Oliver Twist (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company)

Last Wednesday, all four of our children and I attended a matinee performance of Oliver Twist at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. I was delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Being more of a musical theatre fan, and having both performed in Oliver! and seeing the 1968 Oscar winning film adaptation too many times to count, I wasn't certain going into it how well it would be received by any of us. Oliver! is also Leah's (10 years old) favorite musical and she has half the soundtrack on her iPod Shuffle.

But I had confidence in Cincy Shakes. They have wow-ed us with two Jane Austen adaptations (Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility) and Romeo and Juliet, plus the touring production of The Tempest. I knew the quality would be good...as it was. Honestly, the presentation wasn't my concern. I just wanted the story to flow well so my children would have a good experience and not be bored. That is no easy task with today's YouTube driven culture. Let's admit it, all of our attention spans have shortened quite a bit over the years.

My worries will ill-founded though. Cincy Shakes did it again...they impressed me...deeply. In fact, there was music. Not any big show-stopping production numbers, but appropriate to the tone and mood songs that furthered the storyline, gave insight, were by no means distracting to the plot and helped break up some of the heavier drama from this sad tale. The accompanying violin music was beautiful as well.

All of the actors gave solid performances. We have seen several of the them repeatedly now and they consistently exceed my expectations. I will highlight one though. Sara Clark as the Artful Dodger, doesn't just play a young boy, but turns in the best performance I have seen from her and that is saying something. In the past I've seen her play my favorite heroine, Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) and Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility). Abbey also told me she played a great Juliet last year, but so far, for me, this is the best one to date.

Oliver Twist runs through the rest of September and if you have a chance to take in a great show and support the local arts at the same time, this is the one to see for September.