The stage and screen musical of Dickens' classic Oliver Twist. Oliver is an orphan who was born in a workhouse. After an unhappy apprenticeship, Oliver runs away to London where he falls in with thieves, headed by Fagin. He is rescued by Mr Brownlow but the gang kidnap him back. Oliver discovers the identity of his parents and the gang is exposed.

A stunning promenade performance bringing the audience into the heart of the performance - enthusiastic acclaim from those that saw it.

Performed as Promenade Theatre in the Burgess Hall, St. Ives in July 2004.

Oliver! was the first musical adaptation of a Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit, one of the reasons why it attracted attention. The show launched the careers of several child actors, including Davy Jones, later of The Monkees; Phil Collins, later of Genesis; Alan Paul, later of The Manhattan Transfer; and Tony Robinson, who later played the role of Baldrick in the television series Blackadder. The singer Steve Marriott, Small Faces also featured in early line-ups, eventually graduating to the role of Artful Dodger in the West End production.

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 (Oliver Twist(1948)), 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.