The Quick 10: 10 Broadway Musicals Based on Books | Mental Floss The Quick 10: 10 Broadway Musicals Based on Books Image credit: Like us on Facebook Broadway in Chicago recently held a conference on the topic of transforming books into Broadway Musicals, partially due to the success of "Wicked," the longest running Broadway Musical in Chicago history. But "Wicked" wasn't the first work of literature to be interpreted through song on the stage. Here are ten Broadway musicals based on books. 1. "Wicked," "the untold story of the witches of Oz," is based upon the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, which parallels L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz." The story follows the friendship of Glinda, the good witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and what transpired before Dorothy dropped in and started causing trouble. In 2003, "Wicked" opened in New York and quickly became a favorite among Broadway buffs, winning three Tony awards. Success birthed tours across the U.S. and productions worldwide.

More than three million people have seen this play that imagines the lives of two "misunderstood" characters. 2. "Les Miserables" is my (and "American Psycho" Patrick Bateman's) favorite Broadway Musical of all time! Based on one of my favorite books of all time, the 1862 classic by Victor Hugo, in 2006, "Les Miserables" officially became the longest running musical in London's West End history. The original French version of the musical opened in 1980, but soon closed because of budget shortages, even though audiences loved it. In 1985, the Royal Shakespeare Company put on the first English production. Revolving around the themes of revolution and redemption, "Les Miserables" has been seen worldwide in dozens of languages. 3. "The Woman in White," written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, was adapted by Andrew Lloyd Weber into a musical in 2004.

Original star Michael Crawford, who played the grossly obese Count Fosco, had to be replaced by his understudy when he fell ill from over-sweating in the fat suit. 4. "Jane Eyre," a musical based on the novel by Charlotte BrontÃ«, premiered in Wichita, Kansas, with many locals cast in chorus roles and the main characters performed by Broadway professionals. After the small-stage success, the musical slowly transitioned to the Broadway stage in 2000. "Jane Eyre" featured songs about blindness, because at the end of the novel, Mr. Rochester is stricken blind after his estate burns down. 5. I didn't realize this previously, but "Cats" was based on a collection of poems by T.S. Eliot titled, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." With music composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber—including the infamous "Memory"—the play and Eliot's book of poems are whimsical takes on the psychological and sociological behaviors of anthromorphized cats, including Mr. Mistofoffelees, Skimbleshanks, and Grizabella.

When Weber set the poems to music, little did he know "Cats " would become the longest running musical in Broadway history, until another of his musicals (based upon a book) ,"The Phantom of the Opera," broke the record. 6. Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical "Little Women" got the musical treatment as well. The show went through 55 previews before finally premiering at the Virginia Theatre on Broadway in 2005. Unfortunately, the reviews and reception were not positive and after 137 performances, Marmie, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy sang no more. 7. "Dracula" the musical, based on the novel by Bram Stoker, included such song favorites as "Fresh Blood." Composer Frank Wildhorn, generally skewered by the Broadway community, also composed the score for "Jekyll and Hyde." This attempt at a musical Victorian novel was met with disdain as well. Critics found the lyrics "unoriginal" and the plot hard to follow for those unfamiliar with Stoker's novel. Only after the musical moved to Austria did it meet critical and commercial success. 8.

"Lord of the Rings," J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy series, has been adapted for the stage, complete with songs, several times. Despite being categorized as "musicals," the creators scoffed when asked if their productions were "musical theater," saying they created "theatrical adaptations with vital musical elements." Regardless, it's singing hobbits. Cincinnati, Ohio produced and staged all three books (LOTR, The Two Towers, and Return of the King) of the series, and gained much success 9. "Oliver!" was loosely based on the novel "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, and gave us such quotes as, "Please, Sir, I want some mo'"! It premiered at London's West End in 1960 and a London revival opened in 2009. Oliver! was one of the first musical adaptations of a book to become a stage hit, thus heightening interest in adapting other works of literature. Also, the show launched the careers of then child actors, Davy Jones (of The Monkees) and Phil Collins (of Genesis). 10.

"My Fair Lady" is based on "Pygmalion," a play written by George Bernard Shaw that tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney Englishwoman who learns how to pass as lady of society under the tutelage of Henry Higgins. The play opened in 1956, starring Rex Harrison and a previously unknown Julie Andrews, and soon earned the rave review of: "The Perfect Musical." The musical's title refers to one of Shaw's provisional titles for "Pygmalion,"—Fair Eliza.

Producers wanted to call the show "Lady Liza," but soon realized that the marquee would read "Rex Harrison in Lady Liza" and soon settled on "My Fair Lady." March 31, 2009 - 12:14pm BHSU presents musical based on Charles Dickens novel ‘Oliver Twist’ > Black Hills State University > BHSU News & Events By BHSU Communications | June 10, 2014 Summer Stage community performer Zade Dohman plays Oliver in the theatre company's upcoming production of the musical based on Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist." Performance show dates are June 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and June 15 and 22 at 2:30 p.m. For its second performance of the season, Summer Stage at Black Hills State University is presenting Oliver! a musical based on Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist.” The musical, which tells the story of the orphan boy who asked for more, will be performed for two weekends.

Performance show dates are June 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and June 15 and 22 at 2:30 p.m. The musical, by Lionel Bart, was the first musical adaptation of Dickens’ work to become a stage hit. Children from the community are a big part of the productions which includes a magnificent score of well-known songs such as “Food Glorious Food,” “Consider Yourself,” “You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two,” and “As Long As He Needs Me.” The cast of Oliver! includes: Zade Dohman, playing Oliver Twist; Dalton Erskin, playing the Artful Dodger; Bert Juhrend, BHSU associate professor of theatre playing Fagin; Kassi Blue, English major from Rapid City, playing Nancy; Tyler Steffens, recent BHSU graduate, playing Bill Sikes; Peter Amendolar, biology major from Red Wing, Minn., playing Mr. Bumble; Theo Schmidt, BHSU alum, playing Mr.

