Oliver!

Lionel Bart’s Oliver! was first staged in the West End in 1960 and was an instant success. Playing at the New Theatre (now the Noel Coward Theatre, home to Avenue Q), Oliver! enjoyed a long run and introduced the British public to little known actors who went on to have enormous success on their own.

Fagin was played by Ron Moody who of course immortalised the role in Carol Reed’s 1968 movie, and the small comic role of Mr Sowerberry was played by Barry Humphries. Notably included the number of young boys who took on the title role were Blackadder’s Tony Robinson, Genesis’ Phil Collins and the Monkees’ teen idol Davy Jones.

Oliver! is of course loosely based on Charles Dickens’ 1838 novel Oliver Twist. As with many literary adaptations in musical theatre, many changes were made to tie loose ends up more quickly and to make the content more family friendly. A key change was the portrayal of Fagin on stage as a comic character rather than as the book’s villain.

Although this was clearly a welcome change for audiences, creating a couple of classic songs in ‘You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two’ and ‘Reviewing The Situation’, the show came under some criticism for making light of Jewish stereotypes, despite Lionel Bart himself and a number of actors in the show’s lead roles (including Ron Moody) being Jewish.

This production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is the second revival to be staged in the West End. A hugely successful production began at the London Palladium in 1994 with Jonathan Pryce as Fagin. Like the original, this version of Oliver! contained some famous names playing the title role, including S Club’s Jon Lee and McFly’s Tom Fletcher.

The show proved as popular as it had originally and ran at the Palladium for over three years. Oliver! has also had great international success, with tours of Asia, Australasia and two of the US, and two Broadway productions, in 1963 and 1984.

This new production will of course star the winners of the BBC’s talent search I’d Do Anything, with the vivacious Jodie Prenger as Nancy and Laurence Jeffcoate, Harry Stott and Gwion Jones taking on the title role. British TV legend Rowan Atkinson will be playing Fagin, alongside Torchwood’s Burn Gorman as Bill Sykes.