Review: OLIVER! at Fairfield Center Stage

On Sunday, November 10th, I had the pleasure of seeing yet another first-rate production put on by Fairfield Center Stage at Wakeman Hall inside First Church Congregational of Fairfield at 148 Beach Rd.  OLIVER!, the musical, based on the Charles Dickens book Oliver Twist, adapted for stage by Lionel Bart. is an exciting production that the entire family can enjoy!  Director/Choreographer Todd Santa Maria, Music Director Eli Newsom, and Children’s Chorus Director Elissa Ranney combine their talents to help bring out the best in this amazing cast!  A talented eight piece live band enhances the production!  When I was in the fourth grade, I had an ensemble role in this show, but have not seen it on stage, since.  Seeing it performed by Fairfield Center Stage brought back the childhood memories of one of the greatest shows for a young cast that has ever been written!

This stellar cast includes CJ Newsom as Oliver Twist, Marc Improta as Fagin, Samantha Moore as Nancy, Robert Alexander as Bill Sykes, Muhammad Ali Sarr as Artful Dodger, Mike Traum as Mr. Bumble, Jane Barnes as Widow Corney, Paul Nicholsen as Mr. Sowerberry, Jennifer Turner as Mrs. Sowerberry, John Moran as Mr. Brownlow, Steve Benko as Dr. Grimwig, Iris Brady as Bet, Caroline Sadler as Charlotte, Michael Scholl as Noah Claypoole, James Sorensen as Charlie, and Najlaa Noonan as Mrs. Bedwin. Additional ensemble members include Annabelle Agosta, Patrick Brady, Ben Brennan, Bridget Brennan, Andrew Epstein, Jim Hisey, Sam Matis, Walt Matis, Xenia Manning, Suraya Noonan, Zahra Noonan, Avonlea Pritchard, Catherine O’ Toole, Brodey Ott, Lindsay Protsko, Hailey Stevenson, Lulu Sommer, Alba Strumingher, and Mia Tommins.  In some performances some alternate cast members would include Julian Whitcombe as Oliver Twist and Xenia Manning as Bet.

The talented live band is backstage.  Conducted by Eli Newsom, the music performed by Charles Casimiro, Mark Dennis, Mac Johnston, Brandon Lawrence, Ken Legum, Gabe Nappi, Scarlett Robbins, and Kate Testani greatly enhances the production.

Right from the opening number, “Food Glorious Food,” the audience is drawn in by the stellar acting, singing, and dancing of the youth.  Their British accents are spot-on, as is their synchronicity in movements.  Their facial expressions, vocal tones, and stage business show that they are totally in character at all times.  This cast gels together incredibly well, reflecting hard work and determination from the youth as well as director/choreographer Todd Santa Maria and all who assisted him.

Some other well-known musical numbers in the show include “Oliver,” “Where Is Love,” “Consider Yourself,” and “I’d Do Anything,” all of which are wonderfully performed.   

During “Be Back Soon,” some cast members move through the audience, while playing the roles of thieves. While the fourth wall doesn’t technically get broken in this show, I made sure that my hand stayed over my wallet, just in case. 

My absolute favorite musical number in this show is “Who Will Buy?”   This cast totally nails this song, the number starting with an incredibly talented quartet, then to Oliver, and then the rest of the ensemble. The multiple layers and dimensions that this song contains musically reflect the depth and meaning found in the show itself. 

Set mostly in London, the story centers around an orphan named Oliver.  Oliver gets in trouble at the orphanage/workhouse for daring to ask for more food.  The other orphans have no qualms about throwing Oliver under the bus.  The adults, like Mr. Bumble, who are running the orphanage are corrupt, greedy, and have no regard or respect for the inherent human dignity of the orphans.  It is shameful.  They decide to sell Oliver essentially as a slave worker to a corrupt and abusive undertaker.  After being physically abused, Oliver runs away.

