| The original ending of "Oliver!" vs. Encores | |
| Last Edit: Marlo*Manners 10:11 am EDT 05/12/23 | |
| Posted by: Marlo*Manners 10:03 am EDT 05/12/23 | |
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| I saw the Encores "Oliver!" last night. Staging was lively but superficial in my view. Raul Esparza was in and "on" as Fagin giving us gourmet ham served on a silver platter. A question about the ending and specifically the role of Bet in the show: The part was considered insignificant enough that the role and the performer, Angelica Beliard, were not individually listed in the dramatis personae in the program. One the other hand, neither was the highly-regarded Broadway veteran Alma Cuervo in the role of Mrs. Bedwin who sang beautifully the reprise of "Where is Love?". My question is about the original ending of the show which seems to have been a medley of the big numbers with a solo version of "I'd Do Anything" sung by Oliver to former street urchin Bet. In the 1963-64 Broadway production the role of Bet was played by the 15 year-old Alice Playten. Bet seems to be a child and if we are to presume that Nancy is a prostitute (played down last night in the Encores production) as she is in the Dickens novel, then probably Bet is too and an underage one like Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver". Are we to suppose that the prepubescent Oliver Twist has landed himself a girlfriend at the end of the show? One who is older than him by four or five years and somewhat shopworn even at so young an age? The 1968 Carol Reed movie casts the adult 20 year-old Sheila White as Bet and the character is clearly a contemporary of Nancy and has no special relationship to Oliver Twist. Last night's show ended with Fagin singing the reprise of "I'm Reviewing the Situation" and exiting through a rear curtain center stage as the curtain dropped. Clearly Fagin is the star and Esparza also got the final bow. In the prior scene, Oliver Twist (Benjamin Pajak - the best Oliver I have ever seen) exits rather precipitously with Mr. Brownlow (Michael Siberry). For a moment Bet (Beliard) reaches out to Oliver as he is walking away to his new life and he hesitates. Then he exits and the show ends with Fagin's solo. The story is about Oliver Twist and in the original he gets the central role in the finale. There were complaints that the final scene feels rushed and perfunctory and this cut might be part of the reason why. The final song order in the Broadway original is this: Reviewing The Situation (Reprise) Fagin Food, Glorious Food (Finale) (Reprise) Boys Consider Yourself (Finale) (Reprise) Boys I'd Do Anything (Finale) (Reprise) Entire Company What do you think of the role of Bet and her role in the show? Is it gross that Oliver at so young an age is romancing mid-teen hookers? Or is she just a pickpocket? Is this the proper way to end the show? How did the various London Cameron MacIntosh revivals in London handle these matters? Also, I was told these are not the original orchestrations but expanded ones for the London revivals? Please let me know what you think - Talk amongst yourselves!!! Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington) An inquiring mind is a terrible thing to waste |
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