Access Atlanta > Arts > Our Reviews > Archives > 2004 > November > 09 > Entry
“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.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Theater
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Andi Grier
November 15, 2004 8:58 AM | Link to this
Did no one else have an issue with the sound? I was there on Sunday afternoon in the balcony and had to cup my ears to begin to hear. If this is the best we can get out of the Fox I’ll have to save my money for the movies.