Oliver!
One of the most enduring musicals of all time, Lionel Bart’s timeless classic is currently undergoing
a terrific revival, buoyed by the BBC talent search to find it a new Nancy and
team of Oliver’s, and headed by the wonderful Rowan Atkinson in the role of
Fagin.
Nancy is to be played by talent show winner Jodei Prenge and three young winners
on the show, Gwion, Harry and Lawrence are all going to be tackling the role of
Oliver! together; the West End performance schedule is so demanding that the
role is shared out between the three boys to protect the children and also
ensure that the amount of hours each one is working remains within the law.
Atkinson promises to bring not only subtle humour, but also a darkness and
beguiling wit to Fagin which will take him beyond the caricature he is sometimes
played as. Both producer Cameron Mackintosh’s and Atkinson’s vision of Fagin as
somewhat of a mercurial character should make for a very interesting
interpretation of the classic character.
Surely everyone knows the story of
Oliver!, but at
the risk of discriminating, here are the main points of the story. Based on the
novel by Charles Dickens but changed quite a bit in its musical incarnation,
Oliver! charts the story of the eponymous orphan boy as he moves from workhouse
to the slums of London where he meets Fagin, Bill, the Artful Dodger and the
beautiful and intelligent Nancy. When a rich benefactor rescues Oliver but the
loses him again to Bill, the stage is set for a struggle between two centres of
power in London, the criminal underground and the respectable middle classes;
caught in the middle is Oliver a boy who is simply looking for love and for a
somewhere which he can call his home. What makes the musical so interesting is
that, in many ways, it is not just Oliver’s rich benefactor, but Fagin as well,
who provides this possibility for the boy.
All the classic songs are here, “Who Will Buy”, “Pick a Pocket or Two” and of
course, the titular song “Oliver”. Perhaps the slapstick moves and the overall
feel of the piece may now feel slightly worn, but Mackintosh has ensured that
Oliver!, particularly with renewed national interest, can once again capture the
imaginations of a nation and put a further generation of kids of gruel for life!
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