Theatre on the Hill's "Oliver!"

◊◊ 1/2 out of five. 

Twenty-five years plus after starting Theatre on the Hill, this western Maryland Company runs like a smoothly oiled machine.  Its space - the cavernous, yet strangely intimate theatre in McDaniel College's Alumni Hall - has been refurbished, yet retains its historic charm (think Ford's Theatre in DC).  They have a crackerjack house staff from ushers to the box office and concessions.  Everything about it has the feel of professional theatre – in fact, the program includes a description of the group as just that.  Here, I believe, since no signage or program notes mention Actors Equity, "professional" means the company members are paid.   But, still, with a sterling reputation and 25 years under its belt, I sat down with high hopes for Oliver!, the classic musical, which opened this past weekend.  Unfortunately, I became somewhat disappointed soon after the first couple of scenes.  This Oliver! is really a slick conglomeration of Equity-level performance and the stereotypical community theatre.

Still, the good aspects of this production are more plentiful than the bad.  Technically, the show is first rate – "professional" in quality, even.    Set designer Anthony Rosas has created a nifty, moody set that encompasses both minute details of the staggering number of completely different scenes and the bigness the old-fashioned crowd pleaser requires.  He has created a series of moving platforms that when turned open show us alternately the dirty, crowded den of thieves for Fagin's gang, the ugliness of the funeral parlor, or the finery of high class London.  Each also features a small – I wish they were just a smidge bigger – drawings of what each location is about.  They look like those black ink drawings found in older editions of Dickens' books, and are an excellent, thematic detail.  And, when all of the platforms are finally linked together, we are breathtakingly transported to the dangerous, seedy area on and under London Bridge.  Sherry Shaner's plentiful costumes are wonderfully detailed, colorful where need be, and very much of the Victorian era.  One wishes, though, that some more time had been taken to really dirty up the orphan's clothes and some of Nancy and Fagin's as well.  There is very little difference between Oliver, street urchin and Oliver, saved by the wealthy, for example.  Cory Ryan Frank's lighting also fits the show well – dark where it needs to be, bright other places.  And, praise be, effective, unobtrusive and correctly focused spotlighting, operated by Max DeCarlo.  The press notes list both a sound designer (Melvina Coker) and a "microphone jockey" (Julia Heyman).  These folks really need to get together and work out the kinks – poor little Oliver sounds like he is talking into a tin can, Nancy goes in and out like a cell phone call in the mountains, and Bill Sikes is so loud he is unintelligible. 

The two adult leads, and the majority of the supporting cast are all excellent.  With several important supporting characters, the show does quite well.  Among them are the duo of Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney who run the workhouse where the unfortunate waifs spend their days.  Both actors (David Frankenberger, Jr. and Erin Casell, respectively) deliver on all cylinders – chewing up everyone in their paths in the opening scenes, without going overboard.  Their hilarious and ominous "I Shall Scream" reminded me throughout of the Thenardiers in Les Miz, and even more so when they return at the end of the show, revealing truly wicked ways.  Similarly, and with funny/scary effect, are the Sowerberrys, who take in Oliver to work in their funeral parlor.  Benjamin Kingsland is a funny and creepy funeral director, done up much like Jack Skellington in A Nightmare Before Christmas, crossed with the herky-jerky movement of Edward Scissorhands.  And Taylor Lynne Whidden as Mrs. Sowerberry is his match in every way – where he is quiet and creepy, she is loud and mean.  The guy to watch for in the future, though, is A.J. Dorsey, here playing the Artful Dodger.  This young man is absolutely perfect for the part!  He oozes charisma and character, and could probably charm a snake out of its own skin.  One has no problem seeing him being a professional pickpocket.  And he can sing, too!  Both "Consider Yourself" and the classic "I'd Do Anything" are vocal highlights of the show.  Mr. Dickens, I think, would be quite pleased.  Less effective, though, is Mike Pitsikoulas as Bill Sikes.  He surely looks the part, rugged and strong, with dark eyes and a brooding face.  But then he opens his mouth, screaming every line in an accent so thick a real cockney couldn't follow him.  This, coupled with a painfully loud microphone, conspires against this actor.  His confrontation and slap down of Nancy would have been much more powerful could he be understood.

