Oliver!

[Citlec]

Typical! I come all the way to Chichester and there's no Libera and the Chichester choir is in Winchester!!!

20240711_174523.jpg (621.25 KiB) Viewed 2452 times

20240711_174523.jpg (621.25 KiB) Viewed 2452 times

Hopefully I can find something else in this godforsaken town to make the trip worth it...

https://www.cft.org.uk/events/oliver

Edit: Fantastic show! I cannot wait for this to get to get the West End!

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20240711_223654.jpg (569.47 KiB) Viewed 2418 times

[Surpinto]

Typical! I come all the way to Chichester and there's no Libera and the Chichester choir is in Winchester!!!

Too many places with "chester" in the name makes everything too confusing. Kind of like "berg" in Germany.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

[Citlec]

Too many places with "chester" in the name makes everything too confusing. Kind of like "berg" in Germany.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

Yes, make sure you go to the right one in two weeks time.

This was my slightly early birthday treat to myself. And it was well worth going even with the horrendous journey back. The show finished at 22.15 and I got home at 2.50am... Chichester is much nicer to visit when you have friendly Libera fans to give you a lift back to London.

But Simon Lipkin as Fagin was amazing!! Billy Jenkins was great as Dodger, reprising his role from the BBC series of the same name! And the Oliver, Raphael Korniets was super sweet had a great voice and was generally just perfect for the role. Super acting skills and his "Where is Love" was wonderful. Though singing performance of the night goes to Shanay Holmes as Nancy. "As long as he needs me" got rapturous applause. The choreography was nice and the ensemble pieces were perfect. I was singing the tunes (quietly so as not to scare the local cats) on my walk back to the station. Which is how it should be.

This was a cheaper "preview" show. From tomorrow it opens properly and a premium seat goes up to £72, which combined with travel costs and travel time makes it highly unlikely I'll be back there... sadly. But this is the same production that will open in London in December, so if I don't make it back to Chichester, there not too long to wait.

OliverCFT.jpg (314.1 KiB) Viewed 2336 times

OliverCFT.jpg (314.1 KiB) Viewed 2336 times

Edit: Some final thoughts not written at some ungodly hour of the morning:

This is actually the first time I've seen a full production of Oliver and it didn't disappoint. The only times I've seen Oliver on stage are a production in a church in central London with Jamie Somerville as an amazing Oliver. https://youtu.be/q_t0-g3MpAY?feature=shared , one show at the Regents Park Open Air theatre, with Lewis Fernee of BETM fame as Oliver, (but as a play not a musical and in a much cut down production) and three amateur shows of Oliver Jr by the BTA. So I would caveat my enthusiasm by admitting I don't have much in the way of reference or comparison when rating this.

However, one thing is certain, this is a production I loved! There were many sections where I just had a broad grin on my face because it was just so fun and fabulous. Given that this was a "preview" show they absolutely nailed it, and while there are small things here and there that I feel could be improved in general I'd give it a 9.5/10 and some sections were a Spinal Tap "11"...

The set and the music in some bits felt a bit Les-Mis-ey, which I suppose is not surprising given Cameron Mackintosh's involvement, and as I posted in another thread this will be opening in the theatre next door to the Les Mis production in London. I fully expect it to be a 10/10 show by the time it hits the West End.

There are three Olivers and three teams of "Fagin's Gang" One of the other teams and one other Olivers were loitering in the foyer, presumably there as the backup team. I loved Fagin's humour and Simon Lipkin has only confirmed what I already thought about him, which is that he is just brilliant! In this production and without giving too much away, the bits where Fagin broke the fourth wall were some of the funniest of the production.

But perhaps the final word should go to Oliver, trapped in a coffin, Mr Bumble knocks on it and asks "Aren't you afraid of me Oliver?" "No I'm NOT!" answers Raphael Korniets, in a fearless and fiery voice. Raphael's fearless and fabulous performance was indeed wonderful to experience!

