Musical Review—Lionel Bart’s “Oliver!” at Encores With Raúl Esparza

Oliver!

Music, book and lyrics by Lionel Bart

Directed by Lear deBessonet; choreography by Lorin Latarro

Performances May 3-14, 2023

New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street, NYC

nycitycenter.org

Benjamin Pajak and Raúl Esparza in Oliver! at Encores
(photo: Joan Marcus)

Lionel Bart’s Oliver!—a 1960 musical adaptation of the Dickens classic Oliver Twist, which went to Broadway three years later—probably seemed old-fashioned at its premiere. That the faithful film version, directed by Carol Reed, won the Oscar for best picture of 1968 (beating out even less worthy contenders as Funny Girl and Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, while groundbreaking classics 2001 and The Battle of Algiers were snubbed) has only cemented its rep as the conventional Hollywood musical’s last gasp.

Oliver! has rarely been seen in New York since—although it’s had several successful London revivals—possibly because it’s very “English” and it needs several talented young performers to play the orphans in master thief Fagin’s employ, especially the Artful Dodger and Oliver himself, who must be a good actor, singer and dancer. I saw the show at the Stratford Festival in 2006, with Colm Feore a deliciously dastardly Fagin, but a flop 1984 Broadway revival with Ron Moody (who played Fagin in the movie) and Patti Lupone that played for a month has killed it in New York…until now.

Lear deBessonet’s staging for Encores—which brings back older musicals for short runs, often allowing stars to essay roles they might not otherwise get to play—is savvily paced, with athletic choreography by Lorin Latarro. A musical about child labor and abuse that also sheds much of the novel’s expansive plotting and voluminous characters will always be problematic, but deBessonet balances keeping Bart’s bouncy songs front and center while hinting at the story’s darker aspects—literally, thanks to Justin Townsend’s moody lighting on David Rockwell’s clever two-tiered set. 

Bart’s charming music-hall score is impossibly catchy, with numbers like “Consider Yourself,” “Oom Pah Pah” and “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” becoming singalongs for cast and audience. Then there’s the torch song “As Long as He Needs Me,” passionately sung by Nancy, a Fagin associate and kept woman of evil villain Bill Sikes, after Bill beats her up. This uneasy mix of love song and female defiance leaves a strange taste in the mouth but, as sung by Lilli Cooper, whose Nancy is a fiery onstage presence, its hair-raising bravado brings down the house. 

Equally  is “Reviewing the Situation,” which finds Fagin ruminating on his life choices. Fagin is a juicy role for any actor and the song is a magnificent way to give the character a little more nuance; Raúl Esparza dazzlingly sinks his teeth into the song and the part, bounding about the stage and interacting with the terrific cast of young boys led by Benjamin Palak, an irresistible Oliver. The mesmerizing Esparza gives the song an emotionally direct power, turning it into a Sondheim-like mini-drama.

The usual Encores luxury casting provides roles for veteran Broadway hams Brad Oscar and Mary Testa, who further enliven the proceedings as Oliver’s antagonists Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney in the delightful duet, “I Shall Scream.” This Oliver! does nicely as a reminder that “old-fashioned” is sometimes a virtue.