Musical is a lavish, and successful, spread of musicians, set, actors and costumes

The Auckland Theatre Company have obviously lavished on the musical Oliver! the sort of time, money and effort that Oliver the hungry orphan can only dream of. The musicians; the revolving set; the abundance of actors continually changing their elaborate costumes – all add up to an impressive spectacle.

Virtually all the performers live up to these high production values, singing the deservedly famous melodies with warmth and verve. There’s never a dull moment – the songs don’t interfere with the action. Director Raymond Hawthorne, aided by choreographer Vicky Haughton, very effectively marshals all 35 players across the stage. The particularly able chorus depict busy Dickensian vitality in processions of fruit-sellers and funerals, while their pretty tableaux help slow the pace for quieter moments. [More]
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This review has been written on the assumption the story is well known and therefore mentioning key events in the plot ought not spoil the experience for anyone reading it first.  If you plan to see it and have somehow got this far in life without knowing the story then I guess you ought to wait to read it after you’ve been.

Under the expert direction of New Zealand theatre pioneer and veteran Mr Raymond Hawthorne, upon a strikingly impressive and versatile Victorian Gothic set designed by Tracy Grant Lord, some fifty professional actors aged from nine to comparatively ancient take us all on a memorable journey back to the bleak subsistence of working class London in the time of Charles Dickens.

In the title role on opening night twelve year old Conrad Edwards* shows remarkable showmanship; honest innocence of character combined with excellent singing and dancing.  Winning the crowd’s heart once and for all with the seminal lullaby-anthem ‘Where is Love’, the occasional wobbly tone just adds to his charm, and he always nails the end notes where it really counts.

The formidable coupling of Andrew Grainger’s Beadle Bumble and Helen Medlyn’s Widow Corney provide the most recognisably Dickensian personifications of self-importance, corruption and greed in authority figures.  With Bumble’s unfounded arrogance and Corney’s false benevolence, they ultimately deserve each other.

Jennifer Ward-Lealand flexes her versatile character skills first as the awfully unpleasant shrew Mrs. Sowerberry – wife of even more awful Mr. Sowerberry the undertaker (Keith Adams) working under the most awful of all Noah Claypole (Cameron Douglas), and in act two as the gentle and dignified noblewoman Mrs. Bedwin. 

Mark Hadlow’s Fagin ticks all the right technical boxes, clearly enjoying himself whilst falling short of truly shining in one of musical theatre’s most coveted and complex roles.  Similarly, Michael Lawrence doesn’t seem to be making the most of his role as head villain Bill Sikes for some reason; the sinister charm the character requires – and which Lawrence is certainly capable of – was all but absent on opening night.

Sophia Hawthorne goes much further with relishing her portrayal of Nancy, the stroppy lass with a compassionate soul and tragically loyal co-dependent lover of Sikes.  Completely dispelling any notion of nepotism, the director’s daughter is possibly the best-cast cast member, with one of the strongest singing voices to boot. 

Greg Padoa also has a lot of fun with his happy-go-lucky Artful Dodger.  The epitome of below-working class pride, he makes vagrant thievery look more like a lifestyle choice than the tragic plight of society’s unwanted.  By contrast, David Aston’s man-of-means Mr. Brownlow, the well-to-do gentleman who takes Oliver under his wing to make amends after wrongly accusing him theft, is more weighed down with the concerns of his world.  Whilst by no means a misery-guts, the responsibility that accompanies wealth makes him somewhat less carefree than the vagabonds at the opposite end of the class ladder.

Across the board the players are more or less excellent, including the consummately solid chorus and especially the young lads who comprise the orphanage inmates, and later Fagin’s band of thieves.  If a heroic tale is only as good as its villain, in a large-scale musical this responsibility is surpassed only by the chorus.  In this instance, the result is 90% positive; exemplary song and dance skills pervade one of the largest casts I’ve personally ever witnessed in professional theatre. 

A spectacular highlight is the richly evocative set design by Tracy Grant Lord, also credited for the extensive and eclectic costume design.  The grim despair suggested by the sizeable, frequently shifting sooty black structures is enhanced under the extreme mood lighting as designed by David Eversfield.

One area leaving something to be desired is the un-dynamic stunt fighting, essentially walked through and adding a slightly amateur tinge to otherwise brilliant technical staging.

Details on the original story and subsequent production history of one of Charles Dickens’ first and best tales can be easily referenced on Wikipedia and IMDb.  Curious factoids: over 22 direct screen adaptations plus any number of conceptually related productions, sequels and cameo appearances.  The famous 1968 screen version of this very musical has, to date, been the only G-rated film ever to win Best Picture at the Oscars. 

Curious to note Dickens, who ostensibly abhorred class separatism, wrote a tale about a boy who grows up in the most desperately grim conditions, malnourished and uneducated, yet is faultlessly respectful, polite and well spoken, apparently due to his unknown fine breeding.  The extraordinary insight and kindness of the aristocratic Mr. Brownlow seems out of place in his time.  A number of important questions such as Oliver’s paternity and why his mother had run away while she was pregnant with him are barely if at all discussed. 

But the true purpose of Dickens’s Oliver Twist (and more so Bart’s Oliver!) – whilst accurately reflecting the suffering of the lowly British sub-classes in the early 18th century – is the catharsis effected by escapist fantasy, and as such it hits the spot.

The opus of Lionel Bart’s career (can anyone name another show he wrote without checking Wikipedia?) has all the makings of a milestone in the large-scale classic musical production history of the venerable ATC; sufficiently magnificent to assuage my usual dismay as to why we habitually pass over our own stories for these oft-reproduced foreign works.

*The role of Oliver is shared on alternate nights with Mitchell Hageman (as are the younger chorus members).  Anyone who sees this show on one of his nights is invited to add comments on Hageman’s performance. 
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