2024-07-11 - Oliver! Chichester (31).jpg (119.16 KiB) Viewed 2303 times

2024-07-11 - Oliver! Chichester (31).jpg (119.16 KiB) Viewed 2303 times

[Surpinto]

Thanks for the detailed review! I think we can all tell you enjoyed it despite the annoying travel issues. That YouTube link is only available in the UK but I managed to listen with a VPN.

And don't go scaring anymore local cats!

[Yorkie]

Typical! I come all the way to Chichester and there's no Libera and the Chichester choir is in Winchester!!!

Too many places with "chester" in the name makes everything too confusing. Kind of like "berg" in Germany.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

Blame the Romans - Place names in England ending with -chester, -caster & -cester are normally indicators that it was a settlement established as a Roman fort.

[Citlec]

[filiarheni]

Typical! I come all the way to Chichester and there's no Libera and the Chichester choir is in Winchester!!!

Too many places with "chester" in the name makes everything too confusing. Kind of like "berg" in Germany.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

Blame the Romans - Place names in England with ending with -chester, -caster & -cester are normally indicators that it was a settlement established as a Roman fort.

I must jump in off-topic : Yes, that's what is Kassel or cities ending with -kassel here in Germany. This origins in the Roman word "castellum". And "Berg" is mountain, "Burg" is a fortified building (so also a castle), both have Germanic origin. There are many more examples and I find it very interesting to explore that.

[Surpinto]

Blame the Romans - Place names in England with ending with -chester, -caster & -cester are normally indicators that it was a settlement established as a Roman fort.

Oh cool, I didn't know that! Those pesky Romans had their hands in everything it seems.

[john45]

This is actually the first time I've seen a full production of Oliver and it didn't disappoint. The only times I've seen Oliver on stage are a production in a church in central London with Jamie Somerville as an amazing Oliver. https://youtu.be/q_t0-g3MpAY?feature=shared , one show at the Regents Park Open Air theatre, with Lewis Fernee of BETM fame as Oliver, (but as a play not a musical and in a much cut down production) and three amateur shows of Oliver Jr by the BTA. So I would caveat my enthusiasm by admitting I don't have much in the way of reference or comparison when rating this.

Hope to see it in London later this year (or next) and will be interested to see how it compares with the 2009/10 production at Drury Lane. I managed to see all Fagins (Rowan Atkinson, Omid Djavili, Griff Rhys-Jones, and Russ Abbot) but only one of the rotating Olivers (the little Welsh boy whose name I don't recall).

[Citlec]

Hope to see it in London later this year (or next) and will be interested to see how it compares with the 2009/10 production at Drury Lane. I managed to see all Fagins (Rowan Atkinson, Omid Djavili, Griff Rhys-Jones, and Russ Abbot) but only one of the rotating Olivers (the little Welsh boy whose name I don't recall).

That's a production I really wish I had seen, as it looks spectacular! Sadly it predates my discovering a love of musicals. I compensated for that in the last decade, but my attitude to musicals used to be...



This new production seems to be smaller in scale. In fact I read on a theatre forum that it seems ideally set up to become a touring production, after whatever run it has at the Gielgud. But regardless, I'm super excited for it, and I hope it gets a decent run in London.

Too many places with "chester" in the name makes everything too confusing. Kind of like "berg" in Germany.

Glad you enjoyed the show!

"Caer" serves the same purpose in Wales. As in Caernarfon which has a little museum and remains of Segontium Roman Fort on a hill there.

Yes, I definitely did. As someone Roman might say...

Veni, Vidi, Fruendi.**



** Quote from Caesar's lesser known work, Commentarii de Theatrum Britannicum.

[LordG]

I liked the 2009/10 production at Drury Lane very much. Sadly, I was able to watch it only once and
Rowan Atkinson has left the production two days earlier.

In this respect, I'm looking forward to the London production. I had toyed with the idea of seeing Oliver!
between the two concerts in Chester and Lincoln. But because of the distance, I've shelved that idea.

[Citlec]

Some more production photos released.