Figure 1.--This new play is about Oliver Philip Brownlow who appaers here in a traditional prep school uniform. The play is set in England during the 1950s..

Rockin' Oliver!, is a new musical, written in 2001 by Jivin’ Jimmy. It is set in 1950s England, about a musical child prodigy who is the great-great grandson of Oliver Twist--Oliver Philip Brownlow. (Brownlow you will remember was Oliver Twist's grandfather.) He lives in London over oe hundred years and four generations later. The promoters describe Rockin' Oliver as, "A sequel to Lionel Bart’s ‘OLIVER!’ Set in the late 1950s in Rockin' Old England"." Mark Lester commenting on Roclin! Oliver writes, "I think it is a great idea. Totally original and bound to be a success." The play begins as Oliver Twist asks for more gruel in the workhouse. The boys at Oliver's table are punished for their part in drawing straws to ask for more food. They have their gruel ration cut in half and their work day is extended. As a result, Oliver’s best friends, Dick and John, who sat at his table, soon starve to death. John escapes the workhouse and steals food and is caught. Another boy, Sebastian, is apprenticed as a chimney sweep. After their deaths, the ghostly spirits of Dick and John rest for over one hundred years. Finally they rise again in the 1950s to find what happened to Oliver.

New Play

Rockin' Oliver! is a new musical, written in 2001 by Jivin’ Jimmy.

Setting

The play is set in 1950s England.

The Music

The music is of course good old 1950s style rock and roll.

Plot

The play is about a musical child prodigy who is the great-great grandson of Oliver Twist--Oliver Philip Brownlow. He lives in London over oe hundred years and four generations later. The promoters describe Rockin' Oliver as, "A sequel to Lionel Bart’s ‘OLIVER!’ Set in the late 1950s in Rockin' Old England"." Mark Lester commenting on Roclin! Oliver writes, "I think it is a great idea. Totally original and bound to be a success." The play begins as Oliver Twist asks for more gruel in the workhouse. The boys at Oliver's table are punished for their part in drawing straws to ask for more food. They have their gruel ration cut in half and their work day is extended. As a result, Oliver’s best friends, Dick and John, who sat at his table, soon starve to death. John escapes the workhouse and steals food and is caught. Another boy, Sebastian, is apprenticed as a chimney sweep. After their deaths, the ghostly spirits of Dick and John rest for over one hundred years. Finally they rise again in the 1950s to find what happened to Oliver.

Movie Version

A Canadian performance of Rockin’ Oliver! is planned in Calgary, Alberta, Canada some time during 2003. A local theater group put on a stage performance of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! in 2001, to prepare for producing Rockin’ Oliver!. They plan to film the production which will be the first pilot taping. A theatre and entertainment agent in the United States is promoting Rockin’ Oliver! and plans to use the Canadian pilot film to interest a Hollywood movie company. Contacts with theatre and entertainment agents in the United Kingdom have also been made, and it is hoped that a stage production with an amateur theatre company will take place there also, in order to produce a British pilot film for promotional purposes.

Reader Comments

A HBC reader comments, "Rockin' Oliver is a brilliant idea and a country singer named Billy Gilman could play the American version because he is quite small for his age at 4 foot 7 inches tall. His voice has changed a little but with his new voice could play a 13-year old version of this charactor. What about a modern musical version of Great Expectations set in the 1960. Some of the story could take part in a gentalmens preparatory school--Magwitch Priory. Stella's twin sons could be of great privilidge, but one loses his wealth womanising guttertrash and his side of the family is the current Pip's great'great'grandfather. Pip's surname would become Rommy after those horrid marshes of the very first Pip Phillips time era. The aristocratical Phillips family (related to Pip Rommy) own and run Magwich Priory for Anglican Gentlemen. Jasper Casper Jaggers, a lawyer and known descendant of the original Mr. Jaggers of the first Pip's time era helps him get into the prep school with money owed to him from the Pockets Foundation for Improvement. Pip Rommy is now a Catholic because Lord Pumblechook' the Mayor of Durward befriended him and got him baptised at Downswater Chapel in lower Aichbeisey. He meets his cousin Viscount Magwich and a beautiful rich girl enters the scene with her benefactor 'Estella Pocket', a Countessa, and you know the rest of the Great Expectations Sstory.

My two nieces and a nephew checked out your piece on 'Rockin' Oliver' AND THINK YOUNG BILLY WOULD INDEED BE THE MAN FOR THIS COVETED ROLE. He can sing and act' he looks about 11 or 12 years old because he is a short chap (4 ft 7 in tall). We have his three albums and think he is the one for this role: blond hair, small, blue eyes, can sing, can act, moves well and eats the camera too. We know his voice is changing but we still think he can pull it off. He is not doing any projects and needs to act and push his image to the public cinema goers. He is a country artist but he can do it and his fans around the globe would agree.

Created: August 1, 2002
Last updated: August 3, 2002