The Irish Repertory Theatre's 2012 Annual Benefit Gala, a concert performance of Lionel Bart's Oliver!, was presented at Broadway's Shubert Theatre. In Oliver!, according to Irish Rep, "an innocent orphan boy escapes the cruel workhouse and joins a gang of roving pickpocket street urchins who report to the cunning master pickpocket himself, the wily Fagin, who rules the filthy streets under London Bridge with a slippery hand. Nancy, the beautiful graduate of Fagin's 'Academy,' and her lover, Bill Sykes, an iconic villain in his prime, fight over the boy, with awful consequences."
Most benefit concert performances aren't fortunate enough to have fully fleshed out production values, completely rehearsed casts and huge ensembles. Fortunately, even with some of those shortcomings, the Irish Repertory Theatre's benefit concert of Oliver! this past Monday managed to deliver some really nice performances and pull off a fairly good production of this well known and well loved musical. Review: Girl's Broadway & Movie Blog
