The Bridge, July 27, 2007

Photo courtesy QuarryWorks

By Nat Frothingham
     On the night that I attended a recent performance of the musical Oliver! at the QuarryWorks Theater in nearby Adamant it was raining, raining, raining. Despite the rain, the 30 performers and half a dozen musicians were there. No one had cancelled and not a single extra seat was to be found in the packed house. With darkness and rain outside and warmth, light, color, and sound inside, the experience of a live musical stage production in the little theater had a special, even cave-like, enchantment.
     Oliver!, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart roughly based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, opened in London's West End at the Albery Theatre on June 30, 1960. Oliver! opened on Broadway on January 6, 1963, at the Imperial Theatre and ran for 774 performances. In 1968 it was made into an Oscar-winning film directed by Carol Reed.
     At first blush, you might not immediately think that the Dickens story of Oliver Twist is the sort of material that would make a successful musical production. Oliver is a young boy whose mother has died in childbirth. He starts out his life in an orphanage and is later sold into the service of an undertaker and his wife. Oliver subsequently falls in with a group of lowlife boys, picking pockets in the streets of London.
     That's a lot of dirt and grime for a musical. It's also where the brilliance of this show comes in. If it's a musical about poverty, child abuse, and the depraved intentions of such figures as Bumble, the orphanage supervisor, and the violent Bill Sikes with his big stick and dog—if it's about these things, it's also about the children, like Oliver, who win out in the end over these puffed-up, malign, adult figures. As the story unfolds, we see that these criminal adults are as ridiculous as they are depraved.
     Who is the orphanage supervisor, Mr. Bumble, anyway, but a bumbling lout dressed up in fine clothes with a stupidly large hat? In the Adamant production, Bumble is played with utterly self-righteous joy and conviction (that is, happily, self-importantly, and with immense inflation) by actor Michael Halloran. Adults can be mean. Adults can take advantage of the children they are supposed to protect. Adults can do some pretty awful things. But in this show, we learn not to be terrified of adults because if you stick a pin in a balloon it will pop. And if you stick a pin into Bumble he, too, will likely pop.
     There is something about live music that can never be faked. The live music in this show from keyboards, oboe, flute, bassoon, and drums was wonderful. From the opening bar to the final note, the orchestra followed each twist and turn of the dramatic action on stage and laid down a bed of continuous sound that gave the show a delicious enchantment.
     Because the musical numbers were all so well presented, it's hard to single out any one of them. But there were a few notable moments. The musical courtship exchange between the rather large Bumble and the rather, shall we say, unattractive Widow Corney was both charming and funny.
     "That's Your Funeral"—performed by undertaker Mr. Sowerberry (played by Edgar Davis) and Mrs. Sowerberry, his wife (played by Rachael Rood)—was thoroughly engaging.
     The big, purposely overstated songs with their big utterances ("I Shall Scream" and "That's Your Funeral") immediately preceded Oliver's first solo, "Where Is Love?" In this tender song, indeed in his overall performance, Oliver, as played by Frederick Bailey, had a touching innocence and a certain quality of hurt and
vulnerability. Who could fail to identify with young Oliver having to endure the sarcasm and condescension of remarks like these from Mrs. Sowerberry?
     "Right then, Oliver Twist, your bed's underneath the counter. You don't mind sleeping among the coffins, I suppose?"
     Oliver's "Where Is Love?" with its longing and loneliness is quickly followed by something quite different: the tuneful and popular "Consider Yourself" with lyrics of inclusion: "Consider yourself well in / Consider, yourself part of the family." It's clear as this gang, or shall we say family, of thieves first assembles onstage along with Fagin, their master, that in this production they will be much more familial than criminal.
     Let's give kudos to the show's director Michael John Suchomel for casting Carol Benson in the role of Fagin. It doesn't matter whether Fagin is a man or woman. What matters is that this Fagin has a kindly heart, and Carol Benson's performance—from the top of her wide-brimmed hat to the sound of her high-pitched voice to her resolute gait—is entirely believable.
     In recent years, there have been a string of terrific musicals at QuarryWorks Theater in Adamant, and this production of Oliver! ranks with the very best of them. It was its integration, the way this show cascaded along smoothly and seamlessly, from one scene to another and one musical number to another, that gave this show its distinction.
     There were two very rich moments I would like to mention. One involved Nancy played by Sheila Collins. Nancy is in love with Bill Sikes, even as he is mistreating her. In the song "As Long As He Needs Me," Sheila Collins achieves emotional truth. She lets us feel what it is like to be hurt and still to reach out in love.
     There is another moment, an interlude in the show, when a number of street vendors walk through the audience offering flowers, strawberries, and other things for sale. That moment, with its unexpected dash of color and beautiful voices, provided a break from the story line and was a breath of relief.
     The best that theater can offer us is a show that comes together so beautifully that it is greater than the sum of its parts. The actors (children and adults alike), the set, the lights, the music, the costumes, the theater by the quarry and that night under rain—all added up to that splendid result.