By: Julia Aidan
Submitted: 2009-08-03 20:09:53 | Word Count: 617
Oliver! The musical first appeared on the stage in the West End in 1960 and achieved immediate success. The British public appreciated the drama and the music in this Lionel Bart production and little known actors introduced in this play, went on to attain enormous popularity as adults. Among them, notably were the young boys playing the title role, and Ron Moody as Fagin and Barry Humphries as Mr. Sowerberry.
The musical is a loose version of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist. To make it more audience friendly, the musical adaptation made several changes and a key change was the portrayal of Fagin as a comic character rather than as the book's villain.
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The opening scene of Oliver! shows half-starved orphan boys entering the lunchroom for dinner ("Food Glorious Food"). They are fed only gruel and when Oliver asks for more, he is promptly asked to pack his belongings by the heartless and greedy caretakers' Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney and sold ("Boys For Sale") to Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker.
Next morning after a fight with Noah, the undertaker's assistant, Oliver escapes and after a week meets Artful Dodger, a boy pickpocket. Dodger beckons to come and live in Fagin's den. Fagin is a criminal and he teaches Oliver and other boys their methods in "You've got to Picket a Pocket or Two". On his first mission along with Dodger and another boy pickpocket named Charley Bates, they rob a wealthy old man, and run off leaving Oliver to be arrested for the crime. In the meantime Oliver has met Nancy - the girl friend of Bill Sikes, the burglar - who showers motherly affection on him.
Oliver is captured and subsequently cleared of the crime and taken in by Mr. Brownlow. On receiving the information from Dodger, Fagin and Bill decide to kidnap Oliver to keep their den a secret. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver on an errand, Fagin and Bill are able to lay their hands on him and bring him back to their den.
Back at the workhouse Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney are informed by a dying pauper Old Sally that Oliver's mother Agnes, left a gold locket (suggesting that he belongs to a rich family) when she died at childbirth. With this information they visit Mr. Brownlow, expecting a reward. After looking at the picture in the locket Mr. Brownlow finds that she is his daughter and Oliver is actually his grandson.
Nancy, worried for Oliver, visits Mr. Brownlow and promises to deliver Oliver to him safely that night at the London Bridge. Bill suspects that Nancy is upto something and follows her as she sneaks Oliver out. At London Bridge, he knocks Oliver unconscious and brutally clubs Nancy to death. Mr. Brownlow arrives late to find Nancy's body. Bill's fierce terrier, Bet takes the gathered crowd to Fagin's hideout, and not finding Bill there, the crowd returns to Thames embankment, thirsty for justice. Suddenly, Bill appears on top of the Bridge, holding Oliver as hostage, but the police are able to shoot Bill and rescue Oliver to be united with Mr.Brownlow.
This portrayal of Dickens' novel, was much appreciated by the theatre going public. The production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is the second revival to be staged at West End. Subsequently, in 1994 a hugely successful production began at the London Palladium with Jonathan Pryce as Fagin. The show ran for three years at the Palladium proving its popularity with the audience; and also has had international success with tours of Asia, Australasia, two of the US and two Broadway productions in 1963 and 1984.
