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Oliver Review - Burn Gorman
Thought as this is vaguely Torchwood related I would leave this open.
Went to see Oliver the Musical last night at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
As the first 2 previews were cancelled the show only opened on Saturday night and so it was very early days for the show and the cast hadn't quite found its rhythm yet.
I want to book to go and see the show again as my seat was frankly dire, although I knew this before I went in - I just quite fancied seeing the show early on before Christmas. I was in the very back row of the stalls and if you are going and can choose your seat (there is very limited availability I think - certainly for the performances Jodie is in) make sure that if you're sitting in the stalls that your seat is before the overhang of the dress circle. If it's not (and that accounts for more than half of the stalls) your view is quite seriously curtailed as you can only see half of the back of the stage - normally not a problem but this particular show has a rising platform which is used for a lot of the action and which I couldn't see at all from where I was sitting.
I thought the show was great fun - its barely 2 hours long and zips along very quickly with a considerably more cheery feel than the book.
The kids are all brilliant with the opening sequence of "Food Glorious Food" a wonder of choreography and stage design with kids popping up from trapdoors to join the chorus on stage.
I'd Do Anything chose three different Olivers for the role - Harry, Laurence and Gwion. I got to see Gwion which bought me much joy. I really warmed to him in the show and he is very cute in the role. His very thick Welsh accent naturally doesn't quite work when everyone else is sporting their finest cockney but he is a very endearing presence. His acting was very natural, not at all wooden and he sang very well even though his vocals didn't blow me away. He is rather effortlessly upstaged by the Artful Dodger but to be fair that's probably because Dodge is such a cracking character. They've cast rather young with Dodge looking the same age as Oliver rather than a few years older.
The crowd was very much there for Rowan Atkinson (they even did the incredibly un-British thing of cheering for him loudly when he first appeared) and he was very good value. Can't really sing but he was an engagingly comic Fagin even if certain bits of comic business were perilously close to Mr Bean. Fagin's den however is a masterpiece of set design and lighting. It looks like an Aladdin's cave of rogues and scroundrels. You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two really was the highlight of the show.
I had mixed feelings about Jodie. None of the girls on I'd Do Anything were consistently brilliant and Jodie was by far the best of the bunch. On stage she looked fabulous (and much thinner than in the hideous outfits they used to put her in on IDA), she had great stage presence, the cockney accent was spot on and she acted it very well. The concerns about her being a bit too cabaret singer died instantly - she was a very natural and convincing Nancy. But I'm not too convinced about the vocals. She was excellent belting out "As Long as He Needs Me" and she had really lovely chemistry with the kids in "I'd Do Anything" but she seemed to get a bit lost in "Its a Fine Life" and "Om Pa Pa" . There were times when she was drowned out by the ensemble.
Also whilst I knew that Nancy was quite a small role I really hadn't appreciated how small it was. She doesn't appear until the very end of the first Act and is probably only on stage for about 20 minutes altogether. It's completely ridiculous that they hired an alternate.
Whilst I did want to see Jodie I was most excited about seeing Burn. Whist the character of Owen wasn't always likeable on Torchwood Burn brought so much nuance to the role. He's a fabulous actor and I really wanted to see him in something non Torchwood related.
His appearance towards the end of the first half is suitably creepy as he literally appears out of the shadows in Fagin's den - hidden amongst the rags that make up the back drop. He looks great in leather coat, top hat and holding a silver tipped cane. He affects a vey gruff cockney growl which at times reminded me of the sort of voice Christian Bale uses when he's playing Batman (only cockney, obviously!). I'd had concerns about his slight physicality and whether he would like slightly ridiculous next to the more strapping Jodie but actually that fear wasn't realised. They looked very much equal on stage and Burn didn't look particularly smaller or slighter than her.
Burn does the best he can with the role and he's suitably menacing throughout whether growling his way through "My Name" or threatening Fagin or knocking about poor Nancy. Problem is the character in the musical isn't served well by the book at all and is reduced to a bit of a pantomime villain. The biggest problem I had which I suspect will be picked up in the reviews is that there isn't really any chemistry between Burn and Jodie and because Bill Sikes is such an unpleasant evil character it's very difficult for the audience to understand why Nancy stands by him. Jodie may have been singing her heart out telling us that Bill is her man but because we can't actually see that relationship on the stage we don't actually buy into it. There needs to be a scene showcasing some degree of tenderness between Bill and Nancy or it's incomprehensible to the audience why she stays with a man she fears will kill her. Still Jodie was at her best when defending Oliver from Bill.
