History Theatre / Oliver

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Fagin is still not exactly a heroic character, being self-serving and at least somewhat manipulative. However, he's much nicer than his villainous book counterpart, as he does show genuine kindness and care to the children he trains as thieves and makes a dramatic contrast to the abusive and cruel adults Oliver has encountered previously.[[note]]This change was done in part to mitigate perceived anti-Semitism in the original novel, with the highly [[GreedyJew unflattering and stereotypical]] portrayal of this Jewish character, whose ethnic and religious background is only [[AmbiguouslyJewish hinted at]] in the musical.[[/note]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Fagin is still not exactly a heroic character, being self-serving and at least somewhat manipulative. However, he's much nicer than his villainous book counterpart, as he does show genuine kindness and care to the children he trains as thieves and makes a dramatic contrast to the abusive and cruel adults Oliver has encountered previously.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: "Reviewing the Situation" is this trope in musical form. Having realized that the life of a criminal, with all its "trials and tribulations", might not be the best thing for him, and he muses over possible alternatives: getting married, living in society, getting an honest job. Each time, though, he comes to the realization halfway through that the "solution" he's describing would not be an improvement, leading him to conclude:

* IrrelevantActOpener: "Oom Pah Pah" is a drinking song. Looks like it's named after everyone's favorite thing, too. However, this is subverted in the film; although there is an intermission, the song is moved to much later in the narrative and serves a purpose in the story - where Nancy starts it as a distraction to help sneak Oliver out.

TheFilmOfThePlay was released in 1968. Directed by Creator/CarolReed (''Film/TheThirdMan''), it starred Creator/OliverReed (Carol's nephew) as Bill Sikes, Mark Lester as Oliver (with his songs sung by a girl, Kathe Green), Creator/JackWild as the Artful Dodger, and Creator/RonMoody as Fagin. It was the last musical to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture until ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' 34 years later, and it remains the ''only'' G-rated movie to win. The film also won Oscars for Best Director, Art Direction, Original Score, and Sound, while choreographer Onna White received an Honorary Award.

A sequel titled ''Dodger'', set seven years later and focusing on the Artful Dodger, was staged in 2008 by David Lambert.

