Boston Globe finds "Heart" in "Oliver!"

The Boston Globe
January 28, 2013

Wheelock’s ‘Oliver!’ steals hearts

Charles Dickens’s bleak tale of a desperate orphan boy in 19th century London hardly seems like inspiring musical theater fare. And yet, what makes the musical “Oliver!” so uplifting is composer Lionel Bart’s emphasis on embracing life, no matter how small its pleasures. The Wheelock Family Theatre’s production of “Oliver!” finds Dickens’s sense of hope and love in the midst of degradation and despair and energizes the story with a terrific vocal ensemble of both children and adults.

In the title role, sixth-grader Charlie Clinton displays an angelic voice with a demeanor to match. His unadorned renditions of both “Where Is Love?” and “Who Will Buy?” create that delicate balance of utter loneliness and hope that fuels the emotional tone of this musical.

Clinton also has the support of every member of the cast of more than 40. From the moment the workhouse orphans march in to get their bowl of gruel singing “Food, Glorious Food” to the final moment of redemption, director Susan Kosoff and her production team attend to every detail.

Matthew T. Lazure’s adaptation of Anthony Hancock’s design is superb: A multi-level set is gray and cobblestoned, with bridges and arches suggesting the dark alleys of London complete with a bit of fog hanging over everything. With the simple addition of a table and chairs, each of the areas becomes an orphanage, a funeral parlor, a pub, or a pickpockets’ lair, with the help of Franklin Meissner Jr.’s lighting. Kosoff uses every inch of the set, creating a sense of movement to a variety of London scenes without slowing the action down for a second. Laurel Conrad’s choreography accents and amplifies important moments without becoming distracting.

Kosoff and musical director Jon Goldberg have also found some impressive talent for key roles. Brittany Rolfs has a truly stunning voice, and gives the saloon gal Nancy a rough edge that makes her willingness to risk everything for Oliver much more poignant. The emotional range Rolfs displays between “It’s a Fine Life” and “As Long as He Needs Me” offers another opportunity for Kosoff to walk that line between hope and despair.

Kosoff casts against type with Jane Staab playing Fagin, the leader of a band of young pickpockets Oliver falls in with. Staab underplays a role that often turns into caricature, and finds more pathos than expected in Fagin’s fear of growing old. Her version of “Reviewing the Situation” starts out humorously, but becomes a little fearful, even desperate. Staab’s choice to play Fagin as a woman passing as a man isn’t jarring, but doesn’t really add much to the story or the character.

But nothing in this production disappoints, with the performances driving everything, especially Jeffrey Sewell as a charming Artful Dodger, Timothy John Smith as an absolutely terrifying Bill Sikes, and the ensemble in “Who Will Buy?” practically stopping the show with their delicious harmonies.

Goldberg’s six-piece orchestra provides the perfect accompaniment for the singing actors, sending the audience out of the theater on a wonderfully upbeat note.

Terry Byrne can be reached at trbyrne@aol.com.

Boston Globe: At Wheelock Family Theatre, a Fagin with a Secret

By Joel Brown. Published in the boston Globe January 26, 2013.

Jane Staab, one of the founders of Wheelock Family Theatre in 1981, plays Fagin in its production of the musical “Oliver!”

Jane Staab is stepping into a male role — sort of — as Fagin, adult ringleader of the boy thieves in the musical “Oliver!” at Wheelock Family Theatre.

“It popped into my head almost as a joke. We were talking about doing ‘Oliver!’ and I said, oh, and I’ll play Fagin,” recalls Staab, the Wheelock’s general manager.

It was the only meaty role that seemed right for her, she says. “There are so many wonderful plays, classics especially, that have fabulous roles for men, and the women’s roles are secondary and often not as exciting,” says Staab. “I think a lot of actresses sit around and think, oh boy, I’d love to play that role.”

Nontraditional casting is nothing new at the Wheelock, where “Oliver!” runs through Feb. 24. Staab says the plan began to take shape when costume designer Charles Baldwin asked if she was going to play Fagin as a man or a woman. She said as a woman, then decided that she should be in men’s clothing.

But this wasn’t just going to be a “pants role,” with an actress playing a male character, or even a gender change to a character written as male, like her earlier performances as Prospera in “The Tempest.” She would play Fagin as a woman passing as a man.

“This is what historically happened so frequently, and it’s only really now coming to light how many women dressed as men to survive in a society that really rejected women in earning roles,” Staab says. “You either became a prostitute or a maid or you starved to death. And there were many intelligent women who thought, hey, if I can pass as a man, I can survive.”

The musical isn’t quite as dark as its source, Charles Dickens’s novel “Oliver Twist,” but it’s dark enough. Oliver is an orphan who escapes a cruel workhouse only to fall in among the band of thieves led by Fagin and finds his own life at risk from the brutal criminal Bill Sikes.

“The more you look at the script, the more you see how nurturing Fagin is with his kids and also how much he hates violence,” Staab says. “It just fit in so many ways that it became more and more exciting to do it this way.”

She’s put a lot of thought into the part. She notes it’s been revealed in recent years that there were many women who passed as men to fight in the Civil War. And there have been a few well-known instances, like jazz musician Billy Tipton, whose true gender wasn’t discovered until his death. The woman-passing-as-man story was also at the center of Glenn Close’s 2011 film “Albert Nobbs.”

Audiences, however, will see the Wheelock’s Fagin as a man, as do the characters.

“It isn’t until the final moment of the play that it will be revealed — and some people may not even get it — that in fact,” Staab says, slipping into the shoes of her character, “I have been playing a man for my whole life, probably since I was a kid and began stealing on the streets. I probably decided to do it as a boy and save myself from rape.”

So there’s no obvious wink to the audience and no huge unveiling, unless you keep your eyes on her at the end. But Staab hopes it will start some conversation.

To director Susan Kosoff, the idea enriches the musical.

“I think of Fagin as the most complex character in the piece, and I think this helps explain some of the complexity of it,” she says.

Kosoff and Staab first met almost 50 years ago at Harwich Junior Theatre on Cape Cod, and founded Wheelock together with two others back in 1981. “We’ve collaborated on writing shows together, we’ve lived together, we’ve cried together, we’ve laughed together. I’ve directed her many, many times,” Kosoff says.

Kosoff retired from her role as the theater’s producer last year, and also retired from teaching theater and education at Wheelock College. She helped plan this season last spring, including picking “Oliver!” — but was reluctant to get in the way of her successor, Wendy Lement, beyond that.

“I generally direct dramas. I’m not as keen usually to direct musicals, although I certainly have directed musicals,” Kosoff says. “And Jane said, ‘What if I play Fagin?’ And I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ ”

And how is it for Kosoff, seeing her friend of nearly half a century done up as the scruffy old Fagin?

“It’s a little weird, actually,” she says, laughing.

 

Jane Staab.

If you’ve spent any significant time at Wheelock Family Theatre, as an actor, a crew member, a staff member, or even an audience member, you know Jane Staab. Jane is 1/4 of the founding foursome (along with Andrea Genser, Anthony Hancock, and Susan Kosoff) and is the Theatre’s Casting Director and Resident Actor. She has been in over thirty productions at WFT and, as the Theatre’s General Manager, holds court in the back office behind a desk lined with tea-brewing accouterments and next to a bookshelf filled to overflow with textbooks, plays, and poetry. Jane is as familiar a face as anyone at WFT and I, personally, have known her for over twenty years. She is commanding and opinionated; clear and direct; and, above all, kind and generous of spirit.

It was my pleasure to chat with Jane last week about her work at WFT over the years and her clever and innovative take on the character of Fagin, whom she will be playing in this winter’s production of Oliver! (opening on January 25, 2013.)

Robin: How do you decide in which shows you will take a part? Do you audition for the director when the director is not you?
Jane: Well, initially, we wanted to use me as much as possible. Tony [Hancock] and Sue [Kosoff] wanted to make sure that I had at least one really good role each year. Needless to say, it was my profession, so I wanted that too. So, sometimes the play choices would center around what was right for the theatre and what would work for me. It’s evolved, in part because it’s not as important to me to do that. But it’s still important to the theatre for me to have a presence in the production as a role model -- for the kids and even some of the professional actors. So we don't choose the seasons with me in mind as much anymore and that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s nice to have a meaty role, but I can go without.

This past year when Charles suggested it was time to do Oliver! again, I knew there wasn’t anything for me. There wasn't anything in Oliver!, nothing in Anne [of Green Gables] and so I blurted, “Ok! I'll play Fagin!" Kind of a joke. A half-serious joke. And then I saw Charles’ eyes light up. They lit up and I said, “Oh, well maybe it’s a possibility and I broached it with Susan and she said, “I’ll come back and direct!” It all came together, like ok. I’ll do Fagin. Often times that’s how it happens.

Well, 50% of my roles are because of Jim Byrne. When he directs, he wants me to be in it. I’m flattered. I appreciate it. He also doesn't give a damn if a character is female or male. He’s used to gender bending, at Gold Dust or anywhere else beside Harwich Junior Theatre. Or maybe even Harwich Junior Theatre! He likes the idea of men playing women. We don’t do it at WFT much, though.

