Lionel Bart’s Oliver! is back in town in its first major L.A. production in over ten years and what a joy it is to re-experience (or to discover for the first time) Broadway’s Greatest Dickens Musical at Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West.

 The consummate mix of song, drama, dance, laughter, and unexpected plot twists (no pun intended), Oliver! may well be the only family musical to deal with poverty, illegitimacy, crime, and murder, not quite traditional Disney fare, but elements that make Oliver! an even richer experience for adults than it is for children Oliver’s age.

 Who wouldn’t be enthralled by the classic tale of a parentless nine-year-old (Travis Burnett) who dared to ask his orphanage caretakers Mr. Bumble (William Hartery) and the Widow Corney (Cathy Newman) for a second helping of gruel, only to find himself sold to an undertaker and his wife (Kevin McMahon and Cynthia Ferrer as Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry), then adopted into a pickpocket gang run by master thief Fagin (Davis Gaines), aided and abetted by curvaceous henchwoman Nancy (Cayman Ilika) and the spunky young Artful Dodger (Jason Brewer), with Nancy’s violence-prone lover Bill Sykes (Kenny Landmon) thrown in for menacing measure.

And that’s just the start of Oliver’s adventures in crime and redemption.

In what was to be his one and only Broadway hit, book writer Bart not only managed to compact a Dickens novel that would probably take about fifteen hours to read aloud into a mere two-and-a-half hours, as composer-lyricist he created over a dozen of the most memorable songs in Broadway history, from full-cast showstoppers like “Consider Yourself,” “Pick A Pocket Or Two,” “It’s A Fine Life,” “I’d Do Anything,” “Oom-Pah-Pah,” and “Who Will Buy?” to comic relief numbers (the macabre but funny “That’s Your Funeral,” the flirty “I Shall Scream,” and the droll “Reviewing The Situation”) to the truly scary “My Name” to the pair of much-covered ballads that define the show, Oliver’s touching “Where Is Love?” and Nancy’s “As Long As He Needs Me.”

 Director James A. Rocco, who played one of Fagin’s boys a full fifty years ago, clearly knows Oliver! like the back of his hand, and he could not be blessed with a more talented cast of performers, including over a dozen tween-and-younger triple-threats (Alden Copps, Radley Copps, Colin Eaton, Collin Higgins, Kaine Koltoniuk, Landon Mariano, Kennedy Phillips, Joshua Protzmann, Daniel Sidoni, Serena Thompson, Kaitlin Yamano, and Keira Yamano) headed by a perfectly plucky Brewer as the most Artful of Dodgers.

 Above all there is on-a-roll child star Burnett, who not only captivates as a boy whose posh accent may suggest a less than humble birth but shows off a soprano belt in “Where Is Love?” that takes the oft-recorded hit from Vienna Boys Choir territory into the 21st-century.

 MTW favorite Gaines milks every Fagin moment to piquantly crafty effect and Seattle star Ilika gives Nancy abundant allure and the most powerful alto pipes in town.

Landmon, on the other hand, has been cast and directed to take Bill Sykes into such irredeemably monstrous territory that Nancy’s attraction to him seems mere masochism and robs “As Long As He Needs Me” of much of its poignancy.

 Rarely has a Broadway musical given a cast as many memorable cameos as Oliver!, allowing some SoCal’s finest performers, from relative newbies to longtime stage vets, to shine briefly and brightly on the Carpenter Center stage.

 McMahon and Ferrer’s deliciously dour Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry come straight out of a Victorian illustration for the original Oliver Twist, Hartery and Newman are a double hoot as the equally Dickensian Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Carney, and McMahon and Ferrer get to double as Oliver’s “physician heal thyself” Dr. Grimwig and as a warm and winning Mrs. Bedwin.

Popular young leading man around town Chaz Feuerstine vanishes into a comical Noah Claypool opposite recent UCLA grad Maggie Darago’s delightful Charlotte, Ciara Tadeo makes for a feisty young Bet, and Doug Carfrae is a fine Mr. Brownlow, while Darago (Rose Seller), Bill Ledesma (Knife Grinder), Christine Negherbon (Strawberry Seller, also Old Sally), and Nikki Elena Spies (Milkmaid) join their gorgeous pipes in four-part counterpoint to “Who Will Buy?”

 Last but not least, Ayesha Cortinas, Sylvie Gosse, Antoine Lee, Tanner Rampton, and Simoné Sassudelli ace their multiple assignments, not the least of which is executing choreographer Hector Guerrero’s infectious dance steps in production number after production number while vocalizing under Ryan O’Connell’s expert musical direction.

 Scenic designer Dennis Hassan and costume designer Tamara Becker give Oliver! an appropriately dark, Dickensian look with flashes of color as Oliver’s life brightens.

 Paul Black’s mood-enhancing lighting, Audio Production Geeks, LLC’s crystal-clear sound design, Dylan Powell’s Victorian-era props and Michon Gruber-Gonzales’s just-right wigs complete a Grade-A production design.

Kevin Clowes is technical director. Matt Terzigni is production manager. Talia Krispel is stage manager and Shay Garber is assistant stage manager.

A full two decades before the British invaded Broadway with hit-after-Andrew Lloyd Webber-hit in the ’80s, Oliver! started it all way back in 1962. Lionel Bart may have written only one hit show, and Oliver! may be a nearing seventy years of age, but oh what a glorious musical it remains to this day.

Musical Theatre West, Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach.
www.musical.org

–Steven Stanley
February 9, 2019
Photos: Caught In The Moment Photography

Tags: Charles Dickens, Lionel Bart, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West