Oliver! | Live Show Review

Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Oliver!, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, was great fun when it premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre last year. But its West End transfer is a triumph, the intimate setting of the Gielgud Theatre intensifying the story and the action from the moment the orphans pound onto the stage for ‘Food, Glorious Food’.

Everything feels closer, more potent: the comedy lands better, the contrast between light and shade is more vividly – and literally – realised (lighting design by Paule Constable and Ben Jacobs), the mechanics of Tower Bridge (set design by Lez Brotherston) are thrilling, and the music-hall bawdiness (mainly courtesy of Oscar Conlon-Morrey’s Mr Bumble and Katy Secombe’s Widow Corney, a perfectly pitched double-act) feels more authentic.

One feels fully transported to Dickens’s world – by turns dark and gritty, raucous and colourful – yet very much aware of the stark parallels between the issues of the 19th century – poverty, domestic violence, child exploitation – and those of today.

I adored Simon Lipkin’s hand-twirling, ad-libbing, charismatic Fagin in Chichester, but here he's taken the improvisation up a notch and banters even more freely with the audience, which works brilliantly in this less-cavernous space. Likewise, the proscenium arch focuses our attention during key moments: when Bill Sikes strangles Nancy (a gloriously complex, full-throated portrayal from Shanay Holmes), it feels more shocking because our eyeline is drawn to them, and them alone. At Chichester, I longed to see more of Matthew Bourne’s striking choreography; here, in numbers such as ‘Who Will Buy’, the stage is so populated that a full-out dance number doesn’t feel necessary (not that the space ever feels overcrowded, thanks to some judicious use of the higher-level boxes).

The quality of Lionel Bart’s music, lyrics and book more than plays its part, of course. It’s lovely to see the recognition on audience members’ faces as bangers like ‘Consider Yourself’ (performed with panache by Billy Jenkins’s rubber-limbed Artful Dodger) or ‘You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two’ strike up. And at the Gielgud, the orchestra has an even greater presence than in Chichester (shout out to the superb trombone section in particular); Graham Hurman coaxes some wonderful sounds from the pit, not least Thomas Leate’s improvisatory, Yiddish-influenced violin with which Fagin comically interacts.

Admittedly, when the source material is as good as this, it’s hard to get it wrong. But that’s not to undersell the achievement of this production, which gets it right in every way possible. Please sir, can I have some more?

Oliver! is booking at the Gielgud Theatre, London until 29 March 2026 – for information and tickets, visit oliverthemusical.com

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Oliver! by Lionel Bart (music, lyrics, book)

Gielgud Theatre, London, 11 January 2025

Cast Simon Lipkin, Shanay Holmes, Aaron Sidwell, Billy Jenkins, Philip Franks, Oscar Conlon-Morrey, Katy Secombe, Stephen Matthews, Jamie Birkett, Raphael Korniets et al

Direction, choreography Matthew Bourne

Co-direction Jean-Pierre van der Spuy

Musical supervision Graham Hurman

New orchestrations Stephen Metcalfe

Set, costumes Lez Brotherston

Lighting Paule Constable, Ben Jacobs

Sound Adam Fisher

Projections George Reeve