OLIVER! opens at Drury Lane - good reviews and $22 million advance!

The whole gang here at Applause Theatre Service especially myself, are all excited about Cameron Mackintosh's production of Oliver! which opened last night at London's Drury Lane Theatre to rave reviews, this time with Rupert Goold directing the former Palladium production, originally helmed by Sam Mendes. Matthew Bourne repeats as choreographer. Rowan Atkinson stars as Fagin. The Nancy (Jodie Prenger, who got good notices today) was cast on BBC's reality TV show "I'd Do Anything". That marketing is probably the main reason why the show has a £15 million advance. (Variety reports it as $22 million.) The West End is hailing the musicals success as welcome relief during the current credit crunch. As Charles Spencer writes in his Telegraph review: "As most of us get poorer in coming months, this production is going to make producer Cameron Mackintosh even richer. It's so enjoyable however that I find it impossible to grudge him a penny."
Here's a link to an article about its box office success.
And here's a link to a funny article by Chris Wiegand in The Guardian, subtitled "With an artful dodge, pick a paragraph or two from the critics and pretend you've seen Rowan Atkinson's Fagin."
Five reviews for Oliver! follow. They're quite good on the whole.
Benedict Nightingale in The Times.
Michael Billington in The Guardian.
Charles Spencer in The Telegraph.
Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard.
David Benedict in Variety.
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