Brownlow; Rachel Ridinger, psychology major from Alzada, Mont., playing Widow Corney; Steve Boring, BHSU alum, playing Mr. Sowerberry and Mr. Grimwig; Melissa Barnard, speech communication major from Rapid City, playing Mrs. Sowerberry; Shonee Singer, theatre major from Dunlap, Ill., playing Mrs. Bedwin; Gabby Lewis, playing Charlotte Sowerberry; Cole Stocking, outdoor education major from Box Elder, playing Noah Claypool; Elysia Pederson, recent BHSU graduate, playing Old Sally; Izzy Drumm, playing Bet; and Tristen Olsson, playing Charley Bates. Other Summer Stage community performers include: Hanna Bjorkman, Brayden Cathcart, Chloe Lerew, Rylyn Junek, Lyndey Dean, Tim Doerges, Karstin DuPont, Jaci Mollman, Katie O’Shea, Jasmine Stewart, Danielle Valentine, Alyshya Wilde, Sadie Benning, and Chitra McDill all playing orphans. The season wraps up with Moon Over Buffalo, a comedy Ken Ludwig with performances June 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m.

and June 29 at 2:30 p.m. All performances will be in the Pangburn Theatre. The theatre is handicapped accessible. Reservations are recommended. To make reservations or learn more visit , call 605.642.6171, or email Summer.Stage@BHSU.edu . Ticket prices are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors $9 for students and $6 for ages 17 and under. Summer Stage will be offering rides from the parking lot of the theatre. Actions: E-mail | Permalink | BHSU In the News Anything is Possible at Black Hills State University! Faculty, staff, and students are making headlines with their achievements. See what BHSU is in the news for lately. Call 605.642.6215 to share your news item. SparkNotes: Oliver Twist: Character List Character List Plot Overview Analysis of Major Characters Oliver Twist - The novel’s protagonist. Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse, and Dickens uses his situation to criticize public policy toward the poor in 1830s England. Oliver is between nine and twelve years old when the main action of the novel occurs.

Though treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, he is a pious, innocent child, and his charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors. His true identity is the central mystery of the novel. Read an in-depth analysis of Oliver Twist. Fagin - A conniving career criminal. Fagin takes in homeless children and trains them to pick pockets for him. He is also a buyer of other people’s stolen goods. He rarely commits crimes himself, preferring to employ others to commit them—and often suffer legal retribution—in his place. Dickens’s portrait of Fagin displays the influence of anti-Semitic stereotypes. Read an in-depth analysis of Fagin. Nancy - A young prostitute and one of Fagin’s former child pickpockets. Nancy is also Bill Sikes’s lover. Her love for Sikes and her sense of moral decency come into conflict when Sikes abuses Oliver. Despite her criminal lifestyle, she is among the noblest characters in the novel. In effect, she gives her life for Oliver when Sikes murders her for revealing Monks’s plots. Read an in-depth analysis of Nancy. Rose Maylie - Agnes Fleming’s sister, raised by Mrs.

Maylie after the death of Rose’s father. A beautiful, compassionate, and forgiving young woman, Rose is the novel’s model of female virtue. She establishes a loving relationship with Oliver even before it is revealed that the two are related. Mr. Brownlow - A well-off, erudite gentleman who serves as Oliver’s first benefactor. Mr. Brownlow owns a portrait of Agnes Fleming and was engaged to Mr. Leeford’s sister when she died. Throughout the novel, he behaves with compassion and common sense and emerges as a natural leader. Monks - A sickly, vicious young man, prone to violent fits and teeming with inexplicable hatred. With Fagin, he schemes to give Oliver a bad reputation. Bill Sikes - A brutal professional burglar brought up in Fagin’s gang. Sikes is Nancy's pimp and lover, and he treats both her and his dog Bull’s-eye with an odd combination of cruelty and grudging affection. His murder of Nancy is the most heinous of the many crimes that occur in the novel. Mr. Bumble - The pompous, self-important beadle—a minor church official—for the workhouse where Oliver is born. Though Mr.

Bumble preaches Christian morality, he behaves without compassion toward the paupers under his care. Dickens mercilessly satirizes his self-righteousness, greed, hypocrisy, and folly, of which his name is an obvious symbol. Agnes Fleming - Oliver’s mother. After falling in love with and becoming pregnant by Mr. Leeford, she chooses to die anonymously in a workhouse rather than stain her family’s reputation. A retired naval officer’s daughter, she was a beautiful, loving woman. Oliver’s face closely resembles hers. Mr. Leeford - Oliver and Monks’s father, who dies long before the events of the novel. He was an intelligent, high-minded man whose family forced him into an unhappy marriage with a wealthy woman. He eventually separated from his wife and had an illicit love affair with Agnes Fleming. He intended to flee the country with Agnes but died before he could do so. Mr. Losberne - Mrs. Maylie’s family physician. A hot-tempered but good-hearted old bachelor, Mr. Losberne is fiercely loyal to the Maylies and, eventually, to Oliver. Mrs.

Maylie - A kind, wealthy older woman, the mother of Harry Maylie and adoptive “aunt” of Rose. Harry Maylie - Mrs. Maylie’s son. Harry is a dashing young man with grand political ambitions and career prospects, which he eventually gives up to marry Rose. The Artful Dodger - The cleverest of Fagin’s pickpockets. The Dodger’s real name is Jack Dawkins. Though no older than Oliver, the Dodger talks and dresses like a grown man. He introduces Oliver to Fagin. Charley Bates - One of Fagin’s pickpockets. Charley is ready to laugh at anything. Old Sally - An elderly pauper who serves as the nurse at Oliver’s birth. Old Sally steals Agnes’s gold locket, the only clue to Oliver’s identity. Mrs. Corney - The matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born. Mrs. Corney is hypocritical, callous, and materialistic. After she marries Mr. Bumble, she hounds him mercilessly. Noah Claypole - A charity boy and Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice.