Jane as Willie Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

For the last 20 years, Jim has directed once a year. (I direct one and Sue directs one.) And Sue likes me to be in it, even though I annoy the hell out of her when she’s working! I’ll say, “Sue that doesn't work; can I do this instead?” I’ve never auditioned, though. I haven’t auditioned for anything, actually, except for one or two other theatres. I auditioned for the Nora and didn’t get it. And Grey Gardens at the Lyric and didn’t get it.

Robin: What are some of your favorite characters to have played at WFT?
Jane: Oh, Robin! What are your favorites that I have done?

Robin: Well, of course the Wicked Witch!
Jane: Yeah, the Wicked Witch last year was the most fun witch I have done.

Robin: What made it different than the other two?
Jane: I was freed from constraints of symbolism. When Jim [Byrne] directed it the second time we produced it, I was sort of constrained by the concept. I was in a rocket at the end of one scene. Physically, I really couldn't do very much because I was stuck in these different “vehicles of industrialization.” Physically, I was restrained. And in this one I wasn’t. And when I can play with the physicality of a character, it’s much more fun. Actually, this last time when Jim also directed, he was going to put me upstairs for one scene and I said, “Can I please just do it up front so I can interact with the audience? It made it much more fun.

Let’s see. Other parts. Emily Dickinson has always been one of my favorites -- to be able to do drama, comedy, aging, poetry, it has everything. It comes very close to Chekov in terms of emotions and depth of the character. I really loved doing The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, but that was so many years ago. I loved being Annie Sullivan when we did Miracle Worker.

There have also been little roles. I loved my little role in Holes. Madame Zeroni. It was a wonderful role. It was tiny, but I loved it. There was weight to the character and I like the characters to have weight to them. Gravitas. A seriousness. Depth. I just like depth. Which doesn't mean I don’t also enjoy comedy, of course. I did have fun the first time I played the Wicked Witch because Tony gave me an umbrella and I started playing with it in rehearsal and came up with all kinds of fun things to do with it. I loved it.

Robin: This winter, you’re playing Fagin in Oliver!, who is traditionally played by a man. Tell us about how you’re playing that part and why this portrayal is unique.
Jane: I am really enjoying Fagin because I’m playing the [traditionally male] part as a woman who has survived by being a man in society. So, I'm actually a woman -- not just a woman playing a man's part. It's unique and exciting to me and to the cast. It’s not like we announced it. As it’s been revealed just from rehearsal, it’s been very exciting to them. And it isn’t going to change the text at all. The text, in fact, really works for this character to be a woman. Everything about this character is feminine—nurturing. Fagin loves the kids. Fagin really doesn't like violence and wishes it didn't happen and is even frightened by it. You can see Fagin as having recognized that he has kind of raised a monster, but had no control over Bill’s psychopathic behavior. Even though he admires him as a thief, Fagin doesn’t admire his violence. I haven’t had to change a word in the script to accommodate my being woman. Not a word.

The characters will be seeing Fagin as a man because she had, in fact, faked her way through life. And people think of her as – well, she is a man. Many women did this in society. Especially in that time period. Just by virtue of dressing as a man, because no one really did that, people accepted them as men more easily and readily. It's only now kind of coming out, historically, that it happened way more often than we thought or knew about. Theatre Espresso is doing a play, actually, about women in the Civil War who dressed as men in order to fight and, more likely, in order to survive in a time period where women didn’t have much or many ways of surviving if they were alone.

Robin: Will there be a piece about your portrayal of Fagin in the Study Guide?
Jane: I think there is a piece going into the Study Guide about it. Because, for once it isn’t just the resident actor playing a male role. It is a whole thing. It’s got a life of its own that comes from a truth in history. We’re imposing it on this play specifically because I’m the resident actor of Wheelock Family Theatre, but it doesn’t feel like it’s an imposition.

Robin: How does this role affect you as an educator and a feminist?
Jane: I haven’t sat down and studied this thought, but, as with all our plays that we do, I want to generate conversation. Especially between adults and young people. Or amongst young people. I want them to think about what they have just seen. And I think this might do that. When it is revealed at the end, children will question it. What just happened? What does that mean? And if the parents or other adults are there, it will generate discussion and they will go out of there thinking about it.

They may not connect it with anything right away but ultimately, it will connect and that’s what’s exciting about the experience of theatre. You don’t always get it right when you see something, but over time, maybe when you study about the Civil War, you'll say, Oh! I saw that in Oliver!

That's what I love about theatre. That’s what should be happening as opposed to lectures and setting down rules. It’s about learning in the most effective way. That’s what theatre does. It supports an understanding of life and history and humanity.