About the work
Oliver Twist, el musical is a Spanish musical based on Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, first published as a serial from 1837 to 1839. The adaptation and lyrics are by Pedro Víllora and the music is by the Argentine composer and music director Gerardo Gardelin; it is unrelated to Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!. It opened on 12 November 2025 at the Teatro La Latina in Madrid, directed by Juan Luis Iborra and produced by Pentación Espectáculos and AMR Produce, with a cast of more than 30 adult and young performers.
Plot
The orphan Oliver grows up in a workhouse where the children are given barely enough to eat. He runs away to London and falls in with a gang of young pickpockets led by the old criminal Fagin. Step by step he uncovers the secret of his parentage and finds the people who remain of his family.
Cultural significance
In this early social novel Dickens attacks child labour, poverty and the exploitation of orphans; it is one of the most frequently adapted stories in English literature. The Madrid version tells it as a young hero's path through hardship and injustice and is explicitly aimed at families as well.