Noah is an overgrown, cowardly bully who mistreats Oliver and eventually joins Fagin’s gang. Charlotte - The Sowerberrys’ maid. Charlotte becomes romantically involved with Noah Claypole and follows him about slavishly. Toby Crackit - One of Fagin and Sikes’s associates, crass and not too bright. Toby participates in the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home. Mrs. Bedwin - Mr. Brownlow’s kindhearted housekeeper. Mrs. Bedwin is unwilling to believe Mr. Bumble’s negative report of Oliver’s character. Bull’s-eye - Bill Sikes’s dog. As vicious as his master, Bull’s-eye functions as Sikes’s alter ego. Monks’s mother - An heiress who lived a decadent life and alienated her husband, Mr. Leeford. Monks’s mother destroyed Mr. Leeford’s will, which left part of his property to Oliver. Much of Monks’s nastiness is presumably inherited from her. Mr. Sowerberry - The undertaker to whom Oliver is apprenticed. Though Mr.

Sowerberry makes a grotesque living arranging cut-rate burials for paupers, he is a decent man who is kind to Oliver. Mrs. Sowerberry - Sowerberry’s wife. Mrs. Sowerberry is a mean, judgmental woman who henpecks her husband. Mr. Grimwig - Brownlow’s pessimistic, curmudgeonly friend. Mr. Grimwig is essentially good-hearted, and his pessimism is mostly just a provocative character quirk. Mr. Giles - Mrs. Maylie’s loyal, though somewhat pompous, butler. Mr. Brittles - A sort of handyman for Mrs. Maylie’s estate. It is implied that Mr. Brittles is slightly mentally handicapped. Mrs. Mann - The superintendent of the juvenile workhouse where Oliver is raised. Mrs. Mann physically abuses and half-starves the children in her care. Mr. Gamfield - A brutal chimney sweep. Oliver almost becomes Mr. Gamfield’s apprentice. Bet - One of Fagin’s former child pickpockets, now a prostitute. Mr. Fang - The harsh, irrational, power-hungry magistrate who presides over Oliver’s trial for pickpocketing.

Barney - One of Fagin’s criminal associates. Like Fagin, Barney is Jewish. Duff and Blathers - Two bumbling police officers who investigate the attempted burglary of Mrs. Maylie’s home. Tom Chitling - A rather dim member of Fagin’s gang. Tom has served time in jail for doing Fagin’s bidding. More Help Lionel Bart, 68, Songwriter; Created the Musical 'Oliver!' - The New York Times The New York Times Theater |Lionel Bart, 68, Songwriter; Created the Musical 'Oliver!' Search Lionel Bart, the composer, lyricist and playwright best known for the musical ''Oliver!,'' died on Saturday in Hammersmith Hospital in London, his longtime hometown. He was 68. The cause was cancer, his family said. Although Mr. Bart was frustrated in his efforts to repeat his early success with ''Oliver!,'' the play based on Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' was a huge hit. It was welcomed by theatergoers in London in 1960, on Broadway two years later and in repeated revivals, including one currently running in Birmingham, England.

Mr. Bart wrote the music, lyrics and book for ''Oliver!'' The show has been applauded for its simple melodies and catchy lyrics; the British critic Benedict Nightingale has called it ''infinitely hummable.'' Several of the show's songs became popular standards, including ''As Long as He Needs Me'' and ''Consider Yourself.'' The original London production of ''Oliver!'' ran for 2,618 performances and was one of the most successful musicals in London stage history. Mr. Bart became instrumental in restoring luster to Britain's musical theater in an era when American musicals had won primacy in the West End. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Upon learning of his death, Lord Lloyd Webber called Mr. Bart ''the father of the modern British musical.'' ''Oliver!'' was a huge success in the United States. But when it opened in 1963 at the Imperial Theater in New York, Howard Taubman gave it a mixed review in The New York Times, saying parts of it had ''natural sweetness'' and ''style and quality,'' but ''too often it settles for stridency, smoke, easy laughs and facile show-business razzmatazz.'' Mr.

Bart won a Tony Award for the show's music and lyrics. ''Oliver!'' was made into a 1968 British film that won Oscars for best picture, director (Carol Reed), art direction and scoring, and in two other categories, along with a special prize for its choreography. In The Times, however, Vincent Canby was less than enthusiastic. He said the Dickens material was ''overwhelmed by this kind of big song-and-dance show,'' and he found that Mr. Bart's songs interrupted the narrative. Over the years Mr. Bart also wrote songs for rock and pop singers and he wrote the theme for the 1963 James Bond movie ''From Russia With Love.'' Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy For a time in the 1960's he had glamorous friends and acquired homes in New York, Malibu, Tangier and elsewhere.

