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Regional Reviews: Phoenix Oliver! in Concert Also see Gil's reviews of The Little Mermaid, One Man, Two Guvnors, and The Wizard of Oz
This was the fifth time that two of the Valley's largest arts organizations presented a musical theatre concert, but the first time that the Symphony's recently appointed Music Director Tito Muñoz took part. The combination of Phoenix Theatre's Artistic Director Michael Barnard's skilled direction and Muñoz's crisp conducting resulted in a touching production of this classic musical and was a perfect way to close out Muñoz's inaugural season with the Symphony. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Lionel Bart wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the musical, and the show had a hugely successful run in London and a fairly decent one on Broadway in the early 1960s. In 1968 the film version won six Oscars including one for Best Picture. With a string of classic showtunes, the plot of the musical and novel follows young orphan Oliver Twist's journey from his miserable workhouse life to being pulled unwillingly by a young teen boy called The Artful Dodger into a life of crime. Oliver lives and works with a group of juvenile delinquent pickpockets who are led by an older thief, Fagin. But Oliver yearns to find love, and a life in crime doesn't seem to be his lot in life. While the original musical was an abbreviated version of the Dickens' novel, this concert version was even more abridged, running just under two hours. Though Bart's score is a smash, including a never ending stream of superb, rousing songs as well as two excellent ballads, his book does a bit of a disservice to the character of Oliver, who is off stage for almost a third of the show. Also, the abridgement of Dickens' story results in a couple of far-fetched plot points, including one major one that comes across as a bit of an eye roller in how coincidental it is. Those moments and the streamlined plot lessen somewhat the tale of the young boy who is just trying to find love in his life. Fortunately, while nothing can be done to fix the small shortcomings in the musical's plot, Barnard did add many effective moments, including one excellent touch. While the finale focuses more on Fagin than Oliver, Barnard found a clever way to incorporate Oliver into the ending and made the happiness that Oliver finds relate directly to Fagin's decision of what he will do next with his life. It was a small but extremely touching addition. The concert included the majority of the Tony winning score, with the exclusion of just one minor song, and the wonderful performances of D. Scott Withers and Yolanda London. Withers was Fagin and London portrayed Nancy, who is the older female member of the gang and serves as a surrogate mother figure for Oliver. The score has several well-known songs and hearing London's glorious and powerful voice wrapped around the music and lyrics of "As Long As He Needs Me," "I'd Do Anything," and "It's a Fine Life," along with her firm connection to the lyrics, was a joy. The combination of London's strong portrayal and the rich, nuanced and well thought out performance of Withers more than made up for some of the shortcomings of the evening. As Oliver, Vincent Jacovo was appropriately sweet and naive and able to hit some lovely notes in his solo "Where is Love?" Asher Angel as Dodger was also charming, displaying plenty of realistic street smarts along with a nice singing voice. The cast also included Chris Eriksen as Nancy's evil boyfriend Bill; David Simmons as Bumble, the man who runs the orphanage; Toby Yatso and Kate E. Cook as the Sowerberrys, the couple who buy Oliver from Bumble; with Yatso also portraying Mr. Brownlowe, the man who finds he has a connection with Oliver. Eriksen was effective at getting the menace of Bill Sykes across. Simmons' rich, deep voice was simply lovely, especially during "Boy For Sale" and he also got a chance to show his comic abilities as the bumbling Dr. Grimwig. Yatso and Cook provided some nice humorous bits, with Yatso's long legs put to good use in a highly choreographed "That's Your Funeral." But Yatso also added a lovely emotional touch of caring and tenderness as Brownlowe. Cook, Johanna Carlisle and several ensemble members provided extremely lovely solos during the "Who Will Buy?" sequence. The hardworking ensemble played multiple parts with ease and the dozen children in the cast delivered some gorgeous harmonies as well as meaningful and well directed performances. While most concert performances of big musicals with large casts like Oliver! aren't fortunate enough to have fully fleshed out production values and huge ensembles, this wasn't exactly the case with this concert presentation. The use of dozens of period costumes was effective in portraying the numerous characters in the musical as were a few small set elements to evoke Fagin's lair, the orphanage, and the homes of Brownlowe and the Sowerberrys. And while the depth of the playing space was somewhat narrow, due to the space required for the large orchestra, Barnard's choreography for the many ensemble numbers was quite elaborate and added a rousing and varied amount of dance steps delivered expertly by the cast. However, the staging of a couple of the transitional scenes was a little confusing as to where they were supposed to be set, due to the minimalistic set design, as was the climactic scene toward the end, especially in exactly how one of the characters was killed. Even with the shortcomings of the abbreviated plot and some of the staging, Barnard's direction of the talented cast and Muñoz's expert conducting of the orchestra led to a winning and touching production of this musical. The score of Oliver! has so many well-known and well-loved songs that hearing them delivered by an exceptional cast, headed by Withers and London, and played by such a grand, masterful orchestra, more than made up for any of the very few drawbacks of the night. The two Phoenix arts organizations haven't announced if they plan another collaboration for next May, but I only hope they do decide to continue this tradition. Oliver! with the Phoenix Symphony and the Phoenix Theatre played three performances from May 29th to May 31st, 2015, at Symphony Hall in Phoenix. Information for upcoming performances with the Phoenix Symphony can be found at www.phoenixsymphony.org. Upcoming production information at the Phoenix Theatre can be found at www.phoenixtheatre.com. Conductor: Tito Muñoz Cast:
Oliver Twist: Vincent Jacovo |
Phoenix Theatre and Phoenix Symphony Orchestra recently came together for another musical theatre collaboration. This time the selection was Oliver! and hearing Lionel Bart's score, with so many well-known songs, played by the huge, skilled orchestra and sung by a gifted cast, was simply glorious.