Burn's last scene (different to the novel) where he is killed kidnapping Oliver was very well staged. I did feel for him at the curtain call as everyone booed rather than cheered because of course he's the villain - but I doubt he minded.
After the show I went to the stage door (as you're facing the theatre to the left and round the side if you're interested) which started off as quite a small crowd and rapidly escalated - I love it when everyone is stood there nicely and yummy mummy and her two little angels promptly arrive and stand in front of everyone else completely blocking the stage door. Sigh!
As an added bonus I saw Hugh Laurie going into the stage door- he was hiding under layers of red scarf.
People were waiting for Rowan Atkinson and nobody seemed to recognise Burn as he emerged. I had been waiting for him and asked him to sign my brochure. He was incredibly lovely and very sweet. He laughed at his picture in the brochure "look at the ugly old thing" and kindly signed my Owen promo photo calling Owen "an old friend". I said I was very sad when he was written out and he said "well you never know,"
Jodie came out soon after and didn't so much sign autographs as hold court. She was brilliant. No rush at all. Happy to sign and personalise and pose for photos with absolutely everyone - talking to the whole crowd and interacting wonderfully with the kids. It looked like they'd have to drag her away from the crowd. Up close she is really pretty - her skin is fabulous and so much thinner than she looked on tv - she's got a hell of a figure. I said I was so pleased she had won and that I was angry about how blatantly biased Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh had been against her. She said she'd had lots of people sayingthat to her and that people worried that she had a miserable time on the show but that she'd loved every minute of it because she said that everyone else on the show was so incredibly supportive of her. She also said that Cameron Mackintosh had been fabulous since she won (she knew about the fact that there was a surge of phone votes for her in the final every time Mackintosh showed his hand in favour of Jessie) and that he had promised her a new frock for New Year. She said as long as she could buy new shoes, handbags and chew sticks for her dog she was happy!
She got very excited when I mentioned that we had seen her at Faenol and she marvelled at how we could have sat in teh audience as it was so cold. She then insisted on giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I could escape!
I think the play is definitely worth seeing if you can - if you want to see Burn and aren't fussed about Jodie I think there is much better availability for the nights the alternate Tamsin Carroll is playing Nancy. But opt for front row of the dress circle- that's what I want for next time.
Alas I am lacking a scanner but thought people might want pictures of Burn from the brochure. These are from the brochure (£5) not the programme which doesn't have much in it except a one page interview with Burn (he mentions he is appearing in Wuthering Heights for ITV and that his wife is expecting their second child). Brochure might change as it has the words "Exclusive Preview Edition" on the front. It's a very nice brochure though with two glossy pages of pictures of Burn (obviously you need to get the autograph yourself!):
Went to see Oliver the Musical last night at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
As the first 2 previews were cancelled the show only opened on Saturday night and so it was very early days for the show and the cast hadn't quite found its rhythm yet.
I want to book to go and see the show again as my seat was frankly dire, although I knew this before I went in - I just quite fancied seeing the show early on before Christmas. I was in the very back row of the stalls and if you are going and can choose your seat (there is very limited availability I think - certainly for the performances Jodie is in) make sure that if you're sitting in the stalls that your seat is before the overhang of the dress circle. If it's not (and that accounts for more than half of the stalls) your view is quite seriously curtailed as you can only see half of the back of the stage - normally not a problem but this particular show has a rising platform which is used for a lot of the action and which I couldn't see at all from where I was sitting.
I thought the show was great fun - its barely 2 hours long and zips along very quickly with a considerably more cheery feel than the book.
The kids are all brilliant with the opening sequence of "Food Glorious Food" a wonder of choreography and stage design with kids popping up from trapdoors to join the chorus on stage.
I'd Do Anything chose three different Olivers for the role - Harry, Laurence and Gwion. I got to see Gwion which bought me much joy. I really warmed to him in the show and he is very cute in the role. His very thick Welsh accent naturally doesn't quite work when everyone else is sporting their finest cockney but he is a very endearing presence. His acting was very natural, not at all wooden and he sang very well even though his vocals didn't blow me away. He is rather effortlessly upstaged by the Artful Dodger but to be fair that's probably because Dodge is such a cracking character. They've cast rather young with Dodge looking the same age as Oliver rather than a few years older.
The crowd was very much there for Rowan Atkinson (they even did the incredibly un-British thing of cheering for him loudly when he first appeared) and he was very good value. Can't really sing but he was an engagingly comic Fagin even if certain bits of comic business were perilously close to Mr Bean. Fagin's den however is a masterpiece of set design and lighting. It looks like an Aladdin's cave of rogues and scroundrels. You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two really was the highlight of the show.
