Re: Oliver

[david lowther <dlowther...>]

Hi Lorele,
As a matter of fact, my hubby, David, understudied "Fagin" in a school play
(though I don't believe David was ever young), hoping desperately and
unsuccessfully that the boy playing Fagin would be sick.  (It had been his
intention to play Fagin with a Yiddish accent).  He never got to sing
"You've got to pick a pocket or two" on the stage, though I am blessed with
David's complete rendition from time to time, along with the dance.  David
says Charles Dickens wrote Fagin as Jewish and he always felt that the
composers of "Oliver" cleverly implied Fagin's Jewishness by writing all of
his soliloquy numbers as klezmer.

Despite "Fagin's" unfortunate good health, David was consoled somewhat by
the role of "Mr. Bumble".  Lines like, "If that's what the law thinks, sir,
then the law is an ass, sir, and furthermore, sir, the law is a bachelor."
David also once played Lady Macbeth, as well as "Satan" in "The Devil and
Daniel Webster" and feels the failed opportunity to play Fagin denied him
the trifector.

Mary Lowther


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