Wednesday 25 October 2000—Saturday 28 October 2000

Composer and songwriter Lionel Bart passed away in April of 1999. He had no formal musical training and despite reversals of fortune in his later years, he has earned comparisons with the greatest songwriters of the century and was instrumental in reviving post war English musical comedy.

‘Oliver!’ is his most enduring success, for which he wrote a book, the music and the lyrics. Lionel Bart based his musical, ‘Oliver!’ on the classic Dickens novel, freely adapting the story of the poor orphan who has the audacity to ask for ‘more’; falls in with the Artful Dodger, Fagin and his gang of young pickpockets and ends life happily reunited with his true family.

First staged in 1960 and still going strong, after an Oscar-laden 1968 film and hugely successful West End revival in 1994, Oliver! is filled with some of the best known songs ever written. ‘Consider Yourself’, ‘Food Glorious Food’, ‘Pick a Pocket or Two’, ‘It’s a Fine Life’, ‘I’d Do Anything’, ‘As Long as He Needs Me’ are just a few of the delightful numbers which make this show a must for all the family.