Oliver! the story of the show

All about how the Charles Dickens' novel became a global hit show

On June 30th, 1960, Oliver! the musical first appeared on stage at the New Theatre in London's West End, with music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. Loosely based on the novel Oliver Twist, this was the first musical adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel to become a stage hit.

The original cast included Ron Moody as Fagin, and Georgina Brown as Nancy. Keith Hamshere, who starred as Oliver, is now a successful Hollywood still photographer, and Martin Horsey, who played the Artful Dodger, continued to actor and later went on to direct and write the play L'Chaim. The production enjoyed a long run that launched the careers of several child actors, including Davy Jones, Phil Collins, and Tony Robinson.

The musical toured the USA in 1962, and opened on Broadway in the Imperial Theatre on January 6th, 1963.

In 1968 Oliver! made it to the silver screen, in a musical film directed by Carol Reed, and adapted by Lionel Bart and Vernon Harris. The soundtrack included many of the original songs such as Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, As Long as He Needs Me, and You've Got To Pick a Pocket or Two. The film also involved bigger dance sequences, and Bill Sikes became more of a main character than in the stage version.

Ron Moody was able to recreate his successful stage performance as Fagin, reportedly beating Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole to land the role. Well renowned actor Oliver Reed (nephew of the director, Carol Reed) was cast as Bill Sikes, while young, as yet unknown actors, Mark Lester and Jack Wild were cast as Oliver and the Artful Dodger. And despite her successful portrayal of Nancy in the stage version, Georgina Brown lost out to Shani Wallis for the film role.

The film was a huge success which received numerous awards, including Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Score of a Musical Picture in the 1969 Academy Awards. Oliver! was in fact the last musical to win the Best Picture Oscar until Chicago 34 years later.

Oliver! was revived for the London stage in 1994, directed by Sam Mendes, with some additional music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Jonathan Pryce played Fagin, with Sally Dexter as Nancy, and Miles Anderson as Bill Sikes. Later in the run future pop stars Jon Lee (S Club 7) and Rom Fletcher (McFly) played the title role.

And now, over 40 years since Oliver! first took the stage, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Makentosh are looking for new talent to play Nancy and Oliver in the brand new stage production, coming later in 2008. Stay with us here at I'd Do Anything to find out who...

Unfamiliar with the plot of Oliver!? Click here to read all about it.

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