Oliver!: A Dickensian Musical by Marc Napolitano

By Marc Napolitano

whilst the express was once first produced in 1960, at a time whilst transatlantic musical theatre used to be ruled by means of American productions, Oliver! already stood out for its overt Englishness. yet in writing Oliver!, librettist and composer Lionel Bart needed to reconcile the Englishness of his Dickensian resource with the yankee characteristics of the built-in e-book musical. to take action, he became to the musical traditions that had outlined his upbringing: English track corridor, Cockney road making a song, and East finish Yiddish theatre. This booklet reconstructs the complex biography of Bart's play, from its early inception as a pop musical encouraged via a marketable photo, via its evolution right into a honest Dickensian version that will push English musical theatre to new dramatic heights. The publication additionally addresses Oliver!'s extraordinary reception in its native land, the place audiences answered to the musical's Englishness with a nationalistic fervor. The musical, which has greater than fulfilled its promise as essentially the most renowned English musicals of all time, continues to be one of many country's most vital shows.

Author Marc Napolitano indicates how Oliver!'s recognition has eventually exerted an important effect on separate cultural tendencies. first of all, Bart's version ceaselessly impacted the tradition textual content of Dickens's Oliver Twist; to today, the overall notion of the tale and the innumerable allusions to the unconventional in renowned media are coloured seriously via the attractions, scenes, sounds, and songs from the musical, and almost each significant variation of from the Seventies on has replied to Bart's paintings indirectly. Secondly, Oliver! helped to maneuver the English musical ahead via constructing a post-war English musical culture that might ultimately pave the best way for the worldwide dominance of the West finish musical within the Nineteen Eighties. As such, Napolitano's booklet supplies to be a massive booklet for college students and students in musical theatre reports in addition to to basic readers attracted to the megamusical.

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