Artist:
Oliver
Genre: Theater
Background: The dreary
confines of a workhouse outside London,
Oliver Twist and the other orphans await
their daily portion of gruel, while dreaming
of Food, Glorious Food. The workhouse is
run by Widow Corney and the parish beadle,
Mr. Bumble. After the children have been
served, young Oliver commits the unpardonable
sin of approaching Mr. Bumble with the entreaty
“Please sir, I want some more.”
While deciding to expel young Oliver, Corney
and Bumble find time to flirt, though (false)
modesty demands that the widow protest I
Shall Scream! Oliver is removed from the
workhouse, led off by Bumble, who sings
the haunting Boy For Sale. Walking through
the streets of London, they arrive at the
place of business of the undertaker, Mr.
Sowerberry, to whom Oliver is “sold.”
Mr. Sowerberry and his wife, Mrs. Sowerberry,
sing the morbid That’s Your Funeral.
Later, alone and frightened and surrounded
by coffins, Oliver sings the plaintive Where
Is Love? After a fistfight with the undertaker’s
apprentice Noah Claypole, Oliver runs away
the very next morning, and is picked up
hungry and tired in the streets by the Artful
Dodger who cheers him up with the song Consider
Yourself. The Dodger leads him through crowded
streets to Fagin's kitchen. The boys come
in and Fagin himself appears and, with a
mock solemn welcome to Oliver, sings You've
Got to Pick a Pocket or Two. Nancy, Bill
Sikes's girl, and Bet arrive. The two of
them, accompanied by the kids and Fagin,
celebrate their way of life in It's a Fine
Life. The next morning, Fagin sends the
boys off on a pocket-picking expedition,
Oliver among them. In a case of mistaken
identity, Oliver is arrested without ever
having picked a pocket.
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