William McCue

BWW Reviews: Lyric Music Theater Essays OLIVER! Revival

In this season of ubiquitous productions of A Christmas Carol, a production of Lionel Bart's Oliver! comes as a welcome Dickensian alternative. South Portland's Lyric Music Theater has mounted a very respectable revival of Bart's 1960 musical based on Oliver Twist. A curious but catchy melange of dark drama and vaudeville, Oliver! survives in its trio of principal characters, Fagin, Nancy, and Sykes, and the memorable music Bart has written for them.