Lionel Bart; British Lyricist, Composer Created ‘Oliver!’

Lionel Bart, the lyricist and composer who created “Oliver!” and who had a leading role in reviving musical theater in London, has died. He was 68.

Bart died Saturday of cancer in London, said his nephew, Michael Pushkin.

In the early 1960s, when American productions were dominating London’s stages, Bart focused the city’s attentions on a home-grown product. The original 1960 production of “Oliver!” racked up 2,618 consecutive performances while on its way to becoming one of the most successful musicals ever staged.

Bart went on to lose his “Oliver!” fortune by financing questionable musical productions, and he lived through long years of alcoholism and other excess.

But his role in resurrecting the British stage was remembered Saturday by one who followed in his footsteps.

“Lionel was the father of the modern British musical,” composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said. “Lionel’s genius has, in my view, never been fully recognized by the British establishment.”

Bart’s first musical, “Fings Ain’t Wot They Used t’Be,” premiered in 1959 and had a two-year commercial run in London. He also produced the popular “Lock Up Your Daughters” in ’59.

And then in 1960 came “Oliver!” based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.” The production’s long initial run was followed by successful revivals in 1967 and 1977. The show was also a hit in New York, and Bart won Broadway’s Tony Award for its music and lyrics.

The 1968 film version, starring Ron Moody as the archvillain Fagin, won six Academy Awards.

Success for Bart was fleeting. He made millions from “Oliver!” and threw himself into a lifestyle that was a perpetual party.

He had minor success with the music and lyrics for “Blitz!” in 1962 and “Maggie May” in 1964, and wrote the music for “Lionel” in 1977.

But in 1965, he produced “Twang!”--a show based on the life of Robin Hood, which was to become a nightmare for him. Against the advice of friends and theater associates, Bart put up his own money and signed away his rights to “Oliver!” to finance the production.

He later admitted that he had made a mistake in producing the widely panned show.

“If I hadn’t pretended to be such a genius child, King Baby, I would have paid more attention,” he said in an interview with London’s Sunday Times in 1986.

He tried a comeback in 1969 with “La Strada,” but the show did poorly in England and flopped with only one performance in New York.

By the early 1970s, Bart was bankrupt and fighting alcoholism.

He experienced a renaissance of sorts in the late 1980s, writing some television jingles and having some of his stage productions revived.

In 1994, producer Cameron Mackintosh featured actor Jonathan Pryce in a major new production of “Oliver!” in London. And in a rare gesture in the harsh world of show business, Mackintosh returned a portion of the show’s rights to Bart, thus assuring him a stable income for life.

Born Lionel Beglieter, Bart was the son of a Jewish tailor in London’s working-class East End and had no formal musical education. He went from silk-screen printer to songwriter in the mid-1950s as a member of the influential band the Cavemen with Tommy Steele. He later wrote “Living Doll” for Cliff Richard and “Do You Mind” for Anthony Newley.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.