Playwright: book, music & lyrics by Lionel Bart, based on the novel by
Charles Dickens
At: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive in Lincolnshire
Phone: (847) 634-0200; $42-$45
Runs through: Feb. 12
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
If the exclamation point in the title doesn’t tip us off to our show’s vintage, Lionel Bart’s portrait of Victorian London cinches it. This is not the dark, squalid, smoky city of Sweeney Todd, its commoners filthy and wretched victims of the social evils that Charles Dickens so deplored in his novel, but a rich, colorful, proletariat landscape almost wholly at odds with its source material. Furthermore, populist Bart’s rollicking cavalcade of songs—the torchy ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ and tender ‘Where Is Love’ being the sole exceptions—are relentlessly catchy (listen for spectators warbling snippets of ‘Be Back Soon’ in the lobby during intermission).
The challenge of staging the 45-year-old Oliver! lies not in its elevated sugar-content, however, but the story barely tucked into the overwhelming jolliness. David H. Bell’s experience at directing classical drama is evident in his attention to text, chiefly his decision to show Dickens himself working at his desk, thus introducing the shadow of A Christmas Carol into the perception of audiences who recognize the author only by his holiday novella. This device compensates somewhat for the concessions to commercial appeal—Nancy’s defense of her abusive lifestyle, for example, and her bloodless death by strangling. (Fagin’s Jewishness, unsurprisingly, is now apparent only by the clarinet flourishes in ‘Reviewing The Situation’.)
Besides, Bell’s specialty is keeping huge stage pictures vibrant and engaging in their every corner. The denizens of his urban agora swarm over their four-sided space, with set designer Thomas M. Ryan’s extension ladders, gangplank stairs and ramshackle scaffoldings suggesting lofts and basements, while also ensuring visibility for the soloists. The robust dances—based in marches, kicks and jumps—likewise reinforce the street ambiance. And characters often shrugged off or excised altogether are given their moments in the spotlight—morticians Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry’s negotiations on ‘That’s Your Funeral’, or Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney’s courting rites in ‘I Shall Scream’.
Whatever the complaints as to its verisimilitude, there’s no denying the pleasures of Marriott’s production, featuring a high-calorie budget and a cast led by Greg Vinkler and Kate Fry. If weather precludes a drive into the city, suburban families will find plenty of warmth and merriness in Lincolnshire.