!!The movie adds examples of:
* AdaptationalContextChange: The film version turns the IrrelevantActOpener "Oom-Pah-Pah" into a relevant number; Nancy sings the song to distract Sikes and Bullseye so Oliver can escape their sight.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication:
** The film cuts out Old Sally and the deathbed reveal that she stole Agnes's locket while she was dying - instead just having the Bumbles show up at Mr Brownlow's house, implying they knew Oliver had a wealthy mother already and just waited ten years to try and profit off it.
** In the original novel, Sikes and Oliver's failed robbery was Sikes and Fagin's attempt to corrupt Oliver as part of their and Monks' plan, as well as to introduce Rose and the Maylies. Here, the robbery holds no affect on the plot, and the people of the house are not seen afterwards. If anything, the sole purpose for it was the preparation as a means to give Nancy motivation to save Oliver.
* AdaptedOut: Old Sally and her death are dropped from the film adaptation.
* AnimalReactionShot: When Oliver first enters the hideout of Fagin's thieves, everyone stops talking and stares at him, including an owl.
* AwkwardSilenceEntrance: In the film adaptation, once the Artful Dodger believes Oliver Twist is an ideal fit for Fagin's gang, he drags Oliver through the city into the slums where he lives. When the two of them walk in, the rowdy boys playing card games, practising their tricks or chatting loudly over a cigarette, freeze and stare as Dodger and his guest walk past them towards Fagin's office. One boy is so suspicious, he jumps off a high ledge and lands behind Oliver to get a better look, his landing acting as a JumpScare.
* CharacterDevelopment: Fagin provides a very interesting case study in the movie adaptation. When Oliver first meets him, he's a loud and frightening stranger who emerges from a cloud of smoke like the very Devil from Hell, bellowing at some random youngster who complains about the food to "Shut up and drink your gin!" Then, as Oliver gets introduced to everyone and he shows him around, Fagin starts looking a lot more like a [[LaughablyEvil comical villain]], particularly during the song "You've Got to Pick a Pocket Or Two" where he hams up his whole GreedyJew motif to pull some laughs. Later, as things get more serious, he reveals in his song "Reviewing the Situation" that he's tired of his whole criminal enterprise and wants out, but truly has nowhere to go, making him quite a sympathetic character indeed. By the end, he's pretty much run the entire range of Jewish villain characterizations from Shakespeare's time to ours.
* DarkReprise: "Reviewing The Situation" is first sung by Fagin as he tries and fails to convince himself to abandon his criminal ways, later reprised with the Artful Dodger as they pledge their dedication to a life of crime. Though the ''original'' version has Fagin realizing at the end of each verse that the situation he's imagining is actually ''unimaginable'', so it's debatable how "dark" the reprise is, given that Fagin and Dodger both seem genuinely happy about the prospect:
-->Together till our dying day\\
The living proof that crime can pay
* DemotedToExtra:
** The Widow Corney, later Mrs Bumble, has her song "I Shall Scream" cut out and doesn't properly appear until she and her new husband show up with Agnes's trinket.
** Bet's solos in "It's A Fine Life" and "I'd Do Anything" are given to Nancy, even though she's still present for them.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: When being attacked by Bill, Nancy screams as loudly as she can, using her last moments to make sure Mr Brownlow finds Oliver]].
* FlashMobCoverUp: {{Inverted}} in that it's done to prevent a crime. Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.
* GrayRainOfDepression: The rain pours as Oliver wearily tredges a muddy road to London after escaping from Mr. Sowerberry.
* HeelFaceTurn: Subverted with [[spoiler:Fagin]]. He plans to do this, but [[spoiler:instead chooses to leave with Dodger and continue a life of pickpocketing]].
* HoboGloves: Fagin wears them, to match his characterization.
* IdiotBall:
** Twice he gets in big trouble because he just stands there like a deer in headlights - first when Dodger and Charlie pick Mr. Brownlow's pocket, then later when he accidentally knocks something over in a house he's trying to rob and he just stands there until the lights come on upstairs.
** Fagin and Dodger suffer this as well when they allow Oliver to "go to work" when he's been with them less than 24 hours and is clearly still far too honest and naive to be ready to pick pockets. (This is mainly due to AdaptationDistillation since in the book, Fagin forbids him from going out for several weeks while he's being trained).
* {{Intermission}}: The film version kept the intermission from the stage play. On the DVD, the intermission also doubles as a prompt to turn the disc over to continue the film.
* MoodWhiplash: When Bill Sikes returns to Fagin’s hideout all bloodied up, Fagin asks him where Nancy is to which Sikes simply replies “She won’t peach on nobody no more.” Shaken, Fagin says he “shouldn’t have done that.”, then about half a minute later, says in a panicked voice “She peached? You sure?”
* NoSongForTheWicked: In the film, Bill Sikes never sings, although other people sing about him.
* {{Novelization}}: Random House published a hardcover novelization of the screenplay for younger audiences, illustrated with stills from the film. Among the stills featured were scenes showing the arrival at the workhouse and the death of Oliver's mother, who never appears in the film as was shown. Studio records list Veronica Page as the mother and Henry Kay as the Doctor attending to Oliver's birth.
* OhCrap: Fagin, when he loses his horde of treasures after tripping on the boards that cross the culvert outside the hideout.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Oliver Reed slips in and out of his cockney accent in multiple scenes.
* ParentService: Nancy and Bet look a good deal better than women of their situation probably would have in their time, and Nancy gets a dress that shows some mild cleavage.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: Nancy starts up "Oom-Pah-Pah" as a distraction to let Oliver escape from Bill Sikes.
* WheelOfPain: The film adaptation briefly shows a variation on the theme during the opening scene.