But The Sunday Telegraph reported in yesterday's issue that ''following a string of less well-received shows, 'Blitz!' (1962) and 'Maggie May' (1964) and the total failure of 'Twang!' in 1965, he began a decline into alcohol and drug problems, which lasted for much of the 70's and 80's.'' Also during the 1960's Mr. Bart misguidedly signed away his rights to ''Oliver!'' and other properties, partly to finance ''Twang!'' In a 1986 interview he said, ''If I hadn't pretended to be such a genius child, I would have paid more attention.'' He filed for bankruptcy in 1972 after a run of bad luck with stage ventures. Mr. Bart was the son of an tailor in the blue-collar East End section of London. He studied art on scholarship and worked for a time as a graphic artist. He received no formal musical training, but made his way to the top of the stage musical world by the time he was around 30.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story He wrote lyrics for the stage show ''Lock Up Your Daughters,'' which opened in 1959 in London, and he wrote the music and lyrics for the stage show ''Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be,'' which opened in 1960 in London and ran for two years. He went on to create ''Oliver!,'' but he confessed later that it came close to not being performed. ''Originally, everyone turned it down,'' he recalled. ''They thought it was too morbid or too risky with all those kids and a dog.'' At his death Mr. Bart, who is survived by two sisters, was working toward reviving ''La Strada,'' his unsuccessful 1960's musical based on the Fellini film. Oliver! (1968) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Young Oliver Twist runs away from an orphanage and meets a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor.

Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 21 titles created 04 Nov 2013 a list of 31 titles created 06 Nov 2013 a list of 39 titles created 21 Feb 2015 a list of 35 titles created 10 months ago a list of 33 titles created 6 months ago Search for " Oliver! " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 5 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 25 nominations. See more awards » Photos A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

Director: George Cukor A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower. Director: Robert Wise A down-on-his-luck inventor turns a broken-down Grand Prix car into a fancy vehicle for his children, and then they go off on a magical fantasy adventure to save their grandfather in a far-off land. Director: Ken Hughes A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie A magical nanny helps bring the two children she's in charge of closer to their father through songs and magical adventures. Director: Robert Stevenson Charlie receives a golden ticket to a factory, his sweet tooth wants going into the lushing candy, it turns out there's an adventure in everything. Director: Mel Stuart At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life. Director: John Ford The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.

Director: Cecil B. DeMille Edit Storyline Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens 's classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the orphanage and hooks up with a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor. Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> Winner 6 Academy Awards! [post-Oscar] See more » Genres: 27 September 1968 (UK) See more » Also Known As: 153 min Sound Mix: Mono (35 mm optical prints)| 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)| 4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (35 mm magnetic prints) Color: Did You Know? Trivia The London sets covered six sound stages and a huge studio backlot - with rich and poor sections. The sets were adaptable overnight in spite of their sturdy look, due to the fact that single dance numbers sometimes required changing sets up to a dozen times. See more » Goofs On his way to London, Oliver gets onto a cart which is being pulled along a tarmac road.

The first tarmac road in Britain was in 1902, the story was set in the 1800s. See more » Quotes See more » Frequently Asked Questions I consider Oliver! the movie to be my mate. 5 November 2009 | by Spikeopath (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews Charles Dickens famous novel of an orphan boy, Oliver Twist, who escapes from his poor life to seek his fame and fortune in London, is adapted as a glossy musical. Who would have thought that a story from the brilliant Dickens could be so sweet and endearing? So it be with Carol Reed's {Best Director Winner} unforgettable 1968 Best Picture Winner. Yes it's some way away from the essence of the source, those in need of that should be seeking out David Lean's fabulous 1948 version, but with an array of wonderful tunes and choreography, this Oliver is a treat for all the family. The cast are uniformly strong, notably Ron Moody {Fagin}, Oliver Reed {who as Bill Sykes is probably playing himself!}, Mark Lester {Oliver} and the fabulous Jack Wild {The Artful Dodger}.

While Lionel Bart's songs are as timeless as they are engaging. The 60s was a tough decade for cinematic musicals, with many of them turning out to be bloated exercises in tedium. But Oliver! is one of the shining lights in the genre, a true uplifter guaranteed to have the feet a tapping and the smile firmly implanted on ones face. So if you have yet to see and be charmed by it? Come on in, join our number and consider yourself one of us. 8/10 11 of 12 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Give Our Regards to Broadway - 10 Best Books Turned Musicals - Signature Reads July 20, 2011 SHARE We were absolutely delighted at the news that not only is Helen Fielding's 1996 book (and ultimate chick-flick ) Bridget Jones's Diary being turned into a musical next year, but British pop singer Lily Allen will be writing all new songs for the production.

Naturally, the classic scene that ran through our minds was Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones belting out a boozy rendition of " Without You " at her office Christmas party, surrounded by a silent crew of colleagues waving their lighters in solidarity. Fun to imagine how that performance would be amped up on a Broadway stage, isn't it? Although we at Signature usually focus our attention on television and movie-based projects, news about the "Bridget Jones's Diary" musical has inspired us to create a special post. Dust off your old playbills, and join the conversation as we highlight the top ten books that have successfully been adapted into Broadway musicals. In the comments below, make sure to tell us about your favorite book-based musicals that did not make our list. Wicked L. Frank Baum's familiar story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is told from the perspective of the good witch and the misunderstood wicked witch in Gregory Maguire's bestselling novel , Wicked. Eight years after captivating the literary world, Wicked was adapted into one of the most popular Broadway shows of all time, seen by two million theater patrons in North America and Britain.

Evangelists of the book are quick to point out flaws with the on-stage adaptation, though personally, we prefer to enjoy them as two separate but excellent endeavors. (If we had to pick a winner, our heart is with the musical.) Following its success on Broadway, rumors of a "Wicked" movie have been swirling for the past few years, with Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Men zel under consideration to reprise their original roles. However, in January 2011, news came that ABC and Salma Hayek were reportedly teaming up to create a miniseries based on "Wicked." There's been no solid news on casting yet. Ragtime E.L. Doctorow's historical New York novel Ragtime has received the full adaptation treatment, and its various incarnations have fared well across multiple formats. The book ranks at number eighty-six on the Modern Library List of the Top 100 Best English Language Novels of the Twentieth Century; Miloš Forman's 1981 film was nominated for eight Oscars ; and the 1998 Broadway play took home thirteen Tony Awards .

