Oliver!
Book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart
Directed by Rachel Rockwell
Drury Lane Theatre, Oak Brook Terrace (map)
thru June 2 | tickets: $35-$49 | more info
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This “Oliver!” fully earns its exclamation point!
Drury Lane Theatre presents
Oliver!
Review by Lawrence Bommer
The recent film version of Les Miserables reminds you how much the best of Victor Hugo echoes the finest of Dickens. Hugo’s musical recreation equally recalls Lionel Bart’s mega-hit musical. Like Mackintosh’ smash Les Miserables, the 1960 super-success replays an entire novel at warp speed, with fully realized opportunities to depict gloomy Victorian back alleys, bridges and a swarming cityscape. Like that other orphan
As often as this irrepressible potboiler keeps getting revived, it never wears out its welcome. But, for all of the show’s illustrious predecessors, the show’s standard has never been set so high as in director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell‘s perfectly pictorial presentation at Drury Lane Theatre. Energized beyond expectations with a cast who Rockwell sublimely shapes into a story, this Oliver! fully earns its exclamation point. A series of action paintings that could double as illustrations for the novel, this exuberant production gives “It’s a Fine Life” a whole new meaning. Consider yourself part of the family.
Brady Tutton’s Oliver roots his Horatio Alger-like tale in a real 11-year-old boy whose reactions reinvent the story on the spot. As he encounters such caricatures of adult mendacity and greed as Michael Aaron Lindner’s beadle Bumble, Catherine Smitko’s simpering Widow Corney, John Gawlik’s thuggish Bill Sikes, and, of course, the patron demon of pickpocket punks, Fagin (sinister and sympathetic in John Reeger’s complex creation), innocence is instantly defined by its opposite. Tutton’s “Where Is Love” is not a rhetorical question—it’s the heartbreak of a boy discovering that people can use him but no one can love him.
But, of course, hope for humanity comes, not from J.D. Rodriguez’ streetsmart Artful Dodger, but from Nancy (wonderful Heidi Kettenring), who can range from the music-hall bravado of “Oom Pah Pah” to the charming byplay of “I’d Do Anything” to “As Long as He Needs Me,” a strident ballad of loyalty to a louse. But, happily, its reprise signals her redemption as she realizes how much more Oliver needs her than her murderous pimp-boyfriend.
But the big news and enduring glory in Oakbrook Terrace is the ensemble. Whether conjuring the workhouse boys (“Food Glorious Food”), Fagin’s gang (“Be Back Soon”), or London streetsellers (“Who Will Buy This Wonderful Morning”), they deliver engrossing stage pictures, perfectly framed by Kevin Depinet’s Victorian archway, sumptuously costumed by Theresa Ham, and musically perfected by Roberta Duchak.
Your eyes and ears will thank you for every second that you enjoy this matchless production.
Rating: ★★★★
Oliver! continues through June 2nd at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oak Brook Terrace (map), with performances Wednesdays at 1:30pm, Thursdays at 1:30pm and 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays 5pm and 8:3pm, Sundays 2pm and 6pm. Tickets are $35-$49, and are available by phone (630-530-0111) or online through Ticketmaster.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at DruryLaneOakbrook.com. (Running time: play length, includes an intermission)
 
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Photos by Brett Beiner
artists
cast
Heidi Kettenring (Nancy), John Reeger (Fagin), Brady Tutton (Oliver Twist), Larry Adams (Mr. Brownlow), Michael Aaron Lindner (Mr. Bumble), J.D. Rodriguez (The Artful Dodger), Sophie Thatcher (Bet), Don Forston (Dr. Grimwig), John Gawlik (Bill Sikes), Matthew R. Jones (Knife Grinder, Ensemble), George Keating (Long Song Seller, Ensemble), Glory Kissel (Mrs. Bedwin, Ensemble), Catherine Lord (Mrs. Sowerberry, Old Sally, Ensemble), Benjamin Magnuson (Mr. Sowerberry, Ensemble), Ann McMann (Milkmaid, Ensemble), Rebecca Pink (Charlotte, Strawberry Seller, Ensemble), Catherine Smitko (Widow Corney, Ensemble), Jennie Sophia (Rose Seller, Ensemble), Patrick Tierney (Noah Claypole, Ensemble), John Babbo (Charlie Bates, Workhouse Boy), Cody Bolithon, William Burke, Justin Hunt Cole, Declan Collins, Cameron Conforti, Daniel Coonley, Brennan Dougherty, Shane Frantz, Cameron A. Goode, Kyle Halford, Jake Helm, Cale Manning, Ben Parkhill, Daniel Pass, Valen Piotrowski, Johnny Rabe, Matthew Uzarraga, Michael Winner (Workhouse Boy, Fagin’s gang), Zachary L. Gray (Dance Captain, Ensemble), Patrick Cannon, Olivia Renteria (ensemble)
the orchestra
Ben Johnson (conductor, keyboard), Ethan Deppe (asst. conductor), Dominic Trumfio (woodwinds 1), Michael Favreau (woodwinds 2), Peter Brusen (bassoon), Carey Deadman (trumpet, flugelhorn), Peter Jirousek (horn), Art Linsner (trombone, euphonium), Marc Hogan (double bass), Rich Trelease (percussion)
behind the scenes
Rachel Rockwell (director, choreographer), Roberta Duchak (musical director), Kevin Depinet (set design), Greg Hofmann (lighting), Theresa Ham (costumes), Garth Helm, Ray Nardelli (sound design), Nick Heggestad (props design), Rick Jarvie (wig, makeup design), Jill Walmsley Zager (dialect coach), George Keeting (asst. director), Laura Savage (asst. choreographer), Amber Wuttke (fight choreography), Lynne M. Harris (stage manager), H. Erin Quist (asst. stage manager), William Osetek (artistic director), Juli Walker (production manager), Erika Senase (costume manager), Jeremy Drechny (tech director), Kyle DeSantis, Drew DeSantis, Jason Van Lente, Abigail DeSaintis (producers), Brett Beiner (photos)
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