Theater Reviews

Sep 20, 2008 - Lionel Bart's "Oliver!" sinks, oh so slowly, out West in Reno

By Jack Neal

Just because a show is about poverty, doesn’t mean a production must be impoverished. With a cast of 16 playing what should be at least twice as many roles and a five-piece orchestra playing what should be a sumptuous score, a diet version of Lionel Bart’s 1960s musical, “Oliver!,” has made its way to Reno (9/19/08). What this Music Theatre Associates production lacks in numbers, it makes up nowhere.

The English musical hall score Bart so engagingly attached to Charles Dickens’s one-hundred-seventy-year-old novel, “Oliver Twist,” has been decimated by Keith Levenson’s calliope-sounding, boiled-down-to-nothing orchestrations for five instrumentalists, who – while small in number – still find it troublesome to play in tune.

When “Oliver!” moved to Broadway from London in 1963 Sean Kenny’s evocative skeletonized sets and costumes enhanced the show. In this road-show “Oliver!” Keith Parsons’ bare-bones mix of wooden scaffolding and oddly configured stairs pushed laboriously from place to place capture the amazed attention of onlookers, leaving over-worked actors and singers struggling to overcome the chaos surrounding them.

Bless Rhiannon West, the show’s lovely Nancy, for singing the show’s loveliest ballad, “As long as he needs me.” She sings it beautifully, but without the directorial respect allowing West her moment to shine without distractions. One can only fantasize (with considerable relish) what a diva like Barbra Streisand might do under similar circumstances.

And so the direction – or lack of it – of Clayton Phillips torpedoes a show that has its own built-in problems without carelessly adding to the list. Phillips’s approach to musical comedy is about as happy as the current news from Wall Street. Vince Pesce’s choreography – or lack of it – is nondescript and what there is, is executed without oomph or precision. Kirk Brookman’s lighting designs simply cannot do what exceptional lighting must do – and that’s hide what needs to be hidden. Playing the show in the dark is not an option.

There are some gallant troupers who rise to the occasion and deserve better.

At eleven years of age, Quentin Araujo is charming and every inch the urchin Oliver needs to be. Paired with Colin Nims, an Artful Dodger of considerable talent, Araujo and Nims don’t quite steal the show because there’s not much to steal. Nonetheless, their “Consider Yourself” is pleasantly brought off.

Zachary Mordechai’s scruffy Fagan ought to dominate the show and doesn’t. Fagan should be a selfish, yet concerned, scoundrel central to making “Oliver!” lively musical comedy and not a sooty, street-weary tragedy. To be fair, Mordechai is working under the handicap of having a tiny gang of four (Oliver and The Artful Dodger, plus a woman dressed as a boy, and a man dressed as a boy) rather than the ten or so gang of ruffians that might make a lively production event out of “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two.”

On the flip side of what should be Fagan’s loveable cunning is the villainy of Bill Sikes. Christopher David Lukos creates a Sikes that’s gruff and vicious. Lukos has a deep bass voice that’s enviable. But what makes Nancy love the woman-battering jerk enough to sing about how much she loves him is a basic flaw in what Lionel Bart created. There’s virtually know noticeable motivation for Nancy’s poignant lament, “As long as he needs me.”

As Mr. Brumble, the mean-spirited orphanage director (of a noticeably empty orphanage), Chazmond Peacock is disappointing in a role that should be deliciously nasty. As Mr. Brownlow, the kindly man of means who takes Oliver in, Matt David is merely adequate. “Who Will Buy” has some very nice singing thanks to Erin Spears, Stacie Johnsen, Melissa Ceo, and Quentin Araujo. Playing a multitude of parts, the remainder of the cast wins polite applause by virtue of their work ethic and desire to please.

Many musicals throw realism out for gloss and style. That’s not so with this production. Whether by necessity (the road) or design this “Oliver!” has neither gloss nor style.

“Oliver!” can be seen at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, Friday (9/19/08) at 8 p.m. (the performance reviewed), Saturday (9/20/08) at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday (9/21/08) at 2 and 7 p.m. “Oliver!” runs two hours twenty-five minutes with intermission. For information call 775-686-6600, 800-714-5331, or go on line at pioneercenter.com.