Oliver!

Oliver! is an English musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway, tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98, 2008–11 and on tour in the UK from 2011-13.

Background

Oliver! was the first musical adaptation of a famous Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit. There had been two previous Dickens musicals in the 1950s, both of them television adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The plot of Dickens' 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. (It may well be that Bart based his musical on David Lean's film, rather than Dickens' book.) Although Dickens' novel has been called antisemitic in its portrayal of the Jew Fagin as evil, the production by Bart (himself a Jew) was more sympathetic and featured many Jewish actors in leading roles: Ron Moody (Ronald Moodnik), Georgia Brown (Lilian Klot), and Martin Horsey.

Oliver

Oliver is a given name. It is also used as a surname (see Oliver (surname)), in particular of a Scottish sept (see Oliver (Scottish surname)).

It may also refer to:

Places

Business

Culture

Film

Oliver! (song)

Oliver! is the title song from the 1960s original West End and Broadway musical Oliver! and the 1968 film of the same name.

Background

The song begins with the workhouse boys and Mr. Bumble praying for the food they will receive and for a blessing of thankfulness. However, Oliver asks for more gruel and that makes Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney very angry at him and they think of ways to punish him for his ingratitude and ask who he is. The punishment that Oliver is to receive, as stated in the song is that he is to be sent down a stairway without a bannister and to be fed cockroaches served in a canister or they would push Oliver up a chimney full of soot. Even the Board of Governors is stunned by Oliver's ingratitude and join in the song (but only in the West End productions). The punishment that the Board of Governors suggest is that Oliver should be imprisoned and put up for sale for apprenticeship, though their lyrics are cut from the Broadway version.