Review: Consider Yourself Charmed at Paper Mill's OLIVER!

Long before The Mystery of Edwin Drood and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder brought the spirit of the British music hall to Broadway, Lionel Bart turned the same trick in 1963 when his West End hit Oliver! came to town, courtesy of producer David Merrick.

While more Americans would be familiar with Bart's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist from its Oscar-winning film version, the stage show is a craftier invention. The thinly-shaved text bounces quickly from song to song, with several numbers serving more as specialty acts and vehicles for clever wordplay ("That's Your Funeral" "I Shall Scream") than serious plot-and-character devices. The dialogue and lyrics even get a bit meta at times, occasionally recognizing that the actors are singing and that they're being watched by an audience.

Though the characters in Dickens' tale of an orphan boy kicked out of a workhouse for daring to ask for another bowlful of gruel include a stereotypical Jewish miser and a pair of prostitutes, one of whom remains steadfastly loyal to her physically abusive pimp, The Paper Mill Playhouse's production, as is typically done, lightens up the darker points a bit (the onstage murder is performed in a somewhat less violent fashion) and director Mark S. Hoebee's stylishly moody mounting sticks to the spirit of rowdy and comical family fun until the moralistically dramatic ending that preaches how no good can come of dishonesty, not matter how funny and tuneful.

The title role may be the least interesting characters in the piece (he mostly keeps quiet while the more colorful adults spend the evening pushing him around) but cherubic-faced and sweetly-voicEd Tyler Moran gets to partake in some puckish moments, along with the brassy young showman, Ethan Haberfield, as the gentlemanly Artful Dodger.

The terrific Broadway character comic David Garrison is a spry and energetic Fagin, despite the character's age. More of a charmer than a villain, the distinctly Jewish flavor of his big second act solo, "Reviewing The Situation," is cut down considerably. Betsy Morgan's Nancy is a bit of a bawdy goodtime girl, particularly in her flirtatious, gin-soaked rendition of "Oom-Pah-Pah," but her powerfully torchy dramatics in "As Long As He Needs Me" effectively switch the tone of the show from merriment to melodrama.

Grandly comical supporting turns are contributed by John Treacy Egan, whose impressive tenor soars in his bombastic Mr. Bumble, and Jessica Sheridan as the lusty Widow Corney. Also very funny are Michael Di Liberto and Dierdre Friel as an angular undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry, and his squawky missus. The fine musical theatre performer, Jose Llana, is not exactly known for playing murderous tough guys and should be commended for stretching a bit, but his take on Bill Sykes can use a little less yelling and a little more attention to the dark humor written into his song, "My Name."

Choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter opens the show with a bang, giving her chorus of young orphan boys pairs of spoons to pound in rhythm throughout their rambunctious choruses of "Food, Glorious Food." The pace never lets up in this lively and rowdy production that's just as appealing for family holiday fun as that other Charles Dickens classic.

Perhaps a revival of Pickwick next Christmas?

Photos by Billy Bustamante: Top: Tyler Moran and David Garrison; Bottom: Betsy Morgan and Jose Llana.

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