REVIEW 2: Oliver!
IT’S not easy to create a five-star experience with a stage musical like Oliver! which many of us remember from a pretty near-perfect film — but Starlight Musical Theatre have done it. Great leads play cheeky Artful Dodger (Dan Corr), big-hearted Nancy (Alison Gilbert), loveable rogue Fagin (Garry Black), adorable Oliver (Lachy Hogg) and sinisterly brutal Bill Sykes (Jason Hasson) – not to mention cute canine Nellie as Bullseye. The choruses — adult and junior — are big-voiced, precision-rehearsed and switched-on all the time they’re onstage. And the sense of excitement started from the moment the 12-strong orchestra — under musical director Fiona Stuart — begins with xylophone, trilling flute, parping brass and a couple of trombone slides that suggested not just the comedy and excitement ahead, but the scary bits too with — first to come onstage — bad Bill Sykes. See the full review here |
REVIEW: Oliver!
IN this tale of thieves and vagabonds, there was one natural scene-stealer — and she did not even have to sing or dance to capture the audience. Nellie the Staffordshire terrier, making her debut as Bill Sikes’ dog Bullseye, was a natural star, even if there were hints that she did not take stage direction well. The diva. That her entrance in the show’s very first scene saw her hauled off-stage by the brutal Bill Sikes only endeared her further to a packed Eden Court audience. See the full review here |
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Dan is delighted with Dodger opportunity
CASTING lovable rogue Artful Dodger was not as much of a hardship as it might have been for Starlight Musical Theatre. The Inverness company has its very own cheeky scamp to fill the role of the junior pickpocket in the form of teenager Dan Corr. "Dodger is quite a fun character. I’ve been told he’s a lot like me, so he’s quite easy to play," the 13-year old Alness Academy pupil admitted. "We share the cheekiness, just trying to do stuff we probably shouldn’t be doing and messing about and not paying attention to people. Just basically what I do on a daily basis. Read the full article here |
Alison snaps up Oliver role
WHEN Alison Gilbert made the switch from photographing the cast of local musicals to joining them, there was one show that held a particular appeal. "I haven’t really been to see all that many musicals, but I watched Oliver a lot when I was growing up," said Gilbert, who now finds herself playing the most important female role in the Lionel Bart show, the ill-fated Nancy. It is something of a turnaround for the Scottish Provincial Press and Highland News/Inverness Courier/Strathspey Herald/Ross-shire Journal/Northern Times photographer, who is happy enough to sing along with Sam Smith in the car, but never felt good enough to perform in front of other people, even though she had long held dreams of appearing on stage. Read the full article here |