Oliver! at Vancouver Playhouse
Lionel Bart's Dickens Musical Opens Christmas Theatre Season
City theatregoers love the Broadway hit performed in Vancouver this holiday season.
Lionel Bart’s Oliver! is a memorable story based on the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Filled with dark shadows and traces of hope, the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company’s production of Oliver! opens the Christmas theatre season.
The Broadway hit first opened in London at the New Theatre, lasting 2,618 performances. It has since been presented at the Imperial and Shubert Theatres, the Mark Hellinger Theatre, and the Palladium Theatre over the years.
This holiday season, it comes to Vancouver, Canada in a production directed by Michael Shamata. Featuring nine-year-old Brian Riback as Oliver and Playhouse veteran Tom McBeath as Fagan, the production is filled with a chorus of 22 promising young boys.
Most outstanding is Morgan Roff, the grade 8 student who plays The Artful Dodger. His pitch-perfect voice and sparkling presence on stage rivals that of many professionals. Brian Riback, the young Oliver, is charming and perfectly cast amongst the workhouse boys and threatening adults.
Also exceptional is the performance by Karin Konoval. Playing the roles of Nancy, Widow Corney and Mrs. Sowerberry, Konoval brings depth and resonance to what are sometimes simply-performed characters. And Scott Augustine’s choreography brings a simply comedic and effective touch to the musical numbers.
The Vancouver production opens with a splash as the 22-boy choir sings out their sorrow to the familiar “Food, Glorious Food”. The first act continues to flow along as Oliver sings “Where is Love?”, then meets Fagan, Nancy and the gang, and witnesses his first pocket-picking.
The second half slows down and introduces even more danger into the plot. Bill Sykes acts out his authority on Nancy. After he makes her steal Oliver back from a generous gentleman who has taken him in, things turn nasty.
Nancy stands up to Bill and ends up being murdered for her attempt. The police storm after Bill, while he leads them right to Fagan’s hideout. The gang disperses, Sykes is shot, and the gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, rescues Oliver for the last time.
Although the show is filled with children, and the opening night saw the audience filled with young family members and friends, this is not necessarily a performance suitable for kids. Images of Bill slapping Nancy and beating her to death with a cudgel are hardly things of Christmas merriment.
Overall, though, the Vancouver Playhouse Company Production soars because of its talented cast of enthusiastic and promising new thespians. Director Michael Shamata revels in the darkness and succeeds in portraying the sinister days of mid-19th century England.
Oliver! plays at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre from November 17 to December 15, 2007. Tickets can be purchased from the box office by calling (604) 873-3311. The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre is located downtown Vancouver at the corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir. Click here for a map.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
