Oliver!

I first saw Oliver! in London in the early 60's, yes, that first production, when I was around 6. My parents took me and it must have been a big deal as I don't remember other trips to the West End so we weren't regular attendees. I remember just two things from the show; firstly the chase scene with Oliver running from the peelers in act 1 and secondly that some street entertainers amused the audience whilst they waitied for tickets outside byb doing The Sand Dance ... full costume, live music, those were the days!

Oliver! has always been one of the shows I can't get enough of. As a performer I have, of course, done lots of the songs in local panto (Who Will Buy and Consider Yourself at Home are panto staples now) but I also love to watch teh film anytime I can - my usual excuse is that we'll "just have it on in the background" but I always end up sitting glued to it. I guess a part of me has always been surprised that a story with such a black heart can be made into such a good show; Dickens wrote this as much to inform as to entertain, its a campaign in thin disguise showing the cruelty of the workhouse, the mistreatment of children, the criminal underclasses and the marginally less corrupt judiciary and taking a swipe at the Jews. Not, one might think, suitable material for a family show, in modern parlance its child grooming, gangs, slavery and abuse.

None the less, Lionel Bart's show manages to pack in more great songs per hour than pretty well any other while acvtually trying to keep at least the core blackness in tact; Bill Sykes remains a cruel and vicious piece of work Nancy's death is still horrific, only Fagin gets a bit of a comedy make-over, soething that doesn't always sit well on a character as bad as it gets.

This production is one of the best West End to tour transfers of recent times. A large orchestra gives a fullness of sound we're often denied in the provinces and the huge cast is able to fill the stage in the crowd scenes making the whole thing feel rich rather than "good enough for touring" and giving the full theatrical experience - at no point did I feel I was seeing a ghost of the West End show and that, my friends, made me very happy. Set design was clever and stunningly effective, giving a real sense of space and place without the changes ever being obtrusive. Despite some of the best "sunset and cloud" lighting I've seen I still wish touring shows would use more lighting from the auditorium - I know that keeping the lighting bars over the stage and on the prosc arch makes setting easier but, especially when the stage is full, people are for ever dropping in and out of each others' shadows. A very small gripe & perhaps only techies and directors notice ;-)

Don't expect the stage show to be the film, it's not, and with good reason. There are songs on stage simply not in the film (love the Sowerbys' song, not so keen on Bill's) and the ordering is somewhat different but the show came before the film, and the show 'feels' right. In terms of look and feel, the staging bears many similarities to the film, especially in costume, but I can't remember if the film itself took from the original stage play or this is just an homage to our expectations.

Our Oliver and Artful Dodger (Sebastian Croft and Daniel Huttlestone) were excellent, Oliver was suitably innocent with a sweet voice, Dodger had a great command of the stage and moved well, even if his Mockney accent grated a bit. Nancy (Samantha Barks) has a beautiful voice and acted her socks off giving a trully delightful performance (are some of her songs paced a bit fast?) and a great counter to Iain Fletcher's Bill, menacing and mean and really scary during the murder scene. Bullseye appeared all too rarely, very well behaved but about as vicious as a kitten I suspect!

I really don't envy Jack Edwards taking on Mr Bumble when 99% of the audience have Harry Secombe in their heads but I thought he did an excellent job of making it his own and proved a great foil to Claire Machin's Widow Corney. I just loved David Langham's Mr Sowerberry, he gut just "that look", he'd be a brilliant childcatcher too. Neil Morrisey as Fagin is another tricky part, Ron Moody set the bbar really high, but again, he managed it; personally I'd prefer less of the comedy in his first scene with Bill but that's a personal thing.

Fabulous show, brilliant production, great night out!!