Oliver!

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Oliver!
Original theatre programme and poster
Music	Lionel Bart
Lyrics	Lionel Bart
Book	Lionel Bart
Based upon	Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist
Productions	1960 West End 1963 Broadway 1968 film 1984 Broadway revival 1994 West End revival 2002 Australasian tour 2003 Tallinn 2009 West End
Awards	Tony for Best Composer and Lyricist

Oliver! is a British musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. It first appeared in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and was made into a film directed by Carol Reed in 1968.

The musical is loosely based upon Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. That it was the first musical adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel to become a stage hit was one of the reasons why it attracted such attention. There had been two previous Dickens musicals, both of them television adaptations of A Christmas Carol in the 1950s, but never a successful stage musical, and certainly never one of as dramatic a story as Oliver Twist. Another reason for its success was the revolving stage set, an innovation designed by Sean Kenny.^[1]

The show launched the careers of several child actors, including Davy Jones, later of The Monkees, Phil Collins, later of Genesis, and Tony Robinson, later playing the role of Baldrick in the television series Black Adder. The singer Steve Marriott (Small Faces, Humble Pie) also featured in early line-ups, eventually graduating to the role of Dodger in the West End.

In view of criticisms from some quarters about racial/ethnic stereotyping, it is interesting to note that as well as being authored/composed by a Jew, the first stage production of "Oliver!" featured many Jewish actors in leading roles: Ron Moody (Ronald Moodnik), Georgia Brown (Lilian Klot), and Martin Horsey.

Dickens's original novel is considerably simplified for the purposes of the musical, with Fagin being represented more as a comic character than as a villain, and large portions of the latter part of the story being completely left out.

The musical will be revived again in 2009 in the West End. The parts of Oliver and Nancy have been found by BBC1's I'd Do Anything. The part of Oliver will be played in turn by three different child actors - Gwion Jones, Harry Stott and Lawrence Jeffcoate. The part of Nancy will be played by Jodie Prenger. ^[2]

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Songs 3 Productions 3.1 Original West End production 3.2 American productions 3.3 1994 revival 3.4 Australian tour 3.5 North American tour 3.6 2009 revival 4 Popular culture 5 Character list 6 References and notes 7 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Act I

The musical opens in the workhouse, as the half-starved orphan boys are entering the enormous lunchroom for dinner. ("Food Glorious Food") They are fed only gruel. Nine year old Oliver Twist (actually identified as thirteen in the libretto but generally played as much younger) gathers up the courage to ask for more. He is immediately apprehended and is told to gather his belongings by Mr Bumble and the Widow Corney, the heartless and greedy caretakers of the workhouse ("Oliver!"). Mr Bumble and Widow Corney start flirting during conversation. Mr Bumble goes too far in "I Shall Scream!". At the end, Widow Corney ends up on Mr Bumble's lap, kissing him. Oliver comes back and is promptly sold ("Boy for Sale") and apprenticed to an undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. He and his wife taunt Oliver with the song "That's Your Funeral". He is sent to sleep in the basement with the coffins, something which makes him visibly uncomfortable. ("Where is Love?").

The next morning bully Noah Claypole, who oversees Oliver's work, badmouths Oliver's dead mother, whereupon Oliver begins pummeling him. Mr. Bumble is sent for, and he and the Sowerberrys lock Oliver in a coffin, but during all the commotion Oliver escapes. After a week on the run, he meets the Artful Dodger, a boy wearing an oversize coat and a top hat. He beckons Oliver to join him with "Consider Yourself". Dodger is, unknown to Oliver, a boy pickpocket, and he invites Oliver to come and live in Fagin's lair. Fagin is a criminal, and he is in the business of teaching young boys to pick pockets. Oliver, however, is completely unaware of any criminality, and believes that the boys make handkerchiefs rather than steal them. Oliver is introduced to Fagin and all the other boy pickpockets, and is taught their ways in "You've got to Pick a Pocket or Two".

