Shanay Holmes in Concert at Cadogan Hall, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ Fresh from her award-winning West End run as Nancy in Oliver!, Shanay Holmes performed her first-ever solo concert at Cadogan Hall in London.
Tag Archives | Oliver!
Transmission date for National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals 2026
The BBC has confirmed the recording of the fifth instalment of the popular National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 28 March at 7.45pm.
Celebrate London Theatre Week with London Box Office
Musical Theatre Review readers, we have some exciting news for you. We have teamed up with LondonBoxOffice.co.uk to tell you all about London Theatre Week which is back and bigger than ever.
Oliver! original principals to remain with the West End production
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.
Black British Theatre Awards 2025 winners announced
Shanay Holmes, Beverley Knight and Jay Perry were among the winners at the 2025 Black British Theatre Awards (BBTAs).
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof each win three prizes at the Olivier Awards 2025
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof were among the most awarded shows at the Olivier Awards with Mastercard at London’s Royal Albert Hall, hosted by Beverley Knight and Billy Porter.
Olivier Awards 2025 – Fiddler on the Roof is the most nominated production
The nominations for the Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard have been announced and Fiddler on the Roof is leading the way, having been recognised in 13 categories.
Music Review: Oliver! – 2024 London Cast Recording
Oliver! – 2024 London Cast Recording (First Night Records). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Please sir, we want some more!
Starlight Express wins big at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2025
The most awarded show of the evening at the 25th annual WhatsOnStage Award was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, taking home seven out of its nine nominations and winning Best Musical Revival.
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.
Double win for Leeds Playhouse’s Oliver! at the UK Theatre Awards
The winners of this year’s UK Theatre Awards have been announced at a ceremony hosted by Faye Tozer, which took place at 8 Northumberland Avenue. The UK Theatre Awards celebrate the very best of theatre across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Awards are given for creative excellence and outstanding work both on and off […]
Oliver! – Chichester Festival Theatre
Oliver! continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 7 September 2024. The production will begin performances at the Gielgud Theatre, London on 14 December 2024. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This show is not lavish; it’s densely packed and full of good stuff like a hearty pie-and-mash supper.
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).
Only two musicals make the Top 20 in Daily Mail’s 100 greatest classic films ever
Film musicals, notably Oscar winners My Fair Lady, Chicago and Cabaret, get the brush-off and only six make the Daily Mail’s top 100 greatest classic films ever list.
Oliver! – Leeds Playhouse
Oliver! continues at the Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse until 27 January 2023. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ Unlike A Christmas Carol, Oliver! is not strictly one of the regular seasonal signposts hoisted at this time to celebrate the durability of human goodness. But Lionel Bart took Dickens’ exposé of child labour and cruelty and turned it into a jaunty East End romp which, musically at least, at Leeds fits the bill for a Yuletide pick me up.
Newsfeed 17 November 2023: Adam Garcia to play Caractacus Potts in new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour, The King and I Dominion run and more
Adam Garcia to play Caractacus Potts in new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour Olivier Award nominee Adam Garcia will star as Caractacus Potts in the eagerly awaited new touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang next year. An Olivier Award nominee for his performances as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Bill Calhoun in […]
Remembering Donald Pippin (1926-2022) – Broadway’s favourite musical director, conductor and arranger
In many ways Donald Pippin, who has died at the age of 95, was the American musical theatre’s greatest maestro as a musical director and conductor. And from 1955 until 2018 he was also responsible for the vocal arrangements of some of Broadway’s most successful shows. Michael Darvell looks back on a great musical career… […]
Five Questions With: Andrew Wright
The Wright Agency – led by double Olivier Award nominee, double WhatsOnStage and Carl Alan Award-winning choreographer ANDREW WRIGHT – was launched in September 2020 to represent and most importantly celebrate choreographers and associate choreographers in the UK. The agency represents 11 of the UK’s emerging choreographic talent. Its mission is to support those who […]
Book Review: Victorians On Broadway – Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
