When we last left our intrepid London vacationers, we (by which I mean Marystephanie and I) had just left the Churchill War Rooms and taken the tube back to our hotel in South Kensington.

 There we were finally able to access our rooms and had a chance to unpack our suitcases and prepare for our evening out.  Amazingly, we were still upright and ready to rock.

 We took the tube and had a yummy pre-theater dinner at J.Sheekey in Leicester Square, complete with fish stew and a lovely rhubarb tart for dessert. Veddy British!

 Then we began wandering through the streets of the West End in search of the Gielgud Theatre to see Oliver!, that classic 1960 musical by Lionel Bart based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.  This revival opened to rave reviews, and the show is one of my favorites.  When we staged it at Delaware Valley Central School back in 1970, my dear friend, classmate, and creative genius Richard Björklund starred as Fagin, the leader of the gang of young pickpockets.  He also designed the sets and created his own costumes. 

 Oliver! is one of those musicals where every song is a gem. You keep thinking it can’t get better, but every song raises the bar.  From “Food, Glorious Food”, to the title song, to “Where Is Love?”, “Consider Yourself”, “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two”, through to “It’s a Fine Life”, “I’d Do Anything”, “Be Back Soon”, “Oom-Pah-Pah”, Bill Sikes’ frightening “My Name”, Fagin’s  humorous “Reviewing the Situation”, and Nancy’s tragic “As Long as He Needs Me”, all these songs are powerful.

 The cast in the London production was fabulous, with top honors going to Simon Lipkin’s Fagin and Shanay Holmes’ Nancy.  Lipkin was a delight, playing Fagin with all the dramatic and comic overkill that the character deserves.  And Shanay Holmes brings Nancy to life in all the complexity of that role as a battered woman whose choices in her situation are limited and terrible.

 The show was so well done, and we especially enjoyed the curtain calls, which became a singalong as each group moved on to take their bows.  The entire audience was on their feet, clapping and singing along. 

 This lively musical ensured that there was absolutely no danger of us falling asleep after our marathon first day in Jolly England, but after a quick tube ride back to our neighborhood, we were ready to hit the hay.

  We had another not-quite-as-full day planned on the morrow, and we girls definitely needed our beauty rest!