2 commentsIrving — If Billy Elliot the Musical did not fill your quota of blue collar Brit accents, then 'op on over to Carpenter Performance Hall in Irving, where Lyric Stage has uncorked a magnum of a production of Oliver!
Composer/lyricist Lionel Bart's musical twist on Oliver Twist has been a smash stage hit as well as an Oscar-winning movie. The stage revival that producer Steven Jones' creative team has mounted keeps the tradition of excellence intact.
Recall the original Charles Dickens story: Orphaned Oliver flees workhouse servitude, falls in with a gang of young thieves, stumbles onto an unlikely destiny. There's melodrama aplenty along the way, plus sentimentality and wry humor. In particular, two lines in the musical script are widely quoted outside the show's context: "The law is a arse'' and "Shut up, and drink your gin."
The latter is delivered to a scruffy urchin by Fagin, leader of the squad of young cutpurses. This is one of those shows in which the leading role is not the title role. Fagin is the conniving heart of Oliver!, and his arrival late in the first act is a high point in any production.
Jonathan Beck Reed is a worthy inheritor of the legacy of Ron Moody, Clive Revill and (in non-musical movies) Alec Guinness and George C. Scott. Reed is a delight as he instructs his young charges in how to "Pick a Pocket or Two," and he is no less winning on the contemplative "Reviewing the Situation."
Jack VanGorden, as Oliver, is a director's dream: an adolescent with acting chops and a voice that has not yet abandoned the poignant juvenile soprano range. And on "Who Will Buy?" Vangorden gets a lot of help from a fine chorus.
Talking of voices, Catherine Carpenter Cox has pipes to die for as Nancy, the good-hearted hooker who befriends Oliver. Cox shines on three distinct numbers: the rousing "Oom-Pah-Pah," the cheerfully defiant "It's a Fine Life" and the tragedy-tinged "As Long As He Needs Me."
The "he" in this case is Bill Sykes, Nancy's remarkable cruel boyfriend. Daylon Walton is wonderfully sinister in the role, entering to an ominous tympani roll. Stage director Cheryl Denson and music director Jay Dias have eliminated this character's one solo, the forgettable "My Name," and frankly it's no great loss.
Choreographer Ann Nieman works magic with a platoon-sized ensemble, including no fewer than 24 young males. (Go ahead, count 'em.) It goes great with the 30-piece orchestra in the pit.
Clayton Slee is, well, artful as the Artful Dodger, who welcomes Oliver into the larcenous fraternity with "Consider Yourself." The chorus is showcased marvelously here.
Mike Gallagher is a pompous standout as Mr. Bumble, the workhouse beadle. He and Christine Chambers have enormous, contagious fun with "I Shall Scream." And Gordon Fox is the very model of a dour Dickensian undertaker. 
