STAGE REVIEW
'Oliver!' production falls short of expectations

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

Dion Donahue, left, is Fagin; Eric Jones, back, is the Artful Dodger; and Kaitlin Kiyan is Oliver Twist in the Army Community Theatre production of "Oliver!" Advertiser library photo

The show looks good, with a large cast in appropriate costumes filling Tom Giza's double-turntable set. But if you didn't already know this Victorian story of an orphaned boy who falls in among thieves, you might have a hard time following the action.

Staging by Stephanie Curtis Conching needs better focus and clarity, and the musical direction by Mark Vogel desperately needs to be sorted out. The audience needs to know what's going on and to be able to hear these characters sing.

Too many in the cast approximate an English accent, only to lose dialogue down some guttural cockney alley from which it never returns. Characters appear like pop-up greeting cards and behave like low-technology cartoons. If the production had a style, it might be studied cuteness, which is in direct opposition to the progressively dark story line.

Spoken accents are bad enough, but when they morph into song, all intelligibility is sacrificed — especially when microphones fail, the tempo corkscrews into double time and sad moaning sounds begin to escape from the orchestra pit.

At the center of the activity, playing against gender, is 11-year-old Kaitlin Kiyan, who holds up well. The challenge in the essentially passive role is to keep it energized rather than merely acted upon. Kaitlin fares best with her big Act 1 solo, when the stage empties and Oliver is left alone with the coffins in the undertaker's parlor where he has just been apprenticed.

"Where is Love" is pure longing, and could be damaged by plaintive bleating. Kaitlin gives it strong vocal support. We not only hear every word, we get the correct sense of a vital character who is missing an important element, but not consumed by its lack.

•	'Oliver!' 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through May 25 Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter $15, $12; discounts for students, seniors, military 438-4480

Other major characters fare less well. Darci Evans' husky vibrato, approximated accent and vengeful body microphone almost eliminate her from the musical numbers, although her character of Nancy has some fine ones.

As the villain Bill Sykes, Mike Humerickhouse is more annoying than frightening. He shouts his way through "My Name," working against the orchestra, most of whom play it in triple time.

The chorus is on-and-off successful. The beauty of "Who Will Buy" is completely lost to the orchestra and "Oom-Pah-Pah" has the right spirit, but misses its full visual possibilities. One nice touch: The large children's chorus sounds fine and makes a successful transition from the militarized orphans to the ragged gang of pickpockets.

This is a large production, but one that is missing necessary guidance.