Theatre Register
Oliver!

Oliver!

Shows · Oliver!

Lionel Bart’s Oliver !, which opened in London in 1960, held the West End long-run record for a musical until overtaken by Jesus Christ Superstar , and its Broadway facsimile — also directed by Peter Cole and designed by Sean Kenny — was the longest running musical import until overtaken by Evita.

Opened
1963
Performances
774
Type
Musical
Era
Golden Age
Music: Lionel BartLyrics: Lionel BartBook: Lionel Bart

Productions3 on Broadway

1963 Imperial Theatre Original. January 6, 1963 · Peter Cole 774 performances
1965 Martin Beck Theatre Return-Engagement. August 2, 1965 · Peter Coe 64 performances
1984 Mark Hellinger Theatre Revival. April 29, 1984 · Peter Coe 17 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International Oliver! matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature43 passages

Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! is also about a young orphan who escapes a life of deprivation by being adopted by a wealthy gentleman. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p240

Oliver! ran 774 performances. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p404

Producer David Merrick knew he was in trouble with his transfer of the London hit Oliver! He had the smarts to keep the show in an extended West Coast tryout (which put the production in the black!) and to record the original cast album prior to New York and plant the songs on the airwaves. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p174

A 1984 Broadway revival of Oliver! (starring movie Fagin Ron Moody and Patti LuPone) and a softened, retooled 1987 revival of Follies in the West End were rare missteps. book:broadway-musicals-the-101-greatest-shows-of-all-time-bloom-ken-1949-vlastnik-fra#p271

Earlier British shows that made it on Broadway included The Boy Friend (1954) and Oliver! (1963), but many believed that the true “invasion” came with the shows with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p41

He also produced the Broadway revivals of Oliver! (1984) and Carousel (1994), both of which originated in London. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p244

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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