I had mixed feelings about Jodie. None of the girls on I'd Do Anything were consistently brilliant and Jodie was by far the best of the bunch. On stage she looked fabulous (and much thinner than in the hideous outfits they used to put her in on IDA), she had great stage presence, the cockney accent was spot on and she acted it very well. The concerns about her being a bit too cabaret singer died instantly - she was a very natural and convincing Nancy. But I'm not too convinced about the vocals. She was excellent belting out "As Long as He Needs Me" and she had really lovely chemistry with the kids in "I'd Do Anything" but she seemed to get a bit lost in "Its a Fine Life" and "Om Pa Pa" . There were times when she was drowned out by the ensemble.
Also whilst I knew that Nancy was quite a small role I really hadn't appreciated how small it was. She doesn't appear until the very end of the first Act and is probably only on stage for about 20 minutes altogether. It's completely ridiculous that they hired an alternate.
Whilst I did want to see Jodie I was most excited about seeing Burn. Whist the character of Owen wasn't always likeable on Torchwood Burn brought so much nuance to the role. He's a fabulous actor and I really wanted to see him in something non Torchwood related.
His appearance towards the end of the first half is suitably creepy as he literally appears out of the shadows in Fagin's den - hidden amongst the rags that make up the back drop. He looks great in leather coat, top hat and holding a silver tipped cane. He affects a vey gruff cockney growl which at times reminded me of the sort of voice Christian Bale uses when he's playing Batman (only cockney, obviously!). I'd had concerns about his slight physicality and whether he would like slightly ridiculous next to the more strapping Jodie but actually that fear wasn't realised. They looked very much equal on stage and Burn didn't look particularly smaller or slighter than her.
Burn does the best he can with the role and he's suitably menacing throughout whether growling his way through "My Name" or threatening Fagin or knocking about poor Nancy. Problem is the character in the musical isn't served well by the book at all and is reduced to a bit of a pantomime villain. The biggest problem I had which I suspect will be picked up in the reviews is that there isn't really any chemistry between Burn and Jodie and because Bill Sikes is such an unpleasant evil character it's very difficult for the audience to understand why Nancy stands by him. Jodie may have been singing her heart out telling us that Bill is her man but because we can't actually see that relationship on the stage we don't actually buy into it. There needs to be a scene showcasing some degree of tenderness between Bill and Nancy or it's incomprehensible to the audience why she stays with a man she fears will kill her. Still Jodie was at her best when defending Oliver from Bill.
Burn's last scene (different to the novel) where he is killed kidnapping Oliver was very well staged. I did feel for him at the curtain call as everyone booed rather than cheered because of course he's the villain - but I doubt he minded.
After the show I went to the stage door (as you're facing the theatre to the left and round the side if you're interested) which started off as quite a small crowd and rapidly escalated - I love it when everyone is stood there nicely and yummy mummy and her two little angels promptly arrive and stand in front of everyone else completely blocking the stage door. Sigh!
As an added bonus I saw Hugh Laurie going into the stage door- he was hiding under layers of red scarf.
People were waiting for Rowan Atkinson and nobody seemed to recognise Burn as he emerged. I had been waiting for him and asked him to sign my brochure. He was incredibly lovely and very sweet. He laughed at his picture in the brochure "look at the ugly old thing" and kindly signed my Owen promo photo calling Owen "an old friend". I said I was very sad when he was written out and he said "well you never know,"
Jodie came out soon after and didn't so much sign autographs as hold court. She was brilliant. No rush at all. Happy to sign and personalise and pose for photos with absolutely everyone - talking to the whole crowd and interacting wonderfully with the kids. It looked like they'd have to drag her away from the crowd. Up close she is really pretty - her skin is fabulous and so much thinner than she looked on tv - she's got a hell of a figure. I said I was so pleased she had won and that I was angry about how blatantly biased Lloyd Webber and Mackintosh had been against her. She said she'd had lots of people sayingthat to her and that people worried that she had a miserable time on the show but that she'd loved every minute of it because she said that everyone else on the show was so incredibly supportive of her. She also said that Cameron Mackintosh had been fabulous since she won (she knew about the fact that there was a surge of phone votes for her in the final every time Mackintosh showed his hand in favour of Jessie) and that he had promised her a new frock for New Year. She said as long as she could buy new shoes, handbags and chew sticks for her dog she was happy!
She got very excited when I mentioned that we had seen her at Faenol and she marvelled at how we could have sat in teh audience as it was so cold. She then insisted on giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I could escape!
