Oliver! - Musical

“It’s solid. The songs remain a remarkable achievement... The biggest flaw, though, is one that’s haunted the show for decades: Olivier himself is just pretty bland...clearly it’s not something Mackintosh is desperately bothered about fixing. And why would he?”

“I still have the odd reservation about Simon Lipkin’s lustily buccaneering Fagin... and perhaps Aaron Sidwell’s Sikes could growl more... But the whole thing is delivered with such tightly choreographed panache that any quibbles rapidly melt away”

“Cameron Mackintosh has mounted blockbuster stagings in the past. Here, with director/choreographer Matthew Bourne, he’s created a more intimate version that evokes the spirit of the 1960 premiere but also treats the story’s trickier aspects with finesse and delicacy.”

“This version... is a very good one indeed.... The entire production teems with life, commitment and panache. It’s a richly realised triumph.”

““This staging shrewdly roots all the boisterous shenanigans in a rich sense of Victoriana: here, in performances so vivid and highly coloured as to be almost lurid, is the grotesquerie of a Punch cartoon, the morality and sentimentality of melodrama, and the comic asides and swagger of music hall – all of which can also be found in Dickens’ fiction.”

“you can’t fault the verve with which Bourne drills the big numbers, nor the cast’s bonhomie.”

“This production of Oliver! is undeniably polished and entertaining, and for theatre purists it’s refreshing to have a revival that stays true to the original and doesn’t feel the need to be a radical reimagining. Instead, it delivers a glorious, feel-good spectacle that captures the essence of classic musical theatre.”

“There may be some who still query the correctness of the content of the show, but they would be missing the immense affection with which it has been revived.”

“Stephen Metcalfe’s new orchestrations are superb and...the movement is a constant joy”