Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Brady Tutton, who plays the title role and looks a lot like Mark Lester looked in the 1968 movie, is a near-perfect "Oliver": a heartbreaking, handsome young fellow with an open soul and a beautiful voice. J. D. Rodriguez, who plays the Artful Dodger (Rodriguez was just on Broadway in "The Christmas Story") actually treats this spunky character as the kid Dickens intended (a lot of directors cheat and put an adolescent in this role). Even Nancy's young sidekick Bet - a character whom you usually barely notice - is gorgeously sung by Sophie Thatcher, whose voice is quite astoundingly low and rich for a sixth-grader. At one point, I looked down at my program and thought Heidi Kettenring's Nancy was the one singing. When my head popped back up, it was Thatcher whose mouth was open."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Rachel Rockwell, the Chicago director and choreographer who may well be this generation's counterpart to Jerome Robbins, and who is an acknowledged master at putting kids on stage, has now shown us the real inner workings of the stories that spin around both these "orphans." Her reinvention of "Annie" last year at Aurora's Paramount Theatre was a revelation. Now, her grand-scale, altogether glorious revival of "Oliver!," the classic 1960 British musical with a Lionel Bart score that plays brilliantly on the novel by Charles Dickens of its source, seals the deal."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Lionel Bart's musical version of the Dickens novel opened on Broadway 50 years ago, but it feels even older. That's not the fault of Rachel Rockwell, who directed this spirited revival for Drury Lane Oakbrook, nor of her energetic cast, led by John Reeger as the lovable rogue Fagin and Heidi Kettenring as Nancy, the golden-hearted whore. It's just that Bart's show is so conservative and unadventurous-a melodrama packed with tunes written in the style of an earlier generation-that the whole thing smells of mothballs."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...Based on Charles Dickens' novel about a young orphaned boy, Oliver Twist, Mr. Bart's musical has become one the classic scores and most produced shows in the canon of musical theatre, along with the 1968 Academy Award winning film version which cemented its popularity. The novel and show are both dark in tone and substance dealing with issues such as child labor/slavery, mental and physical abuse and class warfare. All these issues were classic Dickens' staples, but until Oliver!, never really seen in a musical to that emotional and truthful level."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...At the risk of being hyperbolic, let me just say that director Rachel Rockwell's current staging of Lionel Bart's smash-hit Oliver! is really nothing short of an exuberant success. Bursting forth with lush colors and a bevy of minutely observed Dickensian characters, this ingeniously staged and wholly unaffected production is a testament to Rockwell's unflagging talents not only as a director-choreographer, but also as a first-rate storyteller."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...For any of you theater lovers who missed the rebooting of "Oliver" brought back to life last year, or the splendid rendition done by Light Opera Works, never fear, because the latest production to hit our area is now on the stage at Drury Lane Oak Theatre in Oakbrook and it is by far the best production I have ever seen."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Filling the Drury Lane stage with a talented cast of 35, Rachel Rockwell's much-welcome production of Lionel Bart's adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic, Oliver Twist, is dark, often tragic but full of surprising moments of comedy and music. Chicago's premiere director has fashioned a true family-friendly production that has so much more to offer besides a large cast."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Any musical that puts a bunch of bouncy kids on stage is likely to succeed. Rockwell auditioned scores of youngsters and she has chosen well. The spectator realizes the production is in good hands with the first number, "Food Glorious Food," which should be a satirical attack on the wretched diets the workhouse provides for its defenseless boys. Rockwell converts the song into a wonderful romp that the boys execute with exuberance and drill team precision. All the production numbers, and there are lots of them, display Rockwell's trademark creativity, whether it's the droll "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" or the wistful "Who Will Buy?""