Oliver!
- Buy Tickets Online
The curtain opens on the sinister interior of the workhouse with Mr Bumble calling the boys to supper. The boys enter singing “Food Glorious Food” and takes their places at the tables to receive the meagre portions of gruel. Once finished, the hapless Oliver approaches Bumble with the entreaty, “Please sir, I want some more.” He is chased and captured and is imprisoned, facing an uncertain future.
Oliver is brought forward, bag and baggage, and is led off by Bumble who sings the haunting Boy for Sale. Walking through the streets of London, they arrive at Mr. Sowerberry’s, the undertaker. Oliver is “sold” to the undertaker. Alone and frightened and surrounded by coffins on stage, he sings the plaintive Where Is Love?
Oliver runs away the very next morning, and is picked up hungry and tired in the streets by the Artful Dodger who cheers him up with Consider Yourself. The Dodger leads him through crowded streets to Fagin’s kitchen. The boys come in and Fagin himself appears and, with a mock solemn welcome to Oliver, sings the fantastic You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two. Nancy, Bill Sykes’ girl and Bet arrive. The two of them, accompanied by the boys and Fagin, celebrate their way of life in It’s a Fine Life. The next morning when Fagin sends the boys off on a pocket-picking expedition, Oliver among them.
In the second act the curtain rises on the “Three Cripples”-an underworld tavern-where Nancy is being encouraged to sing a music hall number, Oom-Pah-Pah. Fagin and Sykes learn of Oliver’s apprehension by the police, at the same time revealing that his innocence has been established and that he is presently ensconced in the home of a rich old gentleman. Fearful lest he give away their set-up, Fagin and Sykes dispatch Nancy to get Oliver back.
Meanwhile, at the home of his new-found benefactor, Oliver has become a well-tailored, well-cared for little lad. Looking out of his bedroom window he observes some passing street vendors crying their wares; he sings Who Will Buy? A plea that his good luck and new situation in life will be permanent. However, the moment he sets foot outside his benefactor’s house, Oliver is seized and dragged off by Nancy to Fagin’s.
In the next scene Fagin occupies the empty stage and considers going straight in Reviewing the Situation. Subsequently, Bumble and Mrs. Corney, now uncomfortably married, discover that Oliver is the scion of a rich family. Their scheme to get him back fails and Nancy, regretting her part in the capture of Oliver, plans to return him to his benefactor at night on London Bridge. Fearful of Sykes, she reprises As Long as He Needs Me. Sykes stalks her and kills her. He grabs Oliver and, after a chase, is himself shot dead. Oliver is restored to his benefactor and Fagin, now without boys, home and money, reprises Reviewing the Situation.