Cocktail Party Fact: When Oliver! opened, New York was in the midst of a protracted newspaper strike, so no one would have had the opportunity to read the rave notices had the seven New York newspapers allowed the publication of FIRSTNITE, which printed reviews by their drama critics. Another fun fact is that the Artful Dodger was played in the original company by child actor David Jones who became somewhat better known as Davey Jones of the Monkees. Barry Humphries, also in the original cast, has achieved a different kind of fame, as Dame Edna Everidge, his regal Australian drag creation who has convulsed the United Kingdom for years.

Here’s The Plot: Little orphan Oliver Twist is able to leave the dark and brutal workhouse when he is sold to a local undertaker. He runs away and meets the Artful Dodger, a young pickpocket in the charge of Fagin, an old reprobate who commands a band of young boys to steal for him. When Oliver is caught after trying to steal someone’s purse, he is seen by a kindly old man, Mr. Brownlow. Brownlow takes the boy to his home, feeling that Oliver resembles his long lost daughter. Fagin, fearful that Oliver will reveal his hideout (and afraid of his murderous colleague Bill Sikes) arranges for Oliver to be kidnapped and returned to him. Brownlow finds out that Oliver is indeed his grandson, and the chase is on to rescue the boy from the clutches of Sikes. In the end, the good are reunited, the bad punished, and old Fagin and the Artful Dodger are off to new adventures.

Memorable Melodies: “Food, Glorious Food,” “Oliver!,” “Where Is Love?,” “Consider Yourself,” “You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two,” “I’d Do Anything,” “As Long As He Needs Me,” and “Who Will Buy?.”

Vital Statistics: Music, book and lyrics by Lionel Bart, adapted from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Directed by Peter Coe. Originally produced on Broadway by David Merrick and Donald Albery. Opened on January 6, 1963 at the Imperial Theater and ran 774 performances.

Why See It?: One of the trickiest elements of Oliver! is its treatment on Fagin, a character of vile anti-Semitic caricature in the book and the British film which starred Alec Guinness. Bart was able to transform him into such a charming and lovable rascal that an all Hebrew version was performed in Israel in 1966. Such scenes as Oliver singing “Who Will Buy” accompanied by the cries of the street vendors below him are moments unique to Musical Theater — they evoke mood, place, time and emotion with song, dance and setting.