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Tuesday, November 9, 2004
“Oliver!” at the Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW
“Oliver!â€? At the Fox Theatre through Sunday.
By Phil Kloer pkloer@ajc.com When the whole cast of “Oliver!â€? is onstage at the Fox and it feels like half of London has hit the streets to sing and dance and swirl to “Consider Yourselfâ€? and the energy level is as high as the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, it’s easy to forget what a disturbing musical this is. But since it’s based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,â€? and Dickens did not shy away from the darkness in human nature, “Oliver!â€? can be creepy and melodramatic enough that parents of young children should think carefully about taking them along. When a major character is brutally killed toward the end, you could feel the audience wince; a Victorian “Annieâ€? this isn’t. The Broadway in Atlanta road show version of Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 staging hits the high notes but isn’t afraid of the dark. Lionel Bart’s big numbers — “Consider Yourself,â€? “I’d Do Anything,â€? “Food, Glorious Food,â€? “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Twoâ€? are staged with pacing that at times approaches deliirium — in a good way. But anything involving Bill Sykes (a very menacing Shane R. Tanner) is more the stuff of nightmares. The youngsters, led by 9-year-old Ryan Tutton as Oliver and Colin Bates (an understudy who stood in wonderfully on opening night) as the Artful Dodger, are generally better singing than they are speaking their lines, and better dancing than they are singing, but the show plays to those srengths with its non-stop motion. The real star of “Oliver!â€? isn’t Oliver, of course, it’s Fagin, the avaricious leader of a gang of thieves who in Dickens’ novel was a Jew portrayed in unflattering anti-Semitic stereotypes. That won’t do these days, so Mark McCracken’s Fagin isn’t the least bit Semitic. He’s more like a Disney villian who looks like Ted Nugent dressed like an opium lord , but what matters is the charisma with which he commands the stage.
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Kasey Chambers at Variety Playhouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kasey Chambers: You’re a hit in Atlanta. Not just any singer-songwriter can deliver an almost-full Variety Playhouse on a Monday night. (See Lloyd Cole and Ron Sexsmith’s recent excellent but underattended visit.) Nor can just anyone draw scores of worshippers to the foot of the stage for the entire show. Your fans even knew the words to the songs from your seven-week-old album, “Wayward Angel.” Perhaps it was your Australian accent and raspy giggle that had them eating out of your hand. Perhaps it was your easy stage presence. Or maybe your helium-tinged voice. (If only you’d dial back the whole nasal thing just a bit…) Most likely it’s those deeply personal lyrics, which sound as if you wrote them during a wine-soaked commiserative dinner with a girlfriend. Whatever the reason, the audience adored you — never more so than when you came out solo at the encore to sing a slower, sadder (yet somehow angrier) version of your big hit, “The Captain.” Come back soon.