The next day, Oliver meets Nancy, the live-in girlfriend of the evil, terrifying Bill Sikes, a burglar whose abuse she endures because she loves him. Nancy and Oliver take an instant liking to each other, and Nancy shows motherly affection toward him. Bet, Nancy's younger sister (merely her best friend in the 1968 film and in Dickens' novel), is also with her. Nancy, along with Bet and the boys, sing about how they don't mind a bit of danger in "It's a Fine Life". Dodger humorously starts pretending to be an upper-class citizen, ("I'd Do Anything"), along with Fagin, Oliver, Nancy, Bet, and the boys mocking high society. Nancy and Bet leave and Oliver is sent out with the other boys on his first pickpocketing job ("Be Back Soon"), though he still believes that they are going to teach him how to make handkerchiefs. The Dodger, another boy pickpocket named Charley Bates, and Oliver decide to stick together, and when Dodger and Charley rob Mr. Brownlow, a wealthy old man, they run off, leaving the shocked Oliver, who now realizes that his new friends are pickpockets, to be blamed for looking guilty. Brownlow thinks that Oliver is the thief, but Oliver is cleared in court (offstage).

Act II

To make up for his error, the wealthy Brownlow has taken Oliver to live with him, noticing something vaguely familiar about him. In the evening the bar is full of people having a good time and Nancy is called upon to sing an old tavern song ("Oom Pah Pah"). Bill Sikes enters and sings ("My Name"), and gets the crowd to leave. Dodger runs in and tells Fagin about Oliver being captured. Fagin and Bill decide that they have to kidnap Oliver to keep him from revealing their whereabouts and secrets. Nancy is asked to participate, but feeling sorry for the boy and wishing him to have a better life if he has the chance - refuses, until Bill slaps her around. She tries to convince herself that he really loves her and expresses her need for him with the co-dependent anthem, "As Long As He Needs Me".

Meanwhile the next morning, at Mr. Brownlow's house, Ms. Bedwin, the housekeeper, sings Oliver a reprise of "Where is Love?" and as he wakes up they take notice of the street vendors outside in the song "Who Will Buy?". Mr. Brownlow and Dr. Grimwig discuss Oliver's condition. They come to the conclusion that he is fine and that he can return some books to the bookseller for Mr. Brownlow. The Vendors continue to sing ("Who Will Buy") and at the very end, Nancy and Bill show up and grab Oliver. They bring him back to Fagin's, where Nancy saves Oliver from a beating from Sikes after the boy tries to flee but is stopped. Nancy angrily and remorsefully reviews what their "Fine Life" has come to in "It's A Fine Life (reprise)". When Sikes and Nancy leave, Fagin ponders his future in the humorous song "Reviewing the Situation", in which, every time he thinks of a good reason for going straight, he reconsiders and decides to remain a criminal.

Back at the workhouse, Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney, now unhappily married, meet up with the dying pauper Old Sally and another old lady, who tell them of how Oliver's mother came to the workhouse to have her baby and gave her a gold locket after the birth, implying that she came from a rich family. The mother then died. Mr Bumble and Widow Corney, realizing that Oliver may have wealthy relatives, visit Mr. Brownlow in order to profit from any reward given out for information of him ("Oliver! (reprise)"). He throws them out, knowing that they have suppressed evidence until they could get a reward for it. Brownlow looks at the picture inside the locket, a picture of his daughter, and realizes that Oliver, who knows nothing of his family history, is actually his grandson. (Oliver's mother had disappeared after having been left pregnant by her lover, who jilted her.)

Nancy, terrified for Oliver and feeling guilty, visits Brownlow and promises to deliver Oliver to him safely that night at midnight on London Bridge - if Brownlow does not bring the police or ask any questions. She then ponders again about Bill in "As Long As He Needs Me (reprise)". Bill suspects that Nancy is up to something. That night, he follows her as she sneaks Oliver out, although in the stage version it is never made clear how he knew exactly when to do this. At London Bridge, he confronts them, knocks Oliver temporarily unconscious, and brutally clubs Nancy to death (in some stagings of the show, he strangles her or slits her throat, but the musical's original libretto follows Dickens's original novel in having her beaten to death). He then grabs Oliver, who has since revived, and runs offstage with him, presumably back to the hideout to ask Fagin for getaway money. Mr. Brownlow, who had been late keeping the appointment, arrives and discovers Nancy's body. A large crowd soon forms, among them the distraught Bet. Bullseye, Bill's fierce terrier, returns to the scene of the crime and the crowd prepares to follow him to the hideout. After they exit Fagin and his boys, terrified at the idea of being apprehended, leave their hideout in panic. Not finding Bill at the hideout, the anxious crowd, now whipped up into a thirst for justice, returns to the Thames Embankment, when suddenly Bill appears at the top of the bridge, holding Oliver as hostage and threatening to kill him if the crowd tries to take him. Unseen by Bill, two policemen sneak up on him. One of them shoots Bill to death and the other grabs Oliver as Bill releases him. Oliver is then reunited with Mr. Brownlow.

