Lionel Bart's Oliver!

"Oliver!" is such a great piece for schools and amateur companies to do. I sang on the original film and have been involved in three stage productions over the years and think it's a wonderful work.I saw the London 1994 revival and that, too, was great - with breathtaking sets rivalling the iconic Sean Kenny constructions for the original production. I was surprised, however, by the music: things had been re-written and songs which were so familiar had been "mucked about". For instance, the first number ("Food, Glorious Food") was no longer in a straight 4/4 tempo: there were odd beats here and there added/removed which (in my opinion) made the song limp awkwardly in some places. On the other hand, Lionel Bart was himself involved in preparing the new musical versions so they are at least authentic.I'd like to know more about how this version came about but I can guarantee that it will give the greatest pleasure to anyone who has been involved in a production using the original musical arrangements. It's not complete: Mr Sowerbery's song, for instance, is missing (though Nickolas Grace is credited in the sleeve-liner as Mr Sowerbery); so is the love song from Act 1 between Widow Corney (Sheila Hancock credited here) and Mr Bumble. But there's plenty of energy and some superb singer/singing. Nancy is sung by Josephine Barstow and Bill Sykes by Richard Van Allan. Jean Rigby sings in the street-sellers' song (which is rather operatic). Wow!The children's chorus is provided by the boys of King's College School, Wimbledon and their diction is perfect (too perfect?).The orchestrations (full symphony orchestra here) are generous and full of colour. Minimum "mucking about" of stuff which people will recognise fondly from their own productions if you had the luxury of at least some instrumentalists.It's a great musical and despite some odd omissions and the lack of information about how it came to be recorded in this way, I have no hesitation in recommending this interesting recording.

perfect for my daughter to practice for her end of school performance as Nancy.

An excellent version

Good easy music