Oliver!: A Dickensian Musical

With OLIVER! A DICKENSIAN MUSICAL, Marc Napolitano has made a wonderful contribution to the study and history of musical theater. His thoroughly researched and intelligent observations give us tremendous insight into Lionel Bart's groundbreaking musical version of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist." By the time we reach the last page of Napolitano's book, we understand just exactly why OLIVER! is a great show and a cultural phenomenon. More importantly, we discover how Bart, through this show, brought significant changes to the musical form. A fan of the show since childhood, Napolitano understands fully why it touches such a chord deep inside us in such a delightful way, fifty-five years after its debut in England. Among other things, Bart's masterpiece --- and indeed "masterpiece" almost seems like an understatement - paved the way for later English musical transplants to America.But first things first. Napolitano starts by doing an exhaustive -- but not exhausting --- comparison of the various stage and screen adaptations of Dickens' novel that came before Bart decided to turn it into a musical. This by itself is terrific background for what is yet to come. He informs us of the cultural context of both the book and these adaptations. Then he brings Bart into the picture.Born into extreme poverty in the East End of London during the Great Depression, Bart was hardly a likely candidate for musical theater immortality. He could not play a musical instrument nor could he read or write notes. (Actually this is not all that unusual among our great writers of musicals; many of them were also musically untrained.) Yet he was a cockney and a Jew, two parts of his heritage he brought into OLIVER!, particularly in the music. Gradually he moved into the English theater of the mid 1950's. His method, also used by many of our great musical writers, was to sing or whistle his tunes into a tape recorder, for a more trained arranger to transcribe into readable musical notes.At the same time that he was moving into the theater, Bart met up with a young, former merchant marine, named Tommy Steele, who had also been born into poverty. Within a year, Steele and Bart had taken the English pop music world by storm. Steele became the English Elvis Presley, whose biggest hit songs were either written or co-written by Bart.It was for Steele that Bart first conceived the idea of turning "Oliver Twist" into a musical. But soon Bart realized that there was really no part in the show for Steele. Nevertheless he persevered. He was turned down by almost every producer in London. The producers believed the material was too depressing for audiences. Finally, however, he got his chance.But world wide success came with a lot of blood, sweat and tears for Bart. There were arguments with producers, difficulties with Ron Moody over his performance as Fagin in the original British production, claims by others that they helped in the writing of the show and therefore deserved credit and royalties, and many other challenges, all of which Napolitano describes in great detail. Napolitano also analyzes the film version ( of which he is particularly fond), which was another frustration for Bart. Finally he provides the sad account of how Bart lost his copyrights --- and millions and millions of dollars/pounds -- to the show.This book is crammed with so much fascinating material, not simply about OLIVER! and Lionel Bart, but also the state of musical theater at the time of the show, both in England and on Broadway. I had to read the book twice in order to take it all in. But I learned so much.As a bonus, the publisher, Oxford University Press, has thoughtfully and generously created an online companion resource to the book presented in the form of five appendices containing additional material.Whether you're a casual member of the audience, a musical theater buff, or a serious theater professional, this book should be mandatory reading. I can't recommend it enough.

A detailed and fascinating history of a great musical -- great fun for fans of OLIVER!

Truly insightful book about the making of Oliver, the stage musical and Oliver the film and cultural phenomen.

Well documented if a little dry but the facts are all there.

Wonderful book on my favorite musical - stage and film. Part of the great Oxford books on musical. I can't recommend it high enough.

Wonderful book about the history of the musical Oliver. Full of facts and anecdotes that any thespian would love. I would have liked better pictures and photographs however, as it would have been a pleasant interruption to the large amount of text. Very interesting read

Ive allways loved this story and have red a lot of things I didn't know before.

Excellent book: well researched and incisive. Highly recommended.