The acclaimed original principal cast of Cameron Mackintosh’s award-winning production of Lionel Bart’s timeless Oliver! will remain with the production as enters its second year at London’s Gielgud Theatre.
Tag Archives | Lionel Bart
Oliver! – Gielgud Theatre
Oliver! continues at the Gielgud Theatre, London, booking until until 29 March 2026. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ A marriage made in heaven between arguably Charles Dickens’ finest work, indubitably Lionel Bart’s – so many instantly recognisable songs – and the supreme Matthew Bourne as director-choreographer.
Five Questions With: John Barr
Acclaimed West End actor and singer JOHN BARR (Les Misérables, Evita, Aspects of Love) is currently playing iconic British songwriter Lionel Bart in It’s A Fine Life at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch (29 April to 4 May 2024 and touring until 20 September).
West End transfer for new production of Oliver!
Cameron Mackintosh and Chichester Festival Theatre’s new production of Lionel Bart’s timeless Oliver! will follow its summer debut in Chichester by transferring to the West End at the end of the year.
Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh re-conceive Oliver! for Chichester Festival Theatre
A major new production of Lionel Bart’s timeless Oliver! will feature in Justin Audibert’s first season as artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT).
Online live fundraiser to feature song from lost Lionel Bart musical
Maureen Lipman will give a world exclusive performance of the title song from a lost musical by Lionel Bart and Roger Cook as part of an online live fundraiser in February. Lipman will sing the title song from Next Year In Jerusalem (a musical inspired by the life of Israeli stateswoman Golda Meir which has […]
An icon who became a national treasure – A tribute to Barbara Windsor
Dame Barbara Windsor DBE, who has died at the age of 83, will be celebrated for her work on stage, in films and on television. A popular figure very much of her time, she embodied the sort of success story that no longer happens. Michael Darvell remembers the talent that was Barbara Windsor… Born Barbara […]
Blitz! – Union Theatre
Blitz! continues at the Union Theatre, London until 7 March 2020. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ For the second leg of their VE Day 75th anniversary trilogy, the Union has dusted down Lionel Bart’s Blitz! which ran alongside the same composer’s iconic Oliver! in the West End in 1962 and given […]
Jessica Martin to star in BLITZ! at the Union Theatre
Stage and screen star Jessica Martin will head the cast of Lionel Bart’s BLITZ! at London’s Union Theatre from 5 February until 7 March 2020. The actress whose 30-year career includes starring roles in hit productions of Me and My Girl and Spamalot, will play Mrs Blitztein, a Petticoat Lane market trader and the formidable […]
London School of Musical Theatre – Lock Up Your Daughters
Lock Up Your Daughters, performed by London School of Musical Theatre students at the Bridewell Theatre, London. Star rating: four stars ★★★★☆ It was a courageuos move by the LSMT to follow a full-proof show like A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, with Lock Up Your Daughters, for although it had been an instant […]
Twang!! – Union Theatre
Twang!! continues at the Union Theatre, London until 5 May 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The original production of Lionel Bart’s Twang!! opened in the West End in December 1965 and despite a stellar cast including James Booth, Barbara Windsor, Ronnie Corbett and Bernard Bresslaw, it ran for only 43 […]
Updated version of Lionel Bart’s Twang!! to play at the Union Theatre
The updated version of Lionel Bart’s 1965 musical Twang!! will make its professional debut at Union Theatre next month. Featuring Bart’s original music and lyrics, a new book by Julian Woolford and arrangements and orchestrations by Richard John and Oli Jackson, the production will play the London venue from 11 April until 5 May. The […]
Oliver! – Grange Park Opera
Oliver! continues at the Grange Park Opera at The Grange, Northington, Hampshire until 2 July. Rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Getting to the latest revival of Lionel Bart’s 1960 masterpiece in deepest Hampshire is quite a schlepp. Just when you think you’ve cracked it, there’s yet another narrow, windy country lane to […]
Oliver! at Grange Park Opera – Jodie Jacobs and Simon Lipkin star
The classic musical Oliver! will be the first of the four productions that will make up this year’s Grange Park Opera Festival at The Grange in Hampshire. This year’s Swansong Festival begins on 2 June with the company’s version of Lionel Bart’s timeless re-working of Oliver Twist performed in the picturesque grounds of one of […]
Oliver! – Curve Leicester
Oliver! continues at Curve Leicester until 23 January 2016. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ There’s a zany quality to Paul Kerryson’s production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! at Curve, especially visible in the dark opening scenes in the workhouse. The angular, regimented choreography of the orphans and servants has a touch of madness and […]
Oliver! – Watermill Theatre, Newbury
Oliver! continues at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury until 19 September. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With embryonic rumours that Cameron Mackintosh has been trying to produce a film revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! and the previous national production having finished touring in 2013, it is as timely as Fagin’s collection of pocket […]
Interview – Luke Sheppard brings a new dimension to Oliver! at the Watermill Theatre
LUKE SHEPPARD, a young director with a varied – and critically lauded – handful of shows under his (relatively) newly-donned belt, talks to Musical Theatre Review’s Oliver Beatson about his latest production, the Watermill Theatre’s up-and-coming production of Oliver! In what looks to be Oliver! with a twist – the production (playing at the Newbury venue from 31 July to 19 September) will offer the theatre’s signature integrated-musician […]
Oliver! at the Watermill – full company revealed
The Watermill has announced its full company for its upcoming summer production of Lionel Bart’s multi-award winning musical Oliver!, opening on Friday 31 July and playing until Saturday 19 September. Directed by Luke Sheppard, this brand new production will bring an immersive and site responsive twist to Bart’s much-loved musical, with London’s murky Victorian underworld reimagined in and around the […]
The Watermill Theatre summer musical is Oliver!, directed by Luke Sheppard
The Watermill Theatre, Newbury’s summer musical will be a brand new production of Lionel Bart’s multi award-winning musical Oliver!, opening on Friday 31 July until Saturday 19 September (press night is Thursday 6 August). Tickets are on general sale from Monday 27 April. Directed by Luke Sheppard, The Watermill’s trademark actor-musicians will bring a new twist to Bart’s much-loved musical […]
Oliver! is Curve Theatre Leicester’s Christmas musical, directed by Paul Kerryson
Curve Theatre, Leicester has announced its Christmas musical for 2015 will be a new production of Lionel Bart’s masterpiece Oliver! Opening on 2 December 2015, with previews from 27 November, the production also sees Paul Kerryson return as director. Based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Bart’s award-winning musical opened in the West End in 1960, ahead of its Broadway […]
The Story of Bart – London Hippodrome
The Story of Bart was performed at the London Hippodrome Matcham Rooms. For almost two hours at the London Hippodrome, John Barr WAS Lionel Bart, so much so that my companion asked innocently on the way out: “I wonder what Lionel’s doing next?” Say no more! Bart died in sad circumstances in 1999, but Barr brought […]
Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be – Theatre Royal Stratford East
Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be continues at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London until 8 June. Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be was initially developed in 1959 by Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop Company at Theatre Royal Stratford East before transferring to the West End, where it won an Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and launched […]
Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be opens at Stratford East
Coinciding with Joan Littlewood’s centenary, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be has its official opening at Theatre Royal Stratford East this coming week in new version by Olivier-nominated Elliot Davis. The show is directed by the multi award-winning Terry Johnson, and Jessie Wallace and Gary Kemp lead the cast. Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be was initially […]
