everything going on around him. His was a sweet rendition of ‘Where is Love’ while Finlay gave a good ‘Consider Yourself’. The whole of Fagin’s Gang from the youngest to the oldest were really good and out-performed the adults.

Amongst the adults the standout performances were Jessica Carter as Nancy, Glen Whitmore as Bill Sikes and Mark Harriss as Fagin. Jessica had a great voice and gave us a really strong ‘Oom-Pah-Pah’ and a powerful ‘As Long as he Needs Me’, she looked good on stage and had a great stage presence as did Glen. A powerful glowering performance, he really gave the impression he was not someone you would want to meet in a back street in Victorian London. What I liked about Mark’s performance was that he did not try to imitate someone, he gave the role his own character, he worked well with the children and gave a fine rendition of ‘Reviewing the Situation’, twice. These three together with Finlay had a harmonious reprise of ‘It’s a fine Life’.

The featured cast of Edward Smith as Mr Bumble, Georgina Kane as Widow Corney, Andy Lingfield and Heather Knapp as the Sowerberry’s were well performed as directed, although I wasn’t sure about a picture of cats (in the 1830’s, when the show is set) and the interpretation of the Sowerberry’s. Nice performances from Amy Lythgoe as Bet, John Torr as Mr Brownlow and Sue Thompson as Mrs Bedwyn who gave a nice reprise of ‘Where is Love’. There was good support from the named characters, with a well sung ‘Who will Buy’ with the four soloists.

I did have my doubt about the sight lines for Mrs Bedwyn and Oliver in the Bedroom, where I was sat on Tuesday Mrs Bedwyn was obscured by the Window frame, Oliver coped very well with losing his mic pack, we also had odd props dropped or left on stage.

This was however a very well received production, great set as mentioned, good and period costumes, the company performed and sang very well with some lovely harmonies, the choreography and the dance numbers were very tight and well performed, slick scene changes and I loved the silhouette of Fagin and Dodger at the finale, a nice touch.  Altogether a great production worthy of an award-winning society.

Congratulations to Amanda and her production team.

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