Oliver! Reviews and Opinions
Posted by Linda on 16/1/09 • Categorized as Musicals, Oliver, Reviews
Oliver Reviews
Oliver! the musical has opened at last in London, the critics’ reviews are in and it seems like a good moment for Reviewing the Situation.
The Daily Mail’s Review
Quentin Letts seems to have really enjoyed Oliver! He lavishes praise on almost all the major performers.
Drury Lane has known more tuneful musical stars in its long history, but the grand old temple of dreams can seldom have played host to one with such a God-given gift for comedy.
Rowan Atkinson, playing that warped scoutmaster Fagin, was the eyebrow-wriggling, funnywalking, laugh-wringing supremo on Wednesday night when Lionel Bart’s wonderful musical opened at the Theatre Royal
He also enjoyed Jodie Prenger’s Nancy saying she:
stands up to the test like a sturdy galleon…… She swings her big hips and heaves her all into the role
I’m sure he means well but poor Jodie! Ouch!
He enjoyed Harry Stott’s performance as Oliver and Ross McCormac’s Artful Doger is also picked out :
This child seems to have been born to dance and skip and wink and swagger at an audience.
His final verdict:
Anyone who needs cheering up – and after recent jobs news, heaven knows, that probably means most of us – should get along to Drury Lane sharpish and catch this humdinger of a night.
Verdict: More please, Sir Cameron
I think he liked it!
The Times Oliver Review
Benedict Nightingale is very positive as well. He describes Rowan Atikinson’s Fagin as:
not an old Bean but an infinitely creepy criminal with lank hair, a yellow face and a sinister, silvery glint in his eyes.
He wasn’t so sure about Jodie at first but she convinced him in the end:
Initially she struck me as parading, posturing, performing rather than acting, but she went on to prove herself a tough, coarse, credible presence with a big, robust voice — and that’s all that is needed.
He picks out Burn Gorman’s Sikes as:
a particular success, a pale, quiet figure who threatens more with his stillness than with his cudgel.
He also makes particular mention of “Anthony Ward’s splendidly atmospheric sets”
The Guardian Oliver Review
Michael Billington describes Rowan Atkinson’s Fagin as “a saturnine comic presence” saying:
Rowan Atkinson turns in a sprightly, distinctive performance…….Atkinson’s Fagin may be essentially comic but he endows the character with a camply sinister edge.
He seems to have enjoyed Jodie Prenger’s performance and in particular her interpretation of Nancy’s big numbers As long As He Needs Me and Oom-Pa-Pa
Mr. Billington’s main issue seem to be with Bart’s interpretation of Dickens and the very musical itself. Dickens’ book Oliver Twist gives a grim view of Victorian London which Oliver! tends to glide over. He says:
too many of the characters are ciphers, and the plot is largely a device for getting the numbers on
That is something that could be said of many musicals, I’m afraid.
Oliver Reviews: The Independent
Michael Coveny reviewing Oliver for The Independent has fewer qualms about Bart’s musical but is less convinced by Jodie Prenger.
The moment Prenger appears, I’m afraid, the heart sinks. She seems to be hiding from the audience. Her voice is okay, but she can’t act and she doesn’t have the depth of lung power to fill a plastic bag, let alone a West End theatre on a nightly basis.
“As Long As He Needs Me,” one of the great theatre songs of our time, is a total embarrassment compounded by a naff downstage centre rush for applause.
Ouch!
He’s a little bit kinder to Rowan Atkinson but not much:
Long-haired and slithery like a Semitic toad, he weighs his options with a Mr Bean-style blubberiness, tugging at his lower lip and casting malignant glances to the wings. He’s funniest when fingering his stolen gems, or kicking his legs above his head in a sideways exit. But he’s not a malevolent, gleeful, stage-hogging, dubiously paedophiliac monster that you long for and Lionel Bart wrote, even if Charles Dickens didn’t.
There seems to have only been one lead performance that he really enjoyed:
….the Artful Dodger was played by Ross McCormack, and he was terrific. The absolute centre of the show is “Consider Yourself” in Clerkenwell, as the Dodger’s gang materialise from inside a statue of a top-hatted worthy and the whole city erupts in a series of knees-ups and key changes, beautifully lit by Paule Constable.
