Oliver!
January 2, 2004
Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa
"Oliver," that classic musical in which the poor little British boy says, "Please suh! I want some more!," is currently touring the United States in a production based on Cameron Mackintosh's London staging from several years ago. This tour, however, is a non-equity tour (that is, the actors are not represented by Actors Equity Association, the professional union for stage performers), and the orchestra is much reduced; missing instruments are filled in with a synthesizer, a practice that has proved highly controversial among the theatrical community.
The production definetly shows its non-equity rough edges, even though there are patches when the musical really comes to life. Those, however, are separated by lengthy dialogue scenes in which words can barely be understood through the actors' thick, put-on Cockney accents. Or, the acting is so uneven that motivations are lost (Oh look! They're angry again for some reason!). The moments that come alive are in big ensemble numbers, where the inventive staging and choreography override the actors' shortcomings. The "original choreography and staging" is credited to Matthew Bourne, with additional choreography and the restaging of Bourne's work for this production credited to Geoffrey Garrett. The ensemble numbers that work have Bourne's trademark wit and theatricality, moving people about on the stage in a way that really keeps things interesting. Despite Garrett's credit, I'm led to believe that these are Bourne's pieces for the most part.
Other than these isolated instances of interest, there's not much to recommend in this tour. It's very uneven, especially towards the end - and you leave with a bad taste in your mouth from the whole affair.
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