Our curiosity about the most well-known iteration led us to conduct a very unscientific poll by asking five friends, "What is Ragtime?" Four of the five answered "a musical." Big River Mark Twain's ultimate coming-of-age adventure story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , was turned into the Broadway musical Big River by renowned composer Roger Williams in 1985. It was critically praised throughout the duration of the show's run, and especially lauded for choreographer Jeff Calhoun's 2003 revival performance featuring both deaf and hearing actors performing together on stage. The Color Purple As everyone knows by now, whatever Oprah Winfrey touches seems to turn to gold. The musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Color Purple , is no exception. Oprah took her devotion to Walker's story far past the reading recommendations she is known for by starring in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation as Sophie and producing the Broadway musical , along with Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones . Set in Georgia in the 1930s, The Color Purple describes the experiences of African American women living in the south, with a focus on racism and violence. South Pacific Talk about beginner's luck.

Written at age forty, James Michener's first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 and later became the source material for the award-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical . Set during World War II, South Pacific tells the story of an American nurse stationed on a U.S. Naval base falling in love with a cagey expatriate French plantation owner. After winning ten Tony awards, including four for acting (record setting at the time), South Pacific was turned into a successful movie in 1958 starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi . The success of South Pacific was tested after a Broadway revival in 2008; it passed with flying colors by winning seven Tonys, including the award for best musical revival. Oliver! Charles Dickens' famous novel about intrepid orphan Oliver Twist made its musical debut in 1960 at London's West End. Oliver! has the distinction of being Charles Dickens' first novel successfully adapted for the stage, and also launched the careers of a few famous child actors, including Davy Jones and Phil Collins . The majority of Oliver!

performances ran in England, and international audiences were not treated to a stage performance until the early 2000s. Propelled by the success of the England tour, Oliver! became a movie in 1968 that took home five Oscars. It's interesting -- but not surprising -- to note that Oliver! did not pick up an award for best book adaptation; both the musical and film adaptations were clearly very loosely based on Dickens' considerably more complex novel. Man of La Mancha If we could, we would personally thank seventeenth-century Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes for creating one of the most entertaining characters in literature. Cervantes' most famous novel, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha , tells the story of Alonso Quixano (or Don Quixote , as he later rechristens himself), a fifty-year-old man whose obsession with books on chivalry drives him to embark on knightly quests. Though everyone around him questions Quixote's sanity, he continues to carry out quests of duty, which include rescuing princesses and slaying ferocious dragons.

Don Quixote's story was brought to Broadway audiences in the form of Man of La Mancha in 1965, running for more than 2,000 performances and collecting five Tony Awards. A 1972 film soon followed, starring Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren . Gypsy America's favorite stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee , became an even bigger national sensation upon the release of her memoir about life with an intense stage mom, Gypsy , in 1957. Two years later, Lee's memoir was loosely adapted into Gypsy: A Musical Fable , which garnered instant success and multiple revivals throughout the next forty-five years. In addition to a successful Broadway run, Gypsy was adapted into two well-received films: in 1962 starring Natalie Wood , and 1993 starring Bette Midler . Both actresses took home Golden Globes for their portrayal of Rose. In early 2011, news broke that Barbra Streisand is considering producing, directing, and starring in a new film adaptation of Gypsy.

Les Misérables Les Misérables , or "The Miserable Ones," is familiar by name alone, regardless of whether you are a theatergoer or not. Victor Hugo's acclaimed 1862 historical fiction novel follows several French characters over a seventeen-year span leading up to the Paris Uprising of 1832 . One of the central story lines focuses on Frenchman Jean Valjean , who must flee police officer Javert after stealing bread to feed his sister's starving children. Since the early twentieth century, Les Misérables has received countless film and television adaptations , though it wasn't until 1980 when the musical hit stages in Paris that the path was paved for it to become one of the most successful musicals of all time. Les Misérables has the distinction of being the longest running play in London's West End, and the third longest running play in Broadway's history. The universal themes of love, redemption, and the repercussions of social injustice cement the timelessness of the story, ensuring that it will continue to be adapted for the next fifty years or more.

Phantom of the Opera Last, but certainly not least, is the granddaddy of all shows, the longest running play in Broadway's history: The Phantom of the Opera . Based on Gaston Leroux's 1911 novel of the same name, Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured composer living in the bowels of the Paris Opera who becomes a suspect in the disappearance of young singer Christine Daaé. Although there has been a resurgence of interest in Leroux's novel since the debut of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical in 1986, the book sold very poorly when first published and went out of print numerous times during the twentieth century. Phantom of the Opera is just about as popular as they come: To date, Phantom has shown in 149 cities within twenty-five countries with worldwide box office receipts totaling over $5.1 billion dollars .

SparkNotes: Oliver Twist: Key Facts Oliver Twist full title · Oliver Twist: The Parish Boy’s Progress author · Charles Dickens genre · Children’s story; detective story; novel of social protest language · English time and place written · 1837–38, London date of first publication · Published in serial form between February 1837 and April 1839; first book edition published in November 1838 publisher · First published serially in Bentley’s Miscellany, a periodical edited by Dickens narrator · Anonymous narrator point of view · The narrator is third person omniscient, and assumes the points of view of various characters in turn. The narrator’s tone is not objective; it is sympathetic to the protagonists and far less so to the novel’s other characters. When dealing with hypocritical or morally objectionable characters, the narrative voice is often ironic or sarcastic. tone · Sentimental, sometimes ironic, hyperbolic, crusading tense · Past setting (place) · London and environs; an unnamed smaller English city; the English countryside protagonist · Oliver Twist major conflict · Although Oliver is fundamentally righteous, the social environment in which he is raised encourages thievery and prostitution.