The production really scores, though with its Nancy (the beguiling Branda Lock) and Fagin (the wicked Charlie Smith).  Ms. Lock has an amazing voice, capable of a lusty character belt ("Oom-pah-pah" and "It's a Fine Life") and a lovely, heartbreaking upper register with "As Long As He Needs Me."  That latter song was THE highlight of the entire evening – what power!  Mr. Smith is a perfect actor for the role of Fagin.  He plays it with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and fairly drips with magnetism, charming both the boys in his employ and all of us in the audience, too.  He is an outrageous mix of fatherliness, evil, and man wronged by society.  His "Reviewing the Situation" is great fun.

One problem with this production is the result of casting the title role.  Oliver!, is, in many ways the pre-cursor to (or maybe, more accurately, the brother of) Annie, and requires a rather winning young actor in the title role.  I really, really wanted to LOVE Justin Allison in the role.  Heaven knows he's got the endearing smile, and he's small enough for an "aww" or two from the audience.  And he knows every line (including all the ones he occasionally mouths as other actors say them ), and every word to his songs.  But all of that cuteness and knowledge does not a winning performance make.  Master Allison has very little chemistry with anyone else onstage, and while he does an amazing imitation of the kid in the movie during "Where is Love?," his lack of vocal power and bland line readings do little to make us root for the down-on-his-luck orphan.  Still, I give this young man much credit – he's only 11 years-old – for getting out there and working hard.  I'll even go so far as to say in a few years' time he has the potential to be quite good.  So keep working at it! 

Another problem, and much worse than the first, is the bizarre direction by Moses Goldberg of this otherwise straight forward conventional musical.   Most times when there are directorial issues, the broad strokes of a show are fine tuned at the expense of the details.  (Think of a West Side Story that is all gang fight and no romance.)  Here, the opposite is true.  The smallest details, those supporting characters that flood any Dickensian tale, are truly amazing.  And those scenes involving the likes of Mr. Bumble, Widow Corney, and the funereal Sowerberrys are meticulously blocked, and staged with an eye toward Dickens' themes of societal injustice.  But the bigger issues, like Oliver's true parentage, or the relationship between Nancy and Fagin and Bill Sikes, are given seriously short shrift.  And thus, much of the impact of the finale is missing.  The reunion of Oliver and his grandfather, for example, is reduced to a hug seen in shadow and through dense stage fog. 

A part of this directorial issue continues with the musical staging and choreography (by Mr. Goldberg and Julie M. Herber) that seem to be directing two different shows to highlight the details in one and all but ignore the bigger stuff.  As meticulous as the scene staging is, the ensemble work is, well, amateurish.  So many local directors and choreographers seem to feel that their casts can not handle more that box steps and hitch kicks, or that all they can do is lift their arms to end a song.  Here, nearly every group number dissolves into a boring mess of people on stage, smiles painfully pasted on faces, doing a series of box steps and ending it with a hitch kick or three.  (A lot of Oliver! is really very sad, and dark, but those 1000 watt smiles show up, anyway…)  Nowhere is this more obvious than the "Who Will Buy?" number, which seems endless, and the well-known "Consider Yourself."  Both numbers are staged (as are a few others) so that the ending fairly begs for applause.  Opening night, these numbers got polite, but not enthusiastic applause – the look of surprise and defeat on some cast members was noticeable.  I know, as sure as I am sitting here that these game young folks are capable of much more.  (And before you write to me about how little time they have to put a show together, maybe one mind-blowing show a summer would be better to put on than a few the quality of this one.) 

Overall, this Oliver! doesn't really earn its exclamation point.  When it is good it is really great!  When it isn't, it raises some questions. Of course, it would be strange to call this Oliver?, wouldn't it?

 

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Theatre on the Hill.  Justin Allison as Oliver; Fagin and his Boys (Charlie Smith, seated, far right; A.J. Dorsey, standing center and Justin Allison, seated.)

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.