It might seem counter-intuitive to criticise a show for being artificial – after all, aren’t all pieces of theatre self-consciously “fake” creations? The great unspoken contract between performers and audience members requires a suspension of disbelief, as we settle down and tell ourselves that what we are watching is “real” and worthy of both our time and our attention, not to mention ticket-purchasing money. Yet rarely have I felt so awkwardly aware of a piece’s fundamental pretence as I did here with the West End transfer, after a triumphant run at Chichester last summer, of the indestructible Lionel Bart musical.
Uber-producer Cameron Mackintosh, who many years ago performed in a West End production of this show, is behind this revival, as he was the previous all-conquering West End iteration in 2009 directed by Rupert Goold. This time the director is Matthew Bourne, a man known overwhelmingly for his work in choreography, and therein lies a good part of the problem. Everything here looks precise and lovely, immaculately well-drilled, but it’s almost impossible to feel emotionally invested.
The first half hour in particular is a dangerously low-fi grind, with the action coming over as laboured and effortful and the exaggerated working-class London accents a trial by glottal stop. The threat to young Oliver (at the performance I saw the part was played by the excellent Raphael Korniets, suitably pinched, pale and pure of voice) comes from the pantomime school of emotion.
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Read MoreThe songs are the show’s saving grace and this phenomenally tuneful musical has a superabundance of insanely hummable hit numbers. The flamboyant yet self-doubting Fagin (exuberant Simon Lipkin, full of ad-libbed chatter) and his cheerful gang of picturesque young urchins welcome Oliver with “Consider Yourself” and later proclaim eternal comradeship in “I’d Do Anything”. The ebullient Nancy, brought to agreeably warm-hearted life by Shanay Holmes, gives a belter of a turn in my personal favourite, the rollicking tavern knees-up “Oom-Pah-Pah”. Later on in act two, she belts out with gusto that hideous apology for domestic violence, “As Long as He Needs Me”.
The story belatedly acquires some emotional heft with the arrival on the scene of the kindly Mr Brownlow (elegantly portrayed by Philip Franks) as our young hero’s potential saviour, and Aaron Sidwell’s Bill Sykes glowers menacingly from the sidelines. But “Reviewing the Situation”, as Fagin’s famous song has it, I found this production a disappointment, and the wearyingly inevitable standing ovation at the end a case of the audience getting to their feet through duty rather than delight.
Booking to 28 September, Gielgud Theatre, London (oliverthemusical.com)
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