Oliver encounters a thief who is about his age, who goes under the alias, the Artful Dodger.  The Artful Dodger slickly and manipulatively persuades Oliver to come with him.  This, for the first time, presents Oliver with a sense of acceptance and affirmation of his inherent human dignity, a need common to all people, but only experienced by some.  Everyone needs a place to feel “at home” and as “one of the family” When people’s life experiences leave them wondering, “where is love,” they become more susceptible to seeking it in all the wrong places such as gangs, cults, or toxic romantic relationships.  What they are truly seeking, the deepest yearnings of the human heart, can only be found in God.  In Oliver’s case though, people like Mr. Bumble, who were supposed to represent God to him, grossly misrepresented everything about God.    Oliver’s life experiences that left him feeling unloved, unappreciated, and unaccepted made him a prime target for Fagin, the adult who runs the young thieves operation.  Fagin manipulates Oliver into believing that “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two.”  When an adult named Nancy presents Oliver with Bet, a girl who in this particular production is about Oliver’s age, it made it that much easier to convince Oliver to “do anything,” as even boys who know they are loved will often do something foolish and outside their comfort zones if they feel as if it would impress a girl.  In these roles of Oliver and Bet, cast members CJ Newsom and Iris Brady respectively display the extreme talents present in young performers.

Fagin and Bill Sykes are really the two biggest villains, Bill Sykes even worse than Fagin.  Robert Alexander provides Bill Sykes with an intimidating presence and voice that triggers memories of the most evil and dangerous cartoon villains. The character has no pretense of human decency, as he is willing to physically assault women. Fagin, on the other hand, is the one who has to be more likeable to influence and manipulate the children.  Marc Improta gives a highly convincing and spirited performance in this role.

Samantha Moore is excellent as Nancy, who is a likeable character, but one with some clear emotional issues.  While Nancy ultimately wants to help Oliver, she also wants to remain affiliated with Bill Sykes, who abuses her.  She likes the feeling that she believes Bill Sykes needs her.  While it is easy for any outsider to see that Nancy is not acting sensibly by staying involved with an abusive man, people who are as emotionally damaged as Nancy don’t always think rationally.

It is fascinating how much of Oliver’s story, although fiction, resembles that of all too many neglected children in America, today.  They don’t feel the love and acceptance of a family, yet those who are predators to those children’s souls will gladly take them in while affirming, encouraging, and promoting self-destructive choices in those children’s lives, hoping to financially profit by exploiting those children in one way or another.  America’s mainstream media, for over thirty years, has been sending youth a message that gang life is glamorous.  That media has also encouraged youth to practice behaviors that lead to children who feel unloved, and are therefore easier for the predators in that very media to manipulate. Many modern parents who have grown up saturated in that media fail to see how destructive and predatory it is to their children.  OLIVER! Is excellent at exposing the evil mindset behind the perpetrators of such dangerous messages to youth. 

Later in the show, there is a kidnapping in broad daylight, in front of a crowd of adults, with the child loudly pleading to the surrounding adults that he does not belong with the kidnappers. His cries for help were ignored and denied. When I saw this child on stage begging to be protected from predators and having his cries for help denied, it triggered troubling thoughts in my mind. In reality, some Health and Human Services whistleblowers have alleged that something similar is happening, today.  Allegedly, human trafficking of innocent children who enter the United States at the border from Mexico is occurring under government watch.  These children are being sent off to gang members, despite the children desperately pleading that they don't know these people and do not want to be sent to them.  That makes what happened to this fictional character on stage seem so real and so horrifying. I hope and pray that if these allegations are true, the impending change in federal government will expose, prosecute, and stop these horrific human rights violations, if they are not stopped sooner.     

I highly recommend OLIVER!  It is scheduled to continue to run through November 17, 2024.  For times and tickets, please go to Tickets.  The show is so enjoyable, it will leave the audience saying, “Please, sir.  I want some more!”

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