Oliver struggles to find his identity and rise above the abject conditions of the lower class. rising action · Oliver is taken care of by a gang of London thieves, but refuses to participate in their thievery. An upper-class family takes him in, but the thieves and a mysterious character, Monks, continue to pursue him. climax · Nancy is murdered for disclosing Monks’s plans to Oliver’s guardians. Mr. Brownlow gets the full story of Oliver’s origins from Monks. falling action · Fagin is executed and Sikes dies; Oliver and his new family live out their days in happiness. themes · The failures of charity; the folly of individualism; purity in a corrupt city; the countryside idealized motifs · Disguised or mistaken identities; hidden family relationships; surrogate families; Oliver’s face symbols · Characters’ names; Bull’s-eye; London Bridge foreshadowing · The truth about Oliver’s parentage is foreshadowed by the portrait in Mr. Brownlow’s house, by the locket that Old Sally has stolen, and by Monks’s pursuit of Oliver.

More Help Oliver Twist Summary - eNotes.com Oliver Twist Summary Trivia Oliver Twist Summary In Oliver Twist, Oliver is born in a poor house. He's later sold to an undertaker, from whom he runs away. Oliver then has a series of adventures with the Artful Dodger, the criminal mastermind Fagin, and a woman who turns out to be his aunt. Oliver spends part of his childhood in a workhouse for the poor, where one day he goes up to a cook and says his famous lines, "Please, sir, may I have some more?" After he meets the Artful Dodger and the evil Fagin, he unwittingly joins their gang and becomes a pickpocket. Oliver is arrested, reprieved, kidnapped, and forced to break into the house of a woman who turns out to be his aunt. He inherits a decent sum of money and thereafter lives a respectable life. link Link The first chapters of Dickens’s first “true” novel, Oliver Twist, which he began to write concurrently with the picaresque adventures of Mr. Pickwick, form a hard-hitting satire on the inhuman cruelties of the New Poor Laws of 1834.

These dictated that society’s jobless and desperate should be virtually imprisoned in harsh institutions known as workhouses. Into one of these a little bastard boy is born—the lowest of the low, christened “Oliver Twist” by a pompous parish official, Mr. Bumble the beadle. Yet Oliver is in fact a gentleman by blood, with a fortune awaiting him, for his story is also a romance of origins, a battered child’s wish fulfillment. The Parish Boy’s Progress (to use Dickens’s subtitle) really starts when Oliver draws the short straw among a group of starving workhouse boys and must approach the master at dinnertime to utter his famous request: “Please, sir, I want some more.” He is promptly sold to an undertaker, whose wife locks him up among the coffins for punishment. He escapes to London, where he is befriended by a streetwise boy, the Artful Dodger, who initiates him into the all-boy household of an “old gentleman” called Fagin (the name of one of Dickens’s companions at the blacking factory), a criminal mastermind. Innocent as ever, it is not until Oliver is mistakenly arrested that he realizes that his new friends are pickpockets.

During his trial at the police court, the gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, whom he is supposed to have robbed, recognizes Oliver’s innate goodness and takes him into his home. All seems safe—but Oliver knows too much about wily, demonic Fagin and his companion-in-crime, Bill Sikes. Sikes’s woman, Nancy, a prostitute, is employed to steal Oliver back—an act that she immediately regrets and tries to repair. Sikes tries to seal Oliver’s degradation and his power over him by employing him on a housebreaking expedition. The plan misfires when Oliver is shot crawling through the window of a country house and is taken in by the gentle people he is supposed to be robbing—an old lady and her ward, who eventually turns out to be Oliver’s aunt. As this excess of coincidences indicates, the second half of the novel is inferior to the first. Good eventually defeats evil, and Oliver inherits the heaven of respectable middle-classness, hardly a radical solution to a novel that trumpets its social criticism. Creative energy dissipates, however, when the action leaves the nightmare underworld of London, which seems almost a projection or map of Dickens’s own childhood terrors.

The real climax of the novel is Sikes’s brutal murder of Nancy—one of the scenes that led some commentators to worry that the novel belied its author’s fascination with the criminality that it denounced. Does a Sparsity of Dialogue Make Oliver a Weak Character? A common criticism of Oliver Twist is that Dickens creates a weak character in Oliver because Oliver does not have extensive dialogue. Most often the narrator describes what Oliver is experiencing rather than lets him act it and talk it out. This device Dickens uses to build plot through narratorial intervention in the behavior and speech of the protagonist is a device that he used in his debut work, The Pickwick Papers. While Mr. Pickwick does have more dialogue than Oliver--bearing in mind that Pickwick is a person who puts himself forward while Oliver is a person who shrinks back away from contact--the narrator in Pickwick Papers has a similar role to the Twist narrator that features the same near proximity, the same pleasant intrusion with ironically satirical commentary, the same intervention between the character's deportment and the reader. Such was the individual on whom Mr.

Pickwick gazed through his spectacles (which he had fortunately recovered), and to whom he proceeded, when his friends had exhausted themselves, to return in chosen terms his warmest thanks for his recent assistance. (The Pickwick Papers) Is Oliver rendered a weak, unbelievable, unsympathetic character because of Dickens' use of the device of narratorial intervention in character behavior and speech, which curtails dialogue? It is clear that in the early parts of the novel, Oliver is not deprived of his full-bodied strength as a sympathetic character. Even though the narrator tells us what becomes of Oliver day by day, we believe in Oliver; we know and feel deeply for him, for example, such as when he has bleeding feet after walking seven days with nothing but scarce and meager hand-outs: [T]he light only served to show the boy his own lonesomeness and desolation, as he sat, with bleeding feet and covered with dust, upon a door-step. It is true that we feel a weakening of the novel in the latter part, however, it is not clear that the fault lies in a weakened character development of Oliver.

