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Show: OLIVER!
Society: Ulverston Amateur Operatic Society (UAOS)
Venue: THE CORO ULVERSTON
Credits: Book, music and Lyrics by Lionel Bart
Type: Sardines
Author: Graham Whalan
Performance Date: 04/10/2022
Oliver!
Graham Whalan | 05 Oct 2022 21:50pm
After their very successful staging of Jill Santoriello’s musical version of Tale of Two Cities, and with the town’s Dickensian Festival just around the corner, Ulverston Amateur Operatic Society now consolidate the Dickensian theme with their latest production of Oliver! Lionel Bart’s ever-popular take on the Dickens classic, Oliver Twist.
Although popular as I say, and a frequent choice of amateur companies, it does pose various challenges for a relatively large cast who must find a way of combining comedy and pathos with harsh cruelty and shocking violence. I’m happy to report that Director Brenda Hindle and her production team skilfully marshal all these elements together in a production which is both lively, entertaining, and oddly up-lifting. Enhancing the whole production too, is the live orchestra under the guiding hand of Musical Director Ian Bird, who add much to the contrasting moods of playfulness, drama and melancholy.
Having said that, one of the other challenges is the many set changes the story requires and, to be honest, these were a bit clunky at times creating a certain loss of momentum, but then again this is often a feature of opening nights and I’m sure will improve as the run continues. The background set is however of an imaginative split-level design, and full and effective use is made of this during the production.
As for the cast, I thought the ensemble pieces were particularly well handled. The youngsters making up both the workhouse kids and Fagin’s gang all worked together impressively as a well-coordinated group who had all clearly mastered their choreography. The other, more complicated pieces, such as Oom Pah Pah and Who Will Buy? were also deftly managed and enthusiastically performed, successfully bringing the whole stage to life with an array of colourful characters and smooth coordinated movement.
The comic elements were chiefly supplied by Mike Butterworth’s bumbling Beadle and Sue Little’s scary Widow Corney, who sparked off each other really well. Similarly, Allan Lewis’ creepy Sowerberry and Nicky Diggle as his fearsome wife extracted clever comic touches from their scene, particularly exaggerating the mayhem caused by Oliver in making his escape. Oliver himself, as portrayed by young Theo Simpson was a revelation. Surely an emerging talent he gave us a thoroughly convincing performance, sweet and innocent yet equally earnest and tenacious. His rendition of Where is Love? was simply a genuine heart-breaker. Zofia Garbacz coped very well as the Artful Dodger too, which I always think is a difficult part to play. She could perhaps have done with a bit more cheeky swagger to be a convincing street-wise urchin but then again, to be fair, I feel the Dodger part is somewhat under-written anyway.
Meanwhile Russ Palmer is clearly in his element as the avuncular, yet seriously corrupt Fagin. He gave an assured performance and genuinely did own the stage on each appearance, conveying a good emotional connection with his ‘gang’, and ultimately delivering a stirring version of Reviewing the Situation. This is of course Fagin’s stand-out piece, being of key importance in deepening the audience’s understanding of his character, and thus it requires a performer who can both act and sing. In this respect Russ Palmer does not falter. The same applies to Tyne Bayliss in the role of the sad and abused Nancy. Nancy is an equally complex character, fiercely independent on the surface, yet deeply dependent and vulnerable underneath. I thought Tyne Bayliss captured this confusion perfectly in her interpretation of As Long As He Needs Me, pitching the emotional impact of this song just right. The audience clearly agreed as her performance elicited a well-deserved rousing cheer. Chris Parkinson meanwhile, as Bill Sikes, was full of the appropriate amount of fury and menace, bullying and contemptuous of anyone in his path.
Overall this is a very accomplished, lively and engaging production of which all involved can be justifiably proud. On the way out I genuinely heard some audience members talking about getting tickets to come back again. Yes, it’s really true – they wanted more!