Oliver Review

Overall Rating

Those less familiar with Oliver will love it. The kids, the music, the amazing sets.In fact the sets were so good they almost upstaged everything else. Great choreography and ensemble numbers. Good orchestrations. Jodie Prenger was much better than many critics have allowed us to believe. She's obviously easing into the role. Oh and Bullseye was brilliantly trained!! They'll enjoy the knees up Oom-Pah-Pah feel of the whole piece. They'll love the masses of kids and the show's sheer joie de vivre. They may not miss the darkness and depth of the story. Others, however, will. Rowan Atkinsin,Burn Gorman (Sykes) D'Silva (Bumble), Gold (Mrs Sowerberry), the girl playing Bet and the man playing Noah Claypole. No excuses for weak links in a show of this magnitude with scores of performers who could have played these super parts so much better. Fagin is not a nice man. He's a user of children, a fence and a thief and heaven knows what else. What he isn't is Mr Bean or Blackadder. There's no room for these characters to liaise with Fagin and it is totally unprofessional to play to the gods in such a manner, Rowan. The teddybear scene was quite nauseating. I don't think either Mr Dickens or Mr Bart intended him to be a sprightly little avuncular comic with a bad make-up either. No, sorry,this was a crowd/fan-pleasing Fagin of few dimensions.
There is considerable extra script. Why? Wasn't Bart's original good enough? The reprise of 'It's a Fine Life' was far too busy and much of the bitterness was totally lost. Stop tampering with the script! Why on earth invent an entrance for Sykes in Act I which diminishes his chilling entrance in Act 2? A waste of time and it certainly didn't enhance the story which doesn't need any help anyway.