“PLEASE, SIR, CAN I HAVE SOME MORE?”
A Review of Lionel Bart’s Musical,
Oliver!
As Produced by the Springfield Muni Opera
by James L. Seay

First produced in London’s West End in 1960, Lionel Bart’s Oliver! was his only international hit among the seven musicals that he wrote, and was the first British musical to successfully make the transition from the West End to Broadway. Loosely based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the show was a tremendous hit in New York, was made into a movie in 1968 and as late as this year, was revived in London’s West End. I rather expect, based on Broadway’s current track record, we can expect it to be back on The Great White Way in the very near future. In the meantime, Central Illinois audiences were treated to a good amateur production at Springfield’s Muni Opera as their 2009 season opener. The Muni has done Oliver! three times previously; once in 1968 (the year the movie was made), again in 1982 and lastly, prior to this production, in 1991. It is a good show for community theatre as it includes as many children as the traffic will allow, which usually promises good audiences with all the doting parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. However, it also makes it a very difficult play for an amateur theatre group, as the depth of the child talent pool is, traditionally, quite shallow.

As could be expected, the Muni production, directed by Carly Shank, brought forth a lot of local talent with both highs and lows, although the lows were not really all that low. Visually, the show was excellent with sets designed by Todd Schumacher and scenic artist, Mary Young and costumes designed by Michaeleen McDonald. The visual aspect of the play carried across the feeling of Dickensian London and, I think, old Charlie would have agreed. Director Shank admits to being extremely influenced by artist/director Tim Burton, even to saying that she constantly asked, “What would Tim Burton do?” Obviously, this line of thinking was productive, but, admittedly, I am of an age that I believe, in an attempt to get the same Dickensian atmosphere, I would have asked “What would Edward St. John Gorey do?” Some of you older readers may remember the illustrations by this Chicago born artist, as well as his design for Broadway’s adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

With no way to fly scenery, the Muni must rely on an army of stagehand grunts to manhandle large set pieces, mounted on wagons, on and off the stage. This often results in over-long scene changes, but the run-gang of Oliver! seemed well-drilled and most of the changes went exceptionally well. For some reason, however, the Muni seems fascinated by the downstage wing extensions of their large stage, both down left and right, and often use them to the exclusion of center stage. This was one of the things that bothered me in the production of Oliver!; often action was occurring in both downstage corners, while center stage was a large gaping hole with only a silhouette of the London skyline against the cyclorama. I found this distracting and confusing.

I also felt the chorus was too small to accurately suggest the street traffic in what was at the time the largest city in Europe if not the world. During act II, scene 2, as Oliver (Jimmy Riemer) steps onto a balcony stage left to sing “Who Will Buy?” various street vendors (the Rose seller [Aster Lesle], the Milkmaid [Megan Francis], the Strawberry Seller [Eleanor Van Deventer], the Knife Grinder [Kelly Trier] and the Long Song Seller [Zac Clemens]) gather below, calling out their wares. However, until a later reprise of the song, no customers come around and the five street criers are left alone calling out their wares. Now this is a crowded section of Dickensian London, and needed to be portrayed as such. Five people just don’t get the job done.

For the most part, the principal players did a very good job, both singing and acting. I did feel that Mr. Bumble (Tom Heintzelman) was excellent when acting (his build, facial expression and costuming was Mr. Bumble to a T!), his lovely tenor voice seemed entirely too sweet when threatening to toss Oliver into a dungeon and make him “rue the day that he was named Oliver,” after Oliver dared to ask for more gruel. He needed to sound like the mean and miserable public servant that he was. I doubt if any of the orphans could be intimidated by threats sung so sweetly.

Jimmy Riemer, for a fifth grader making his first Muni appearance, did a fine job with the part of Oliver, upon whose small back so much of the play must be carried. As I said, due to the title character having to be so young (and, because of his age, being relatively inexperienced and trained), Oliver! is an extremely difficult play for a community group to produce. Riemer did his job well, and we can only hope that there will be other vehicles to showcase him before his voice changes.

The main female part in the play is Nancy, the “whore with a heart of gold” stock character of Nineteenth Century novels. Nancy is a difficult part, as she must make the audience believe that she is madly in love with Bill Sikes (John O’Connor), a totally villainous villain with absolutely no redeeming values. Lindsey K. Ninmer works hard on creating such a character, and, for the most part, is successful. I particularly liked her in the opening act II production number, “Oom-Pah-Pah.” However, in her showcase number, “As Long As He Needs Me,” (act II, scene 1) her sincerity just did not come through. I had trouble believing that she would stick with Sikes as long as he needed her. Her reprise in act II, scene 5 was much more believable, but the believability here was a bit too late.

O’Connor’s Bill Sikes and Don Schneider, Jr.’s Fagin were, to this reviewer, clearly the best defined characters in the cast with O’Connor’s Sikes leading the way. His halting, sometimes stumbling, manner of delivering the dialogue bespoke the sociopathic Sikes with never a let-up. My only problem with the part was not the fault of the actor – when Sikes is finally cornered and shot, the gunshot was a totally wimpy “Psftt,” like a child’s pop gun going off, and Sikes fell dead. With budgets that exceed $40,000, I wish the Muni could buy a really good 9 mm stage pistol that would sound like a pistol when it went off. I could not help feeling that Sikes would have probably laughed himself to death. To O’Connor’s credit, his Sikes dutifully fell dead when the pop gun went off and did not laugh or giggle while he lay prostrate on the roof of Fagin’s house.

Bart chose to portray Fagin differently than Dickens. The Fagin of the play is a rather amoral opportunist who, like Nancy, has a lovable, albeit not socially acceptable, side. Where Dickens’ Fagin ends up on the gallows, Bart’s Fagin slips out and crosses the fog bound London Bridge as the play ends. I’m glad they didn’t hang him. Schneider’s Fagin is a lovable rogue and Schneider plays him well. His two main songs (“Pick a Pocket or Two” and “Reviewing the Situation” which segues into virtually a G. & S. patter song) are delightful. Like I said, I’m glad he escaped the gibbit.

A lot of the play’s comic relief came in with secondary characters. Gil Opferman and Kayla Primm’s Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, along with Amanda Ratz’s Widow Corney were all genuine hoots. So was Nathan Hoffman’s Noah and Jakob Groeteke’s Artful Dodger, even though he tended to be a bit flat at times in his singing (“Consider Yourself”).

In spite of an over-active smoke machine that produced so much smoke from Fagin’s kitchen that I expected to see the London Fire Laddies descend on the den of thieves, and a London Fog that forced the company to take their bows in a cloud, the play was well staged, and, in spite of a fifteen minute unscheduled intermission while a strickened audience member was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, the run time was not overly long, the rain held off, the evening was cool and the smaller than usual house seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. It looks like the Muni is off to another enjoyable season and we anxiously await their next production, Mel Brooks’ The Producers.