Track Listing

1. Prologue - Anna Francolini, Josephine Gordon, The Orchestra
2. Food, Glorious Food - Gregory Bradley & Workhouse Children
3. Oliver! - Jenny Galloway, James Saxon, Workhouse Children
4. Widow Corney's Parlour - The Orchestra
5. I Shall Scream - Jenny Galloway, James Saxon
6. Boy for Sale - Jenny Galloway, James Saxon
7. That's Your Funeral - Julie Deakin, David Delve, James Saxon
8. Where Is Love? - Gregory Bradley, Rosalind James & Gang
9. Oliver's Escape - Gregory Bradley, The Orchestra
10. Consider Yourself - Gregory Bradley & Company, Adam Searles
11. Rum Tum Tum - Jonathan Pryce
12. You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two - Jonathan Pryce
13. It's a Fine Life - Sally Dexter, Rosalind James & Gang
14. I'd Do Anything - Gregory Bradley, Sally Dexter, Rosalind James, Jonathan Pryce, Adam Searles
15. Be Back Soon - Jonathan Pryce
16. Robbery - James Villiers & Orchestra
17. Oom-Pah-Pah - Sally Dexter & Company
18. My Name - Miles Anderson
19. As Long as He Needs Me - Sally Dexter
20. Where Is Love (Reprise) - Carmel McSharry
21. Who Will Buy? - Gregory Bradley & Company
22. It's a Fine Life (Reprise) - Miles Anderson, Sally Dexter, Jonathan Pryce, Adam Searles
23. Reviewing the Situation - Jonathan Pryce
24. Oliver! (Reprise) - Jenny Galloway, James Saxon
25. As Long as He Needs Me (Reprise) - Sally Dexter, James Villers
26. London Bridge - Miles Anderson, Crowd, Sally Dexter, Jonathan Pryce, James Villers
27. Reviewing the Situation (Reprise) - Jonathan Pryce

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43223 in Music
• Released on: 1995-04-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.com
Trust the musical theater to make life as an orphan sound, well, almost fun. After opening on the West End in 1960, Lionel Bart's Oliver! successfully transferred to Broadway, prefacing the British invasion of the 1970s and 1980s. Sam Mendes, who also directed acclaimed London productions of Company and Cabaret (the latter one moving on to Broadway) was at the helm for this version and certainly got things moving at a clip--especially since Lionel Bart wrote some new music and lyrics and the score was snappily rearranged. Jonathan Pryce is a suitably larger-than-life Fagin, and Sally Dexter shines as Nancy--her confrontation with Fagin and Miles Anderson's Bill Sikes in a new reprise of "It's a Fine Life" is pricelessly nasty. Going for maximum oomph and minimum sappiness, this swell recording may make even Oliver! haters reconsider. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Broadway is Not Always Best
What is there left unsaid to say about this great recording? I just found out that my high school will be performing Oliver next year, so I thought I would have to purchase a cast recording of the show. I was not sure whether or not I should get the Original Broadway Cast or the 1994 London Cast. Well, after reading the reviews for this CD I decided to purchase this one. Let me start off the review by saying that this is one of the most well casted shows I have come across in a long while. Jonathan Pryce's Fagin is excellent. He is dark yet playful and Sally Dexter's Nancy is magnificent. I especially like her songs "It's a Fine Life" and "I'll Do Anything". All of the orphans do a great job. Artful Dodger is great, forgive me I forget his name, he is one of the best I have heard. The rest of the supporting cast is beyond comparison. They blow everyone else away.

Another thing I really like about this recording as opposed to the Original Broadway Cast is that the tempo is peppier and in my opinion this makes listening to this CD much more enjoyable. The tempo keeps the songs and storyline going. Please invest in this CD, it is magical.

Excellent Cast and Great Music
This recording has a lot of pep and energy and feeling -- the characters all seem to come to life and you can sense that the cast put their hearts into their perfomance. Bill Sikes certainly sounds scary and mean; Fagin is delightfully sneaky; and the Artful Dodger is boyish, wild, and clever. Sally Dexter is wonderfully cast as Nancy and she can go from brash to mellow, depending on the mood of the song (her "As Long As He Needs Me" is quite moving and full of emotion). And for me (an American) the saucy Cockney accents are delighftul!

The only problem I have with this recording is the boy who plays Oliver. He has a good Broadway voice, but he sounds like a little adult -- vibrato everywhere -- and he just does not sound like the innocent, wide-eyed child Oliver was supposed to be. I also think he goes a little flat sometimes (because of the excessive vibrato). Nevertheless, he has a nice, strong voice, and after you get used to it you may even start to like it.

Overall, this is a first-class recording of an exciting musical full of good music -- and an excellent cast.

Super cast!
This is a great recording of "Oliver!" Everyone sings incredibly! Gregory Bradley is an excellent Oliver, and Adam Searles is awesome as Dodger. But then, he was awesome as Gavroche, too. Jenny Galloway is perfect for the part of Widow Corney (and for Mme Thénardier in Les Mis). I'd say those three are the best in the cast, but the others are great too. Jenny Galloway and James Saxon are hilarious in "I Shall Scream." Sally Dexter's rendering of "As Long as He Needs Me" and the following scene on the London Bridge left me in tears--and that was just from listening to the CD!

In short, this is an excellent recording of an excellent, though heartbreaking, musical. Get it!