This year's Christmas show at Leeds playhouse is a revival of Lionel Bart's classic Oliver, which is based on the 1838 Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. My first experience of Oliver like many others was the 1968 movie adaptation, I loved the movie and I have watched it many times so when the musical toured the UK in 2011, I made sure I got a ticket. Seeing the musical on stage was fantastic so when I heard that Leeds Playhouse were doing a revival, I knew I had to go and see it.
The musical is directed by James Brining and it is set in Victorian England, it tells the story of a young orphan boy named Oliver who lives in a workhouse. One day Oliver angers the workhouse caretaker by asking for more food this results in the caretaker selling Oliver to an undertaker to become his apprentice. Oliver eventually escapes from the undertakers and ends up in London where he meets the Artful Dodger, a young boy about the same age as Oliver. Dodger invites Oliver to come and live in Fagan's Lair. Fagan is a criminal who uses the young boys as pickpockets, Oliver is taught how to pickpocket and then Fagan sends him out with the other boys however on his first job Oliver is caught and arrested. Oliver is soon released into the care of the wealthy gentleman he tried to pickpocket, the man feels a connection to Oliver and decides to take care of him. Unfortunately for Oliver the criminal gang want him back as they are afraid he may tell somebody about their operation, so the gang make a plan to kidnap Oliver.
For this revival of Oliver at Leeds playhouse the show is being staged in the round which I don't think has been done before for Oliver. To achieve this the auditorium of the playhouse's Quarry Theatre has been completely transformed and it looked amazing, by staging the show in the round it made you feel much more emersed in the story.
The set was designed by Colin Richmond and it worked perfectly for this production, it consisted of a scaffolding type set which had a number of platforms, staircases, walkways and a bridge all of which helped to give the set some depth as it gave the actors many levels to work on. A variety of props and set pieces were used which allowed the audience to be transported from workhouse to undertakers to Tavern with ease and the set changes were performed seamlessly by the cast. The costumes which were also designed by Colin Richmond were fantastic and fit perfectly with the time period in which the musical is set. The set, costumes and fantastic lighting design by Guy Hoare work well together to create the perfect atmosphere for the show.
One of the highlights of the show was definitely Lucy Hids choreography, it was full of energy and the big group numbers filled the whole of the stage, the whole cast looked like they were having so much fun on stage performing these dance numbers.
The cast for this show were exceptional especially all the young performers. For our performance Oliver was played by Nicholas Teixira, he was just outstanding and gave a really confident performance and was able to show Olivers innocence and vulnerability perfectly. His solo number "Where is love" was delivered with such emotion and was beautifully sung. Felix Holt was the Artful Dodger at our performance, and he gave a really confident performance of the cheeky young street urchin and his vocal talent shone in "consider yourself". Steve Furst gave a strong performance as Fagan, giving the character a bit of depth and making him almost likeable, he had a good repour with the children and his performance of " Reviewing the situation" was fantastic. Chris Bennett gave a chilling performance as the evil and sinister Bill Sikes and his performance of "My Name" was powerful and menacing.
Jenny Fitzpatric was perfectly cast as Nancy; she was able to show the characters vulnerable side perfectly and her powerhouse vocals on her solo "He needs me" blew the roof off the theatre and was one of the highlights of the show.
I also have to mention Minal Patel and Rosie Ede who played Mr Bumble and Widow Corney as they made an excellent comedy double act and were able to bounced off of each other. Harry Waller and Laura Carnes gave a great performance as Mr & Mrs Sowerbery the undertakers and I really enjoyed their performance of "That's your funeral".
This production of Oliver is the best one I have seen; it is beautifully stages with an exceptionally talented cast and it is definitely a West End quality show. The show has a great soundtrack with so many great songs, this is definitely a musical that I could go and see multiple times and not get bored, so grab yourself a ticket whilst you can you will not regret it. This is definitely a five star show for me.
Oliver is running at Leeds playhouse until Saturday 27th January 2024 you can find out more about the show and purchase tickets by clicking on the button below.
Photo Credit - Alastair Muir
Running time - 2 hrs 30 mins including one 20 minute interval (approx)
Age Guide - 8+
*Our tickets for this show were kindly gifted in exchange for an honest review
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