You’ll be well-entertained with “Oliver”

Tom Titus

Whether or not you agree with the concept of a reduced pit orchestra

augmented by computer-generated musical accompaniment, you should

reserve judgment until you experience the finished product.

And the finished product at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center is terrific.

Whatever funds the touring production of “Oliver” has saved on

live musicians, it certainly has expended on performers and scenery.

This full-throated, full-bodied musical is staged against some of

the most impressive backdrops (by Adrian Vaux) local audiences have

been privileged to view -- and the huge, youth-heavy cast is

exceptional.

“Oliver,” Lionel Bart’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’

“Oliver Twist,” is 45 years old with a long and impressive pedigree

(including a best picture Oscar for the 1968 movie version). It

hasn’t been seen locally in ages, so the time is more than ripe for a

revival.

And what a revival. Director Graham Gill and choreographer

Geoffrey Garratt have injected new life into an old show with some

wildly elaborate production numbers and a generous portion of stage

gusto -- including the tallest Fagin and the meanest Bill Sykes

you’re ever likely to encounter.

When Mark McCracken makes his initial appearance as Fagin, the

avaricious chieftain of a pint-size band of pickpockets, he really

stands out -- it would take one of the boys standing on another’s

shoulders to look him in the eye.

McCracken’s physical domination is matched by a sly, crafty

characterization that earns admiration regardless of his nefarious

deeds.

“Admiration,” however, hardly is a word one would apply to Shane

R. Tanner’s brutal Sykes, whose stage villainy is so effective he

elicits lusty boos on his curtain call. He doesn’t appear until early

in the second act, terrorizing townspeople with the mention of “My

Name,” but Tanner’s shadow hovers over the show from that point on.

A highlight from any production of “Oliver” is the rendition of

“As Long as He Needs Me” by Sykes’ loyal lass Nancy. Renata Renee

Wilson beautifully assumes this role and her rendition of that song

and its eventual reprise will ring long in playgoers’ memories.

Oliver himself, the orphaned boy sold on the street for the crime

of asking for a second helping, is richly enacted by 9-year-old Ryan

Tutton, whose angelic face and voice are just what Dickens ordered.

Andrew Blau takes the showier role of his young mentor, the Artful

Dodger, delivering a delightfully contrasting streetwise character.

The workhouse operators, David L.J. George and Gwen Eyster,

provide ample comedy with their corpulent flirtatious characters.

Jimmy Flannery and Kimberley Xavier Martins are more Dickensian in

their ominous figures of the funeral-directing Sowerberrys. Flannery

later appears as an equally strident physician.

Brian R. Knowlton’s young funeral home bully and Liz Baltes’ saucy

kitchen maid get in some fine comic licks. Peter Buckley and Mary-Ann

Trippet are welcome breaths of fresh air as the couple who finally

save Oliver’s day.

Ensemble excellence is the core of this “Oliver,” with production

numbers such as “Consider Yourself,” “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or

Two,” “Oom-Pah-Pah” and “Who Will Buy?” virtually spilling over with

color and character.

For a show which first saw the light of Broadway nearly a

half-century ago, “Oliver” is tremendously entertaining in this

adrenalin-packed touring production.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot.