Charles Dickens, who wrote his gripping coming-of-age masterpiece “Oliver Twist,” a dark portrayal of London’s underbelly interwoven with a workhouse boy’s search for his family, when he was just 24 – himself just 12 years out of the workhouse – likely never imagined the book in Broadway musical form. But the Lionel Barts’ musical, first seen on Broadway in 1963, has been revived as a sold-out New York City Center Encores! production for a rare two-week run, directed by Lear deBessonet.
The story follows the titular orphan (Benjamin Pajak portraying the sweet-looking waif) who escapes to London from the workhouse where he was left. In London, he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets – a group which includes the Artful Dodger (Julian Lerner) led by the “receiver of stolen goods” Fagin (Raúl Esparza), who in Dickens’ novel is one of the most notorious antisemitic portraits in English literature.
Fagin, incidentally, was portrayed in some productions with a prosthetic and supposedly Jewish-looking nose and Yiddish accent, but his Jewish origins are hard to discern here, with the exception of the klezmer-like music that accompanies the song “Reviewing the Situation.”
A theatergoer attempting to find a ticket for the sold-out “Oliver!”
I first got to know “Oliver!” via my fourth-grade production of the musical at the Arthur J. Kennedy School, serving as accompanist. Even then I recognized the music as glorious and can still close my eyes, visualize the score, and hear my fellow classmates – some even on key – on the stage. My mother, knowing my love for “Oliver,” took me to the Broadway transfer of the 1983 London West End revival at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, which sadly had a rather brief run despite starring Patti LuPone as Nancy and Ron Moody, who was reprising the role he originated in 1960 in London as Fagin. I knew I’d do anything to see another production – as rare as they are – and City Center happily obliged with the two-week run.
Dickens takes pains to provide the reader with an unromantic portrait of the sordid lives of criminals and the cruel treatment of orphans in mid-nineteenth century London, and this message comes through loud and clear in this production, thanks to the darker and rather sinister sounds generated by the orchestra.
The repeated outpouring of pure joy by the audience was … and Pajak delivered a true with “Where Is Love,” and he was rightly accorded the audience’s biggest hand at curtain call.
Unlike previous productions and the 1968 movie version of the musical, where the songs seem to be tossed in somewhat randomly without segue, there was far integration this time around.
DeBessonet’s rather entertaining and beautifully sung production is a far different “Oliver” that what I’ve seen before, evening taking account the movie version directed by Carol Reed, one of the few Hollywood adaptations to improve on a Broadway show).
Some of the most enjoyable songs in the musical will be familiar to many who haven’t even seen it, including the unforgettable first number, “Food, Glorious Food,” performed by Oliver and the Boys (an enthusiastic, largely on key, and athletic troupe that includes Neo Andre, Sam Duncan, Michael Cash, and William Thomas Colin, among others), “I Shall Scream” (Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney, portrayed by a delightful Mary Testa), the dark and sinister “Boy For Sale” (Mr. Bumble), “Consider Yourself” (the Artful Dodger, Oliver, the ensemble, and the Community Youth Ensemble), the touching “As Long As He Needs Me” (Nancy), and “I’d Do Anything” (Nancy, the Artful Dodger, Fagin, the Boys).
The current production’s script is more abbreviated than prior ones: Oliver spends so little time in the workhouse and the funeral parlor before running away to London that I was left wondering what happened to the missing parts. Similarly, I was taken aback by the full company number that breaks out with random working-class people in London from the song in which the Artful Dodger welcomes Oliver to the den of thieves (“Consider Yourself”), although it’s sung brilliantly.
Tam Mutu sent shivers up my spine at times as the murderous Bill Sykes, a former pupil of Fagin’s, and Michael Siberry nonetheless stood up to him in a final scene when he comes to what is today called New London Bridge in Nancy’s attempt to save Oliver. A plaque was placed and still exists on the so-called “Nancy’s Steps” to commemorate the scene in Dickens’ novel.
Spoiler alert: The plaque reads “These steps were the scene of the murder of Nancy in Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist.”
If you want to get in on the dark fun, you’d better hurry as it’s a very limited run.
THE DETAILS
Oliver
Limited engagement through May 14 , 2023
New York City Center
131 W 55th Street
New York, N.Y. 10019
Running time : 2 hours 20 minutes
www.nycitycenter.org
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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