After the crowd disperses, Fagin re-enters, making sure not to be seen by anyone, and sings a reprise of "Reviewing the Situation". All of the cast re-enter for curtain calls, singing a medley of "Food Glorious Food" and "Consider Yourself", and then the fourth wall of drama is broken, as the actors respectively playing the supposed-to-be dead Nancy and Sikes re-enter very much alive, and Oliver, joined by the rest of the cast, once more sings to Nancy "I'd Do Anything".

[edit] Songs

Overture - Orchestra Food Glorious Food - Orphans Oliver! - Mr. Bumble, Widow Corney, Orphans I Shall Scream! - Mr. Bumble, Widow Corney Boy for Sale - Mr. Bumble That's Your Funeral - Mr. Sowerberry, Mrs. Sowerberry, Mr. Bumble Where is Love? - Oliver Consider Yourself - The Artful Dodger, Oliver, Chorus You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two - Fagin, Fagin's Gang It's a Fine Life - Nancy, Bet, Fagin's Gang I'd Do Anything - The Artful Dodger, Nancy, Oliver, Bet, Fagin, Fagin's Gang Be Back Soon - Fagin, The Artful Dodger, Fagin's Gang

Oom-Pah-Pah - Nancy, Chorus My Name - Bill Sykes As Long As He Needs Me - Nancy Where is love? (Reprise) - Mrs. Bedwin Who Will Buy? - Oliver, Sellers, Chorus It's a Fine Life (Reprise) - Bill Sykes, Nancy, Fagin, The Artful Dodger Reviewing the Situation - Fagin Oliver! (reprise) - Mr. Bumble, Widow Corney As Long As He Needs Me (Reprise) - Nancy Reviewing the Situation (Reprise) - Fagin Finale (Food, Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, and I'd Do Anything) - Entire Cast (including Nancy and Sykes)

[edit] Productions

[edit] Original West End production

The original London production of Oliver! opened in the New Theatre (now the Noel Coward Theatre) on June 30, 1960. Among the original cast were Ron Moody as Fagin, Georgia Brown as Nancy, and Barry Humphries in a small comic role as Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker. Keith Hamshere (the original Oliver) is now a Hollywood still photographer (Star Wars etc.); Martin Horsey (the original Dodger) works as an actor/director and is the author of the play L'Chaim. The part of Nancy was originally written for Alma Cogan, who despite being unable to commit to the production, steered a great many producers to invest in the production.

[edit] American productions

The musical previewed in the U.S. with a 1962 national tour (whose cast was preserved on recording), and the first Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on January 6, 1963.^[3] The American production had child actor Bruce Prochnik in the title role alongside Georgia Brown reprising her West End turn as Nancy and Clive Revill, replacing Ron Moody, as Fagin. While the national tour had young actor Michael Goodman as The Artful Dodger, the Broadway transfer had him replaced by a young Davy Jones. The original Broadway production was a critical success and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Actor (for Mr. Revill), Actress (for Ms. Brown) and Featured Actor (for Mr. Jones). The show won Tonys for Sean Kenny's Scenic Design, Donald Pippin's musical direction and Lionel Bart's score. In 1984 there was a short lived Broadway revival with Ron Moody reprising his West End and film role as Fagin and Patti LuPone as Nancy.

[edit] 1994 revival

In 1994, Oliver! was revived for the London stage with some additional music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. It was directed by Sam Mendes, with Graham Gill as the resident director, and featured Jonathan Pryce as Fagin, Sally Dexter as Nancy (Alison Sevitt understudying), James Villiers (Mr Brownlow) and Miles Anderson as Bill Sikes. Later on in the run of this production future pop stars Jon Lee (who would later rise to fame as a member of the successful pop group, S Club 7) and Tom Fletcher (who would later become a member of McFly) played the title role. As well as Danielle McCormack as Bet (who went on to play the role of Mel in the television show My Parents Are Aliens).

[edit] Australian tour

The Australian tour was a successful trip through Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore from 2002 to 2004. The show, which mirrored Sam Mendes' production, was recreated by Graham Gill. John Waters the actor, not to be confused with John Waters the director, portrayed Fagin, Tamsin Carroll was Nancy, and the production also featured Stuart Wagstaff, Steve Bastoni and Keegan Joyce in the title role. The role of Oliver was also rotated with Maddison Orr. The role of the Artful Dodger was shared between Matthew Waters and Tim Matthews. Both of the children's casts earned good notices.