Your Opinions
So what do you think? Have you seen Oliver! yet? Are the critics’ Oliver reviews right or are you baffled by them?
Just returned from this show (26th February 2009 ) did enjoy singing dancing the lighting was superb as was the set but I have some questions……..
Why did Bill Sykes not sing( He spoke ‘My Name’)
Doger was shorter and looked younger than Oliver.
Mrs Sowberry was not credible her acting was insipid.
Nancy’s dress was prestine at all times ( rags or dirt would have made it more real).
Fagin playing with Teddy Bear was not correct ( Mr Bean’s influence should have been left out of this).
I have seen amateur productions of Oliver that have been as good if not better than the show I saw this evening.
Top marks for me tonight went to Bullseye the dog.
In response to Maria Gimmet’s comment after her visit to ‘Oliver’; I attended the performance 21st Feb 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful show. The cast were all superb and music, singing dancing and set were fabulous. I went specifically to see Rowan Atkinson and was not disappointed. His ocassional unspoken references to ‘Mr Bean’ only added to the fun element of his performance. Just a fantastic show!
My husband and I went to see Oliver on Thursday, it was brilliant! Rowan Atkinson put his own “twist” on Fagin and he was excellent. The show was well cast and the choreography was very good. I was also impressed with the set designs and all the creative thought and imagination that had been lavished on the show.
I loved the vocal arrangements of the songs and the sound balance between solo singers and the orchestra.
If you love Lional Bart’s work, then I thoroughly recommend you visit The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for a wonderful evening of entertainment.
Meryl Heasman singer/songwriter, Catflap Music.
http://www.catflapmusic.com
Hello Meryl, I’m glad you enjoyed Oliver the musical this week. I might go and see the Omid Djali as Fagin later in the year and I’m looking forward to Spring Awakening tonight.
I’m a songwriter too, but not really for theatre.
Andy Roberts Music
I don’t think “My Name” is ever sung by BilI. It’s always been spoken in every production I have seen, in fact I still have the recording of it from the last time it was in the west end and it’s spoken on that too. Let’s be honest Bill growls instead of speaks so singing is far out of his character.
Of course that is ignoring the fact that Burn, gawd bless ‘im, can’t sing and fully admits it. He is however a bloomin’ good actor as shown in Bleak House. Good on him for stepping out of his comfort zone, hope to see more of him in the future.
My family celebrated my husband’s seventieth birthday last night with a visit to see ‘Oliver’ at the Theatre Royal. We all enjoyed, without exception, this wonderful show and thought everyone put their heart and soul into their role. We laughed a lot with Omid, and the children were great (which proves Britain has got lots of young talent.) The scenery was spectacular and we were really impressed when changes occurred without deflecting from the scene in progress. Jodie has made the role of Nancy her own and when asked after the show if my husband could have a birthday photograph taken with her she graciously said “Yes of course” and then proceeded to get the patrons in the foyer as they were leaving the theatre to join her in a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday to you’. Needless to say my husband is now her number one fan!! Jodie is indeed one of us and deserves to be where she is working hard in the role as if it were her first night. I would encourage anyone who fancies a theatre visit to see this wonderful show and particularly before Omid is replaced by someone new.
If I had one ‘down’ thing to say about last night’s visit it would be that we were in the Upper Circle and the leg room was very limited, so many people spoke during the interval of being very uncomfortable and were glad to be able to stand but, we would imagine that when this grade one listed building first opened in 1812 perhaps people had shorter legs!! This did not, however, deter us from enjoying a good evening’s entertainment.
Hi Pam, I’m so glad you enjoyed the show.What a perfect birthday treat! Everything I hear about Jodie confirms she’s a natural star and lovely with it! We’ll miss her when she goes but that’s showbiz. Omid seems to have been enjoying his last few weeks in the role and I’m sure Griff will have fun with it too. The leg room is limited in quite a few of the older London theatres but as you say people were several inches shorter on average 200 years ago. The stalls and dress circle may be more expensive but you do get a little bit more room.
Not a patch on the 1960s production. The overcockneyfication of the songs makes half of them incomprehensible, even to a Londoner. Or are we are supposed to have memorized the lyrics by now?