Barry Humphries Heard on Re-Release of London Oliver! Cast Album, March 26 | Playbill

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News Barry Humphries Heard on Re-Release of London Oliver! Cast Album, March 26 The original London cast recording of Lionel Bart's international hit musical, Oliver!, will arrive in record stores in the U.S. on March 26. A Decca Broadway release, this marks the first time the premiere London version of the musical will be available on CD in the States.

The original London cast recording of Lionel Bart's international hit musical, Oliver!, will arrive in record stores in the U.S. on March 26. A Decca Broadway release, this marks the first time the premiere London version of the musical will be available on CD in the States.

Remastered and repackaged with never-before-seen photos, the recording also boasts a track of "That's My Funeral," the Oliver! rarity that was cut from both the original Broadway recording and the 1968 film. This particular track is rendered by Barry Humphries, who is better known to audiences around the world as that self-proclaimed megastar Dame Edna Everage.

The recording also features Ron Moody as Fagin, a role he would later repeat on film (Academy Award nomination); and the late Georgia Brown as Nancy, the ill-fated barmaid who sings one of the show's most famous songs, "As Long As He Needs Me." The melodic score also includes such titles as "Where Is Love?," "Consider Yourself," "I'd Do Anything," "Who Will Buy?" "Food, Glorious Food," "Reviewing the Situation" and "Oliver."

Lionel Bart's musicalization of the classic Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist" opened in London's The New Theatre in 1960, where it played over 2,000 performances. David Merrick brought the musical to Broadway's Imperial on January 6, 1963, where it amassed 774 performances. The Broadway company featured Clive Revill as Fagin and Brown, who repeated her London role, as Nancy.

Decca Broadway is Universal Music Group's new division specializing in original and Broadway cast recordings. *

A tour of the Cameron Mackintosh revival of Oliver! is expected to begin in St. Paul, MN, in spring 2003.

—By Andrew Gans

 
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