Read and discuss the books that inspired Broadway musicals, enriching understanding and enjoyment of both! Dec 2021 book - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and his A Christmas Carol as a bonus!
Join the Page to Stage Book Club in the Northeast Library Mezzanine Conference Room to discuss Oliver Twist, its literary impact, and how it relates to its stage adaptation. If participants are interested, we will also discuss Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens was serialized between 1837 and 1839. is a tale of the titular Oliver, an orphan who is reared in a workhouse and runs away to London to only be caught up in a child gang of pickpockets. Dickens' second novel, it is renowned and critiqued as a morality tale, a detective story, social commentary of early 19th century London.
It's first musical adaptation, Oliver! was first staged in London's West End in 1960 and later debuted on Broadway in 1962. Its most acclaimed adaptation is the musical is the film version released in 1968, when it won The Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the last G-rated movie to win this award and last movie musical to win this award until Chicago in 2002.
Copies of Oliver Twist will be available at the Northeast Neighborhood Library, and can also be placed on hold from the DC Library catalog. A Christmas Carol can also be placed on hold from the catalog. If you would like assistance in this process, please contact Jeff at Jeffrey.Gluckman@dc.gov.
For other adaptations and supplementary material:
Watch the 1968 movie Oliver!
View a documentary on the world of Charles Dickens' characters on Kanopy,
Stream The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), a biopic about the life of Charles Dickens.
Listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording with Freegal.