Oliver!
The London depicted in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is a bleak, dirty and dangerous place infected by class stratification and an obscene level of poverty. It’s a place where everything is for sale-including 10-year-old boys.
However you will find little of this Dickensian darkness in the Walnut Street Theatre’s rousing production of the Tony Award-winning musical Oliver! Adapted by Lionel Bart from Dickens’ story, the title character is an orphan doomed by his class to a life in either prison or the poor house. Twist is admittedly one of Dickens most sentimental tales, but director Mark Clements production with its cartoonish villains is so perpetually sunny that we lose all sight of the story’s message of social injustice. There is no quibbling however with the production’s musical expertise. Bart’s score is tremendously appealing and the Walnut’s huge cast handles the songs with ease. Among the many highlights include the charming “I’d Do Anything” and a defiant rendition of the aching love song “As Long As He Needs Me” from Janine Divita as the good-hearted Nancy.
Fans of the musical’s Academy Award-winning film version will miss the sweeping choreography of the movie’s rousing dance numbers “Consider Yourself” and “Who Will Buy?” which have a cinematic scope impossible to duplicate on stage. Clements compensates however with a swiftly moving production that still includes enough spectacle (Todd Edward Ivins’ set is a model of functionality) to make the Walnut’s Oliver! as visually arousing as it is musically satisfying.
Through Jan. 10. $10-$70. Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. 215.574.3550. walnutstreettheatre.org
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1. Anonymous said... on Dec 7, 2009 at 11:53PM
“The Oliver kid sounded horrible during an evening performance I attended on Saturday. $70 bucks was too much to listen to this kid who couldn't sing. I was very disappointed with the WST for casting him. On the flip side, the show was pretty good.”