Cameron Mackintosh to Bring OLIVER! Back to Broadway

According to the Daily Mail in February, Cameron Mackintosh wanted to adapt Lionel Bart's OLIVER! for the big screen, following the success of Tom Hooper's LES MISERABLES film adaptation. They noted that Mackintosh was eyeing Stephen Daldry as director for OLIVER! and that he would like to revive OLIVER! on Broadway with Les Mis star Samantha Barks as 'Nancy' before attempting a film version of the musical.

Today, Michael Riedel reports that in addition to upcoming productions of MISS SAIGON, BARNUM and a Broadway return of LES MIS that "As if three shows weren't enough, Mackintosh is also planning a Broadway revival of "Oliver!" Lionel Bart's chirpy old musical hasn't been seen in New York since a short-lived 1983 production starring Patti LuPone. It's said to be Mackintosh's favorite musical, and it's how he got his start in the theater. "Oliver!" played the New Theatre in London in 1960, and a teenage Mackintosh got a job polishing the brass railing in the theater lobby."

The 1968 film version of OLIVER! by Carol Reed won six Oscars, including best picture and best director. Mackintosh's film would feature a new screenplay and re-orchestrated songs. Mackintosh produced the UK's recent revival of OLIVER! in 2009, which played record-breaking run at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, before heading on a national tour.

Samantha Barks, who also appeared as 'Eponine' in the Les Mis film, just finished her run with the UK tour of OLIVER! before filming Les Miserables.

Based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, OLIVER! premiered in the West End in 1960, directed by Peter Coe and featuring Ron Moody as Fagin, Georgia Brown as Nancy and Keith Hamshere as Oliver. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1963 at the Imperial Theatre, with Bruce Prochnik as Oliver, Georgia Brown, reprising her West End role as Nancy, and Clive Revill as Fagin. The Broadway production received 10 Tony nominations. It was revived very shortly after in 1965, and then again in London in 1977. The subsequent London revival in 1983-produced by Mackintosh-transferred to Broadway in 1984, starring Patti LuPone alongside Ron Moody. Mackintosh then produced another revival in 1994, directed by Sam Mendes, leading up to the most recent 2009 revival of OLIVER!

Mackintosh has produced some of the most successful musicals of all time, including Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. His West End producing credits include Anything Goes, Oklahoma!, Cats, Little Shop of Horrors, Abbacadabara, The Boy Friend, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Follies, Miss Saigon, Moby Dick, Carousel, Oliver!, Martin Guerre, The Fix, The Witches of Eastwick, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Sunday in the Park with George, Avenue Q, Hair and Betty Blue Eyes. On Broadway, Mackintosh has produced Cats, Oliver!, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Carousel, Swan Lake, Martin Guerre, Putting It Together, Oklahoma! and Mary Poppins. He is currently planning a re-imagined revival of Les Mis on Broadway and Miss Saigon in London.