I think the play is definitely worth seeing if you can - if you want to see Burn and aren't fussed about Jodie I think there is much better availability for the nights the alternate Tamsin Carroll is playing Nancy. But opt for front row of the dress circle- that's what I want for next time.
Alas I am lacking a scanner but thought people might want pictures of Burn from the brochure. These are from the brochure (£5) not the programme which doesn't have much in it except a one page interview with Burn (he mentions he is appearing in Wuthering Heights for ITV and that his wife is expecting their second child). Brochure might change as it has the words "Exclusive Preview Edition" on the front. It's a very nice brochure though with two glossy pages of pictures of Burn (obviously you need to get the autograph yourself!):
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Jodie would be delighted to sign the programme I'm sure - I couldn't be doing with fiddling with different pens which is why I left it. Bless her she spelt my name wrong though!
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I have to wait until March to see it, having bought tickets in July as Christmas presents for a couple of friends. I must find them actually, so I can wrap them up...
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Why were the other two previews cancelled? Hopefully the next show you go to the cast will have its rhythm.
Lori
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Re Jodie, she was never as enormous as she looks on TV and in some pics. Normal sized girl..its just some of the others were/are weeny.
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Lori
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Are you going to see it? Burn's good but his part is rather brief - lovely bloke though.
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How do you want to be credited for them? fairyd123?
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I'd like to go but cant get time off work till at least april as im already booked up in this years allocation.
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I doubt Burn will want to be in it forever but on the other hand his part is actually small enough that performing in it each night won't kill him dead!
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I'm far more excited about seeing Burn and Rowan Atkinson than Jodie right now, but that might change nearer the time. You're so lucky you got to see Gwion! He was my favourite of all the Olivers right from the beginning and I would just love to see him in the role, but obviously there's only a 1 in 3 chance of it when I go. You are also very lucky to get to the stage door. My mother never wants to do that sort of thing, mainly because if it's an evening performance we have to run to Charing Cross to get a train, but I would be so so happy if I could meet Burn :)
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Gwion was very cute but the Welsh accent is hilarious- but the other Olivers are meant to be very strong.
Oliver is quite a short play and is done by 10:00 p.m. and I reckon Burn was out within 10 minutes of me arriving at the stage door - maybe you could work on your mother to stay behind for a little while? He's not the type of actor to hang around. Just take your own pen (sharpies are best) as they didn't have any and don't be shy about approaching him as he looked like he wasn't expecting anyone to ask him for his autograph and seemed really surprised when I did!
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Was he really surprised? That's kind of cute, actually!
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I'm very glad to hear that Burn and Jodie were so receptive to you and that they sound lovely to meet. That's always a worry, isn't it?
I know Rowan Atkinson's run ends on the 19th July, so it's probably safe to assume that would be the six-month cast changeover, and might be when Burn ends his run too, although I don't know for sure.
And as AnnaontheMoon said, we would be so grateful for any photos and to link this back to the site, as yours is the first fan review and so well-written!
I see Burn is teasing about Owen, again.
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Middle of the stalls should be fine. Do your tickets mention potentially restricted view from the dress circle overhang? If not you should be absolutely fine.
Yes Burn's line about Owen was nonsense but hey nice to see him trotting out the party line. He's very lovely but clearly wasn't expecting anyone to be waiting for him and was surprised when I asked him to sign a couple of things.
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I don't remember anyone about restricted viewing, and they weren't cheap tickets, so I *hope* you're right and we don't have anything to worry about there.
I kinda find it sad he didn't expect anyone to be waiting for him . . .
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Hope you enjoy it.
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Re Jodie there have been a lot of cynical mutterings about the fact that Jodie's alternate Tamsin Carroll is a much more accomplished actress than she is - she played Nancy in Australia and won pretty much every award going for it so the cynical dears think that Cameron Mackintosh has basically offered her the alternate role with the view of her moving up to full time Nancy when Jodie's 6 month contract expires (this is based on him very clearly not wanting Jodie as Nancy on the show). Probably all a load of nonsense but it will be interesting to see if she is given the option to extend - I suspect a lot will depend on how well reviewed she is.
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Yay for bonus Hugh Laurie.
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Hopefully I can score some decent seats for one of the dates in January but I'll probably have to rely on eBay if I want to get a good place to sit. I do like being able to see the performers faces and all the little scenery details when I go to the theatre. It's not the same if your seat is a bit rubbish.
I'm glad to hear about the stage door being (mostly) orderly. I suspect this could change since the show is only in previews at the moment but I hope as long as I manage to get there early enough I'll be able to get an autograph or two.