[edit] North American tour

A North American tour began in 2003, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Networks. It ran till April 2005 and played most major theatrical venues in the U.S. and several in Canada. The show was directed by the London team which managed the Sam Mendes version in London and the Australian tour, with Graham Gill as director.

[edit] 2009 revival

A revival of the 1994 Sam Mendes production, directed by Rupert Goold, will open on 14 January 2009, (previews 12 December 2008) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, starring Rowan Atkinson as Fagin^[4] and Burn Gorman as Bill Sykes.^[5]. The roles of Nancy and Oliver have been cast through a BBC reality television talent show series called I'd Do Anything. The three young actors who will play Oliver were announced on 24 May 2008 as Laurence Jeffcoate, Harry Stott and Gwion Jones^[6]. Jodie Prenger won the role of Nancy on 31 May 2008.

[edit] Popular culture

• In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when Will is telling Ashley and her friends about the time he (or Wilber Smithsonian) started Bel-Air Prep, Will's cousin Carlton and other students sing "Consider Yourself" to the new students.

• As part of the Oliver! cast, Georgia Brown and Davy Jones (as the Artful Dodger) appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on the same night that The Beatles made their American television debut.

• The song "Food, Glorious Food" appears in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown with slightly modified lyrics.

• The part of Nancy was originally written for 50s singing star Alma Cogan.

• Shani Wallis played Nancy in Carol Reed's movie of Oliver! and recreated the part on stage in the United States.

• There were many "Consider Yourself" jokes made on Full House which appeared in several episodes.

• Hip Hop Artist Jay-Z samples the song "I'd Do Anything" in his song, "Anything".

• Hip Hop Artist Ludacris sampled the song "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" in his song "Large Amounts".

• An Australian commercial for Maggi 'Potatoes and More' featured footage of the film version with dialogue looped over, "please sur I want some more", "More!", "Please sir, I want some potatoes and more."

• In 2007, McCain made an advert for their Home Fries to the tune of "Food Glorious Food".

• The role of Oliver was once played by Brian Eppes, who is best known for playing Michael on Barney and Friends In a 1991-1992 national US tour, He was also the understudy for Noah Claypole. (He did every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night performance as Noah Claypole)

[edit] Character list

• Oliver Twist - The protagonist.
• Mr Bumble - A large pompus man of 55, who runs the workhouse.
• Widow Corney - Sharp tongued, domineering widow of 50 - the workhouse mistress.
• Mr Sowerberry - The undertaker.
• Mrs Sowerberry - His overseer.
• Noah Claypole - The undertaker's apprentice.
• Charlotte - Their sluttish daughter.
• Artful Dodger - Fagin's brightest pupil.
• Fagin - A thin old man, runs training academy for young pickpockets.
• Charley Bates - Dodger's best friend, boy pickpocket - member of the gang.
• Nancy - 23 years old - a graduate of Fagin's academy, and Bill's girlfriend.
• Bet - Nancy's younger sister - 13 years old.
• Bill Sykes - A villain in his prime.
• Mr Brownlow - A wealthy old gentleman - Oliver's grandfather.
• Mrs Bedwin - The Brownlows' housekeeper.
• Dr Grimwig - A doctor who treats Oliver in the Brownlow's house.
• Old Sally - A pauper - gives away the secret of Oliver's birth.
• Workhouse Brats - Young children living in abject misery.
• Fagin's Gang- The Academy.
• Street Vendors - selling a variety of wares and services.
• Bow Street Runners - A 19th century police force.

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Oliver! The Musical Official Site
• Oliver! at the Internet Broadway Database

Awards
Preceded by No Strings by Richard Rodgers	Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist 1963 by Lionel Bart	Succeeded by Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman

v • d • e Music by Lionel Bart Musicals Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be · Oliver! · Blitz! · Maggie May · Twang! · La Strada Film music Oliver!

v • d • e Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Characters Oliver Twist | Bill Sikes | Fagin | Mr. Brownlow | Nancy | Rose Maylie | Monks | The Artful Dodger | Charley Bates Film adaptions Oliver Twist (1948) | Oliver! | Oliver & Company | Oliver Twist (1997) | Twist | Boy called Twist | Oliver Twist (2005) Other adaptions Oliver! | Fagin the Jew | Oliver Twist (TV miniseries) | Oliver Twist (TV serial) Songs "As Long as He Needs Me" | "Consider Yourself" | "Food Glorious Food" | "I'd Do Anything" | "Oliver!" | "Where Is Love?" | "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two"