Plot devices that must be taken into consideration are the change in tone and mood that occur: We are struck by the strong presence of melodramatic characters surrounding Oliver [mood] and by the reduction in ironic satire contributed by the narrator [tone]. Perhaps these changes occur because Dickens' feels too deeply about the complications, falling actions and resolutions, or perhaps Dickens has a less clear vision of the story once the trouble and climax are passed. Melodramatic characters do distract from the strength of the second half of the novel, though in all fairness, Dickens' Victorian period readers found it far less objectionable than modern readers do: Having come from the Romantic period in literature, Victorians had a taste for the melodramatically emotional. When thinking of melodramatic characters, we might think of the old woman on Oliver's journey to London who tearfully gave him "what little she could afford—and more." We might think of Nancy on her knees before Rose while begging her to keep her distance from such a corrupted one as she. We might think of Oliver being set upon in the lane on a lovely day by Giles in his "white nightcap" while beseeching the boy for news of Rose's illness.

Melodramatic characters surround Oliver far and near while he suffers his own melodramatic trials and joys. Yet this melodrama not cause us to care less about Oliver whose life we still closely follow and hope the best for as we do when he and Giles happen to see Mr. Brownlow alight from a carriage in the Strand: '[He was] [g]etting out of a coach,' replied Oliver, shedding tears of delight, 'and going into a house. I didn't speak to him—I couldn't speak to him, for he didn't see me, and I trembled so, that I was not able to go up to him.' My response to this common criticism is that Dickens' device of narratorial intervention, which deprives Oliver of voice, dialogue and direct action, does not render him an unrealistic nor a weak character. There are problems of language and melodrama that affect the character development of Oliver, but the problems are unrelated to the sparsity of Oliver's dialogue. More Content: Summary (hide) link Link Oliver Twist is born in the lying-in room of a parochial workhouse about seventy-five miles north of London.

His mother, whose name is unknown, is found later unconscious by the roadside, exhausted by a long journey on foot; she dies leaving a locket and a ring as the only tokens of her child’s identity. These tokens are stolen by old Sally, a pauper present at her death. Oliver owes his name to Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle and a bullying official of the workhouse, who always names his unknown orphans in the order of an alphabetical system he had devised. Twist is the name between Swubble and Unwin on Bumble’s list. An offered reward of ten pounds fails to discover Oliver’s parentage, and he is sent to a nearby poor farm, where he passes his early childhood in neglect and near starvation. At the age of nine, he is moved back to the workhouse. Always hungry, he asks one day for a second serving of porridge. The scandalized authorities put him in solitary confinement and post a bill offering five pounds to someone who will take him away from the parish. Oliver is apprenticed to Sowerberry, a casket maker, to learn a trade. Sowerberry employs little Oliver, dressed in miniature mourning clothing, as an attendant at children’s funerals.

Another Sowerberry employee, Noah Claypole, often teases Oliver about his parentage. One day, goaded beyond endurance, Oliver fiercely attacks Claypole and is subsequently locked in the cellar by Mrs. Sowerberry. When Sowerberry releases Oliver one night, he bundle up his meager belongings and starts out for London. In a London suburb, Oliver, worn out from walking and weak from hunger, meets Jack Dawkins, a sharp-witted slum gamin. Known as the Artful Dodger, Dawkins offers Oliver lodgings in the city, and Oliver soon finds himself in the middle of a gang of young thieves led by a miserly old Jew, Fagin. Oliver is trained as a pickpocket. On his first mission, he is caught and taken to the police station. There he is rescued by kindly Mr. Brownlow, the man whose pocket Oliver is accused of having picked. Mr. Brownlow, his gruff friend, Grimwig, and the old housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin, care for the sickly Oliver, marveling at the resemblance of the boy to a portrait of a young lady in Mr. Brownlow’s possession.

Once he recuperates, Oliver is given some books and money to take to a bookseller. Grimwig wagers that Oliver will not return. Fagin and his gang had been on constant lookout for the boy’s appearance. Oliver is intercepted by Nancy, a young street girl associated with the gang, and falls into Fagin’s clutches again. Bumble, in London on parochial business, sees Mr. Brownlow’s advertisement for word leading to Oliver’s recovery. Hoping to profit, Bumble hastens to Mr. Brownlow and reports that Oliver is incorrigible. Mr. Brownlow thereupon refuses to have Oliver’s name mentioned in his presence. During Oliver’s absence, Fagin’s gang had been studying a house in Chertsey, west of London, in preparation for breaking into it at night. When the time comes, Oliver, much to his horror, is forced to participate. He and Bill Sikes, a brutal young member of the gang, meet the housebreaker, Toby Crackit, and in the dark of early morning they pry open a small window of the house. Oliver, being the smallest, is the first to enter, but he is determined to warn the occupants.

The thieves are discovered, and the trio flees; Oliver, however, is wounded by gunshot. In fleeing, Sikes throws the wounded Oliver into a ditch and covers him with a cape. Toby Crackit returns and reports to Fagin, who, as it turns out, is more interested than ever in Oliver after a conversation he had had with Monks. Nancy overhears them talking about Oliver’s parentage and Monks expressing his wish to have the boy made a felon. Oliver crawls feebly back to the house into which he had gone the night before, where he is taken in by the owner Mrs. Maylie and Rose, her adopted daughter. Oliver’s story arouses their sympathy, and he is saved from police investigation by Dr. Losberne, a friend of the Maylies. Upon his recovery, the boy goes with the doctor to find Mr. Brownlow, but it is learned that the old gentleman, his friend, Grimwig, and Mrs. Bedwin had gone to the West Indies. Bumble is meanwhile courting the widow Corney. During one of their conversations, Mrs. Corney had been called out to attend the death of old Sally, who had attended the death of Oliver’s mother.

