Just in time for the holidays in the nation’s capital, Washington’s Arena Stage Theatre is presenting a rousing revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! One of the most beloved musicals of the postwar era, Bart adapted Oliver! from Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, which Dickens wrote as a magazine serial between 1837 and 1839. Victoria was first settling into her monarchy and London was in the throes of rapid industrialization while Dickens was creating Oliver Twist: poverty was pervasive, and the time was ripe for the great story-teller to aim his rapier at the growing gap between rich and poor. xxxxx

In 1960 Lionel Bart’s musical version Oliver! opened in London’s West End and played for 2,618 performances; it migrated to Broadway in 1962 and won three Tony Awards, including for Composer and Lyricist, and for Scenic Design. The 1968 movie version of Oliver! triumphed at that year’s Academy Awards, with twelve nominations and six wins, including Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Music.

The heart of the story is a young orphan’s act of rebellion: when fed a bowl of disgusting gruel for breakfast one morning, Oliver holds up his bowl and asks for “MORE, please!” Arena Stage’s Artistic Director Molly Smith wanted to do something very special with Oliver!, and focused on Oliver’s demand for more to make a strong point about life on the streets today. Smith explains that “One in 25 young people are living on the streets of London today. The radical divide between the rich and the poor is at its highest level in London since the Victorian age.” In this production, Smith has blended 19th century Victorian London with street life in 2015. The virtue of gold-standard musicals is that they can be interpreted over time, and Smith argues that “If we aren’t doing theater about this moment in time, what are we doing?”

Oliver! opens with a group of workhouse orphan boys sitting around a bare-bones table and dreaming of “Food, Glorious Food.” After young Oliver has demanded MORE, the venal head of the workhouse takes him out on the street to sell him, wailing “Boy for Sale.” Oliver sings the plaintive “Where is Love?” and is soon taken up by a gang of thieves. He is mentored in the art of street crime by The Artful Dodger and the group’s chief thug, Fagin, who tells him that he’s got to “Pick a Pocket or Two.” These denizens of London’s dark underworld try to persuade Oliver that “It’s a Fine Life.”

Left:Jeff McCarthy as Fagin and the company of Oliver!

The Second Act is fueled by such memorable songs as “Who Will Buy?,” “As Long As He Needs Me,” “Reviewing the Situation,” and reprises of “Where is Love?” and “Oliver.” The lasting popularity of this musical was apparent to this reviewer, who realized as she was watching that she remembered all of the lyrics from a production she saw as a child. She resisted singing along.

Arena’s fine production features Jake Heston Miller, a nine year old from Virginia, as Oliver. His previous work has included playing Tiny Tim in a Williamsburg, Virginia production. He sings like an angel and is learning to move with increasing ease under the tutelage of such Broadway veterans as Kyle Coffman, whose explosive dance steps define his performance as The Artful Dodger, and with Jeff McCarthy’s stage-owning performance as Fagin. Eleasha Gamble, who was remarkable in Arena’s Oklahoma!, stops the show as the street-wise Nancy, especially with her performance of “As Long As He Needs Me.”

Right: Ian Lassiter (Bill Sykes) and Eleasha Gamble (Nancy). 

This modernized version of Oliver! leans less toward today than yesterday. It is not meant to blare “2015” the way the current Broadway sensation, Hamilton, does. As Charles Giuliano pointed out in his perceptive November 24^th ARTES review, Hamilton may use historic characters but it is a musical that uses the vernacular music of the streets, hip-hop and rap, to become “truly a transformative artistic experience.”

What Arena has done is to find a more collaborative blend between Dickensian London and today. The production staff got permission from the Lionel Bart Estate to update his original orchestration with a dollop of hip hop here and rap there, but nothing has changed Bart’s musical intention. The score still resonates with its 20^th century roots.

Left: Kyle Coffman (Artful Dodger) and the company of Oliver! 

In the choreography, there is a tip-of-the-hat to the 21^st century in the show’s exuberant dances, but it is also clear that choreographer Parker Esse remembers his previous success choreographing such classic musicals as Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and West Side Story. In Oliver!, The Artful Dodger glides onstage in a moonwalk singing “Consider Yourself,” and actor-dancer Kyle Coffman, who plays The Artful Dodger, explains that he does “this sort of break-dancy thing” in a scene that turns into “this huge flash mob.” Contemporary funky music occasionally blares from a boombox, and everyone has a cellphone and takes Selfies and videos of what’s going on. Coffman says, “we have that whole culture happening.” But not blatantly: the modernist mood is more subtle, more suggestive.

Right: Jake Heston Miller (Oliver) and Tom Story (Mr. Sowerberry) 

Costumes are by Wade Laboissonniere, a designer who has an extensive Broadway and regional theater career. His urchins wear wretched rags elaborated with some denim and dog collars, and the group’s mother figure, Nancy, sports a non-Victorian Mohawk haircut and a leather biker vest.

The production is in-the-round and set designer Todd Rosenthal has stripped things down to essential pieces. An overhead catwalk bridge dominates, continually conveying both a sense of underclass oppression and of potential escape. A thirteen-piece orchestra directed by Paul Sportelli lurks, hidden under the stage.

Left: Jake Heston Miller (Oliver) and the cast of Oliver! 

Arena’s Oliver! radiates a darker overtone than either the original production or the movie version, and is not necessarily friendly fare for younger children. But the show’s exuberance shines through, and above all, the music is wonderful. You will leave the theater humming.

By Amy Henderson, Contributing Writer

Oliver! will be at The Arena Stage through January 3, 2016. Tickets and information are available at www.arenastage.org and 202-488-3300.

Amy Henderson is a cultural critic and Historian Emerita of the National Portrait Gallery