BATH Light Operatic Group returns to the Theatre Royal next week with a new production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver, based on Charles Dickens’s classic novel.

The streets of Victorian London are brought vividly to life as the audience meets the orphaned Oliver who escapes Mr Bumble’s oppressive workhouse and finds himself in the world of the sinister Sowerberrys, the mysterious Fagin’s pickpockets, his trusted and charismatic Artful Dodger, the tragic Nancy and her violent lover Bill Sykes.

The show was first seen in Wimbledon in 1960, moving rapidly to the West End where it enjoyed a record-breaking run. It has seldom been off the stage somewhere in the world since then. The score includes some of the best-known songs in the musical theatre canon including Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, You’ve Got to Pick-a-Pocket or Two, I’d Do Anything, Oom Pah Pah, As Long As He Needs Me and many more. Both music and lyrics were provided by Lionel Bart, who could neither read nor write music and hummed the tunes to a friend who transcribed them for him.

Bath Light Operatic Group’s recent acclaimed productions include Mack and Mabel, the sell-out Shrek the Musical, and last year’s Rose Bowl Award winning Evita.

Oliver is on stage from Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th September, nightly at 7.30, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm.