Love Midlands Theatre

Oliver! - Stourbridge Amateur Operatic Society

24/10/2019

 
Picture
“Please sir, can I have some more?”  Oliver’s immortal plea couldn’t have been a more apt request when leaving Stourbridge Amateur Operatic Society’s production of Lionel Bart’s musical based on Charles Dickens’ famous story. From the cheery opening chorus of Food Glorious Food this vibrant production, under the direction of David Shaw, was a delicious treat full of thumping good tunes and whip smart choreography by Amy Williams.

The dozen young performers who made-up Fagin’s gang and the workhouse children were uniformly buoyant and confident and it was great to hear such young voices singing with clarity throughout. In the title role, Harrison Eno is a sweet singing cherubic Oliver, and his new found pal, the Artful Dodger, played by George Blower was a real charmer.

Leon Davies gave us an exemplary Fagin – the perfect combination of a slippery, sinister crook played with a touch of wit. Anna Forster plays Nancy with gusto and passion. Her performance was full of infectious vivacity particularly when the stage filled with the lively chorus for a Cockney knees-up during the raucous Oom-Pah-Pah. The ensemble chorus and choreography in this scene really packed a punch.

The Bloomsbury scene was colourful and full of some lovely detail - the school mistress and her pupils, flower sellers and milk maids. Personally (and this is a minor quibble) I would have liked a little more contrast to the dynamics during the quartet of voices in Who Will Buy? - a softer pianissimo would have given it more space and a dream like quality.

Special mention must go to the live band (it would have been nice to have their names in the programme), led by musical director, George Stuart and in particular the beautiful solo Kletzmer violin that features as part of Fagin’s number, Reviewing The Situation (sung brilliantly by Leon Davies), as he dithers between crime and respectability. 

A final special mention to the stage management team for the fluent staging and the evocative lighting by Matt Bird. It takes a lot of dedication to pull off a show of this quality so hats off to SAOS, it’s great to see such a thriving company. Consider yourselves a success!

Comments are closed.

    Love Midlands Theatre

    Sharing the latest theatre news and reviews around the Midlands.

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Amateur Theatre
    Birmingham
    Coventry
    Love Midlands Theatre
    Professional
    Review
    Solihull
    Stafford
    Tamworth
    Theatre
    Wolverhampton

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Contact