It seems to me that 1960's Oliver!, adapted and composed by Lionel Bart, set the very model for a modern Broadway musical. It has all the elements we associate with the form. Its protagonist is a scrappy orphan (cf. Annie, Gavroche in Les Misérables) who uses his first solo number to tell us what he wants out of life (cf. "Castle on a Cloud," "Somewhere That's Green" in Little Shop of Horrors). It's set in a raucous historical period (Les Mis, Chicago) so it resists looking dated. It features over half a dozen hummable songs, amoral comic relief characters, an odious villain and a mildly violent climax. We can thank Charles Dickens, author of the source novel Oliver Twist (1838), for some of that, and we should. It's often said Dickens taught filmmakers, and by extension contemporary Broadway, how to tell stories.

Coming off a smaller-scale, future-gen production, Next to Normal, the bombast of Oliver! represents a smart shift of programming for Capital Playhouse. We know what we want from a show like this, and thanks to director Colleen Powers and an obviously dedicated cast, we get almost all of it. The choreography is intricate and perfectly executed. The madrigal harmonies of "Who Will Buy?" come off beautifully. Sixth-grader Skyler Wyatt Zimmerman, last seen as, you guessed it, Gavroche, looks good in a newsboy cap. Bruce Haasl's set transforms quickly from a workhouse to a mansion to the heights of London Bridge.

Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Oliver! in the Weekly Volcano's Arts section.

CAPITAL PLAYHOUSE, OLIVER!, THROUGH MARCH 31, 7:30 P.M. WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY, 2 P.M. SUNDAY, $29-$40, 612 FOURTH AVE. E., OLYMPIA, 360.943.2744