After old Sally died, Mrs. Corney removed a pawn ticket from her hand. In Mrs. Corney’s absence, Bumble appraised her property to his satisfaction, and when she returned, he proposed marriage. The Maylies move to the country, where Oliver reads and takes long walks. During this holiday, Rose Maylie falls sick and nearly dies. Harry Maylie, Mrs. Maylie’s son, who is in love with Rose, joins the group. Harry asks Rose to marry him, but Rose refuses on the grounds that she cannot marry him unless she discovers who she is and unless he mends his ways. One night, Oliver is frightened when he sees Fagin and Monks peering through the study window. Bumble discovers that married life with the former Mrs. Corney is not all happiness, for she dominates him completely. When Monks goes to the workhouse seeking information about Oliver, he meets with Mr. and Mrs. Bumble and learns that Mrs. Bumble redeemed a locket and a wedding ring with the pawn ticket she had recovered from old Sally. Monks buys the trinkets from Mrs. Bumble and throws them into the river.

Nancy overhears Monks telling Fagin that he had disposed of the proofs of Oliver’s parentage. After drugging Bill Sikes, whom she had been nursing to recovery from gunshot wounds received in the ill-fated venture at Chertsey, she goes to see Rose Maylie, whose name and address she had overheard in the conversation between Fagin and Monks. Nancy tells Rose everything she had heard concerning Oliver. Rose is unable to understand fully the various connections of the plot nor can she see Monks’s connection with Oliver. She offers the miserable girl the protection of her own home, but Nancy refuses; she knows that she could never leave Bill Sikes. The two young women agree on a time and place for a later meeting. Rose and Oliver call on Mr. Brownlow, whom Oliver had glimpsed in the street. The reunion of the boy, Mr. Brownlow, and Mrs. Bedwin is a joyous one. Even old Grimwig gruffly expresses his pleasure at seeing Oliver again. Rose tells Mr. Brownlow Nancy’s story. Noah Claypole and Charlotte, the Sowerberrys’ maidservant, run away from the casket maker and arrive in London.

They then go to the public house where Fagin and his gang frequently meet. Fagin flatters Noah into his employ; his job is to steal small coins from children on household errands. At the time agreed upon for her appointment with Rose Maylie, Nancy is unable to leave the demanding Bill Sikes. Fagin notices Nancy’s impatience and decides that she has tired of Sikes and has another lover. Fagin hates Sikes because of the younger man’s power over the gang, and he sees this situation as an opportunity to rid himself of Sikes. Fagin sets Noah on Nancy’s trail. The following week, Nancy is freed with the aid of Fagin. She goes to Rose and Mr. Brownlow and reveals to them the haunts of all the gang except Sikes. Noah overhears all this and secretly tells Fagin, who in turn tells Sikes. In his rage, Sikes brutally murders Nancy, never knowing that the girl had been faithful to him. He flees, pursued by the vision of Nancy’s staring dead eyes. Frantic with fear, he even tries to kill his dog, whose presence could betray him. The dog runs away.

Monks is apprehended and confesses to Mr. Brownlow the plot against Oliver. Oliver’s father, Edward Leeford, had married a woman older than himself. Their son, Edward Leeford, is the man now known as Monks. After several years of unhappiness, the couple had separated; Monks and his mother remained on the Continent and Mr. Leeford returned to England. Later, Leeford met a retired naval officer with two daughters, one three years old, the other seventeen. Leeford fell in love with the older daughter and contracted to marry the girl, but before the marriage could be performed, he was called to Rome, where an old friend had died. On the way to Rome, he stopped at the house of Mr. Brownlow, his best friend, and left a portrait of his betrothed. He himself fell sick in Rome and died, and his first wife seized his papers. Leeford’s young wife-to-be was pregnant; when she heard of Leeford’s death, she ran away to hide her pregnancy. Her father died soon afterward, and the younger sister was eventually adopted by Mrs. Maylie. Rose was consequently Oliver’s aunt.

Monks had gone on to live a dissolute life, going to the West Indies when his mother died. Mr. Brownlow had gone in search of him there, but by then Monks had already returned to England to track down his young half brother, whose part of his father’s settlement he wishes to keep for himself. It was Monks who had offered the reward at the workhouse for information about Oliver’s parentage, and it was Monks who had paid Fagin to see that the boy remained with the gang as a common thief. After Fagin and the Artful Dodger are seized, Bill Sikes and the remainder of the gang meet on Jacob’s Island in the Thames River. They intend to stay there in a deserted house until the hunt dies down. Sikes’s dog, however, leads their pursuers to the hideout. Sikes hangs himself accidentally with the rope he was using as a means of escape. The other thieves are captured. Fagin is hanged publicly at Newgate after he had revealed to Oliver the location of papers concerning his heritage, which Monks had entrusted to him for safekeeping. Harry Maylie becomes a minister and marries Rose Maylie. Mr.

Brownlow adopts Oliver and takes up residence near the church of the Reverend Harry Maylie. Mr. and Mrs. Bumble lose their parochial positions and become inmates of the workhouse that once had been their domain. Monks is allowed to retain his share of his father’s property, and he moves to the United States; eventually he dies in prison. Oliver’s years of hardship and unhappiness are at an end. Oliver Twist | Novelguide Oliver Twist Total Votes: 670 Introduction This is a study guide to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphan boy who reflects the life of poverty in England in the 1830's. The story illustrates the evils of the Poor House's of the time and the corruption of the people who work there. It also shows the depths of London's crime with an emphasis on petty robbery and pick pocketing. Please click on the literary analysis category you wish to be displayed. Back and Next buttons can guide you through all the sections or you can choose to jump from section to section using the links below or the links at the left. Author: Charles Dickens

Question: The musical Oliver was based on a novel by which author?
Answer: Charles Dickens