27 September 2013

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

EAST Grinstead Operatic Society’s reputation for excellence is so well-deserved, there was no doubt its production of Oliver! was going to be a treat.

Even so, the almost sell-out first night audience rang with plaudits for a show which exceeded their already high expectations.

One of the most popular of musicals, Lionel Bart’s terrific score includes several songs which have become standards, in a dark storyline where humour and pathos are pretty equally balanced.

As the eponymous hero, Oscar Wortley had everything – blond good looks, a sweet face and a voice to match –  and there can’t have been a mother in the stalls who didn’t long to snatch him up and take him home for a good meal.

While Joe Fisher played the worldly-wise Artful Dodger with considerable charm and a very cheeky grin.

But it was Michael Kennard who stole the show with his simply mesmerising performance as Fagin.

He delivered his big numbers – Pick a Pocket or Two, Be Back Soon and Reviewing the Situation – with such a winning combination of pathos and panache, that it would have seemed positively churlish to cheer as his seedy underworld collapsed around him.

Sophie Pepler’s Nancy was also terrific, outwardly tough but heart-rendingly vulnerable, she conveyed all the despair of a girl to whom life had offered no chances, and from whose misery there was no escape.

And in Robin Shergold she had a brutish Bill Sykes. Robin set out his stall as a violent thug in My Name, and Nancy’s eventual murder at his hands provided a thrilling climax to the plot.

But there was plenty to smile about too.

James Klech was in fine voice – and figure –  as Mr Bumble and provided much-needed comic relief in his duets with Sarah Marchant as the appalling Widow Corney.

While Julian Marks and Pamela Marsh as the Sowerberrys  – he all smarmed down hair, she a brittle martinet – showed deft comic timing with It’s Your Funeral.

But the warm heart of the show is provided by the orphans/ young thieves whose slick dance routines paid tribute to their hours of drilling in rehearsal.

They also sang beautifully, and their fluting voices combined with Fagin’s in It’s a Fine Life and Be Back Soon were particularly good.

The supporting cast in this 60-strong production also deserve praise for providing the colour and bustle of Old London Town which forms the backdrop to one of Dickens’ most enduring tales – and it was a pity the plot did not permit us to hear more from Trisha Fitzpatrick as Mrs Bedwin.

A marvellous ensemble, a terrific show.