VICTORIANS ON BROADWAY – Sharon Aronofsky Weltman (University of Virginia Press – ISBN: 978-0-8139-4432-6) Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Broadway productions of musicals such as The King and I, Oliver!, Sweeney Todd and Jekyll and Hyde became huge theatrical hits. Remarkably, all were based on one-hundred-year-old British novels or memoirs. What […]
Rachel Tucker to go on first solo UK tour
Wicked star Rachel Tucker will follow up her triumphant nine-month Broadway run and her recent return to the show’s West End 10th anniversary cast by heading out on her first solo UK tour. Tucker, who has played Elphaba longer than any other actress in the multi award-winning production’s history, will take a break from 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 […]
Samantha Barks – album and concert tour set for June
Stage and screen rising star Samantha Barks will release her debut studio album and embark on a UK tour in June. The singer/actress who first found fame as a finalist on the BBC TV talent show I’d Do Anything will return to the stage in early June to perform tracks from her forthcoming album which will be […]
New theatre company Jord&Co Productions launched
Royal Academy of Music graduate Jordan Li-Smith has launched a theatre company aimed at producing both new and rarely seen material on the London stage. With Li-Smith serving as artistic director, Jord&Co Productions is also promising to offer aspiring performers the chance to develop their theatre skills through an extensive workshop programme. The Wrexham-born musical […]
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! at Leicester Curve – Peter Polycarpou, Cat Simmons and Laura Pitt-Pulford cast
Curve today announced casting for the theatre’s production of Lionel Bart’s classic musical, Oliver! Marking the first Christmas under Curve’s new leadership team of chief executive Chris Stafford and artistic director Nikolai Foster, the news comes at the end of Curve’s most successful year to date, which saw the theatre’s turnover reach £7.8 million, their […]
Kerry Ellis – The Pheasantry, London
Kerry Ellis performed in cabaret at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Seven months pregnant and thankfully unrestricted by the catsuit she wore when taking over Grizabella from Nicole Scherzinger at the London Palladium earlier in the year, Kerry Ellis is in wickedly good form for her short residency in the Kings Road cabaret room, […]
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 […]
Let’s pay tribute to actor Ron Moody – and for more than just one role
Ron Moody (8 January 1924–11 June 2015). If there was one part that Ron Moody will always be remembered for, it was his role as Fagin in Lionel Bart’s 1960 musical Oliver! However, there was more to the actor than just a single, successful role, as Michael Darvell explains… Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick in Tottenham, […]
Just Jim Dale – Still Carrying On – Vaudeville Theatre
Just Jim Dale – Still Carrying On continues at the Vaudeville Theatre, London until 20 June. Star rating: 4 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ “What are you off to see at the theatre?” asks my 18-year-old babysitter. “It’s a one-man show,” I reply, “performed by Jim Dale. He’s best known in this country for appearing in 11 Carry On movies. […]
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 […]
Miss Saigon sweeps the board at WhatsOnStage Awards
Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Miss Saigon won a record-breaking nine WhatsOnStage Awards at a star-studded ceremony last night at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre. The 15th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, voted for by the theatre-going public, were hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Steve Furst (the latter is currently appearing in Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi […]
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 […]
Kerry Ellis – The Pheasantry
Kerry Ellis performed at The Pheasantry, London. What a pleasure to see Kerry Ellis and hear her gorgeous voice in such an intimate venue, accompanied by just a piano, after having admired her in Wicked, Oliver! and My Fair Lady. I was first saw Ellis 13 years ago in the National Theatre revival of My Fair […]
Oliver! – Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Oliver! continues at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until 25 January, 2014. If I’m the one who’s reviewing the situation, the Crucible’s Oliver! could transfer to Broadway tomorrow. From top to bottom, it’s that good. It all starts – and ends – with director Daniel Evans and choreographer Alistair David. From ‘Food, Glorious Food’, a slick, […]
Hayley Gallivan in Oliver! at Sheffield Crucible
Actress Hayley Gallivan plays Nancy in Sheffield Crucible’s production of Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! which opens this week. The musical is directed by the theatre’s award-winning artistic director Daniel Evans, who also staged the Crucible’s critically acclaimed productions of My Fair Lady and Tim Firth’s This is My Family (the latter won two UK Theatre Awards). […]
Patti LuPone – Leicester Square Theatre
Playing at the Leicester Square Theatre, London until 23rd June. It’s not often we get a real live Broadway musical theatre legend in the West End and fans, among them Adele, were out in force for Patti LuPone’s opening night at the Leicester Square Theatre. A belter in the Ethel Merman tradition and an actress […]