TheFilmOfThePlay was released in 1968. It was directed by Creator/CarolReed (''Film/TheThirdMan''). It starred Creator/OliverReed (Carol's nephew) as Bill Sikes, Mark Lester as Oliver (with his songs sung by a girl, Kathe Green), Creator/JackWild as the Artful Dodger and Creator/RonMoody as Fagin. It was the last musical to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture until ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' 34 years later, and it remains the ''only'' G-rated movie to win.

* AwkwardSilenceEntrance: In the film adaptation, once the Artful Dodger believes Oliver Twist is an ideal fit for Fagin's gang, he drags Oliver through the city into the slums where he lives. When the two of them walk in, the rowdy boys playing card games, practising their tricks or chatting loudly over a cigarette, freeze and stare as Dodger and his guest walk past them towards Fagin's office. One boy is so suspicious, he jumps off a high ledge and lands behind Oliver to get a better look, his landing acting as a JumpScare.

* CriminalFoundFamily: The musical adaption of the novel ''Literature/OliverTwist'' by Charles Dickens tones down the harsh character of the master thief Fagin, and his gang of apprentice pickpockets seem to be a found family for orphan Oliver. Both the stage and film versions include the rollicking song "Consider Yourself", and almost makes being a street urchin in Victorian London seem like fun. Oliver does want to be considered "one of" the gang.

TheMovie was released in 1968. It was directed by Creator/CarolReed (''Film/TheThirdMan''). It starred Creator/OliverReed (Carol's nephew) as Bill Sikes, Mark Lester as Oliver (with his songs sung by a girl, Kathe Green), Creator/JackWild as the Artful Dodger and Creator/RonMoody as Fagin. It was the last musical to win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture until ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' 34 years later, and it remains the ''only'' G-rated movie to win.

* FingerlessGloves: Fagin wears them.

%%* CharacterTitle

* DoubleEntendre: The entirety of "Oom-Pah-Pah" is a glorious pileup of double entendres, with [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar just enough subtlety]] to avoid being cut from even the most kid-friendly productions. Though it's up to the viewer to decide whether "oom-pah-pah" is meant to be alcohol, sex, or both. [[spoiler:Considering that it's presented as a drinking song, the former is the most likely, although not by much.]]

* RefittedForSequel: Bet being a love interest was in the plans for the original, albeit for Oliver rather than Dodger.

* ActorSwap: Probably since he’s [[DemotedToExtra hardly even shown]], Charley Bates is played by two different boys

* AmoralAttorney: Two crooked lawyers Snitchey and Craggs, who are also ThoseTwoBadGuys.

* OdeToFood: "Food, Glorious Food" is sung by the boys in the workhouse about how they're sick of gruel and want to eat all these other foods instead, including hot sausage with mustard, cold jelly and custard, pease pudding, and a great big steak."Oom-pah-pah":

* OldTimeyAnkleTaboo:

* OdeToFood: "Food, Glorious Food" is sung by the boys in the workhouse about how they're sick of gruel and want to eat all these other foods instead, including hot sausage with mustard, cold jelly and custard, pease pudding, and a great big steak.
* OrphanageOfFear: The workhouse.
* OurNudityIsDifferent: The hooker-advertising-her-wares strip tease described by Nancy:

Displays her pretty ankles for all of the men\\

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The film cuts out Old Sally and the deathbed reveal that she stole Agnes's locket while she was dying - instead just having the Bumbles show up at Mr Brownlow's house, implying they knew Oliver had a wealthy mother already and just waited ten years to try and profit off it.
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: In the original novel, Sikes and Oliver's failed robbery was Sikes and Fagin's attempt to corrupt Oliver as part of their and Monks' plan, as well as to introduce Rose and the Maylies. Here, the robbery holds no affect on the plot, and the people of the house are not seen afterwards. If anything, the sole purpose for it was the preparation as a means to give Nancy motivation to save Oliver.

* AdaptedOut: Monks and the Maylies are omitted.