Oliver!

Oliver! is such a well known musical with some very well loved characters and songs, myself and my guest were excited to go along to St Gabriel`s ADMS`s production at The Curtain Theatre. 

The set which had been designed and constructed by the society with the usual stairs, bunting, benches and walkway and props supplied by Proscenium Ltd. All hand held props were handled competently by the cast . Costumes sourced and put together  by the society definitely had some discrepancies with the supposed set era - personally, I found these quite distracting. Sound by Sam Croke was fine throughout with no gremlins although there was an odd mic left on after the actor had left the stage, but it was soon turned off again. Lighting by Daniel Groves and Adrian Montgomery was quite generic - personally I would have liked to see more use of atmospheric washes and dips. The production used backing tracks and Musical Director Erin Croke stayed audience side to conduct the cast. The harmonies within all the songs were well executed although the balance between the different sections did need some work, but I do have to say that there was definite volume in the songs. The team of choreographers obviously worked together on the musical numbers to bring some solid, basic steps that were executed by the ensemble.

The ensemble worked hard during this production not only with their singing, they reacted well  to each other on stage. They filled the stage well and moved with natural ease, they weren`t afraid to come forward and use the front of the stage, sight lines were good. Sarah Croke as Widow Corney had a good solid characterisation, she had some great comedy lines with Neil Teggart (Mr Bumble) which were delivered with some good comedy timing. I loved Martyn Tierney as Mr Sowerberry – his bumbling and random interjections padded out his character well. Mike Newton as Bill Sykes for me personally was too nice and not nearly as dark, angsty, unhinged and menacing enough, he delivered his song and dialogue fine - diction was ok. Laura Culshaw gave us a pleasant depiction of Nancy but we didn`t get to really see her characters inner fire, vocals were pleasant . Mike Waldron as Fagin was quite convincing and was certainly comedic while wearing the tiara, he gave a good performance of the iconic “ Reviewing the Situation” with good diction throughout. Leo Sutton as Oliver gave a pleasant performance, he was ably supported by Harry Ingham as Dodger who was solid throughout and used his stage space well. The cast were well supported by the enthusiastic audience who were very obviously enjoying the production.

Thank you for inviting me. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

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