From Oliver! to Golda… new life for long-lost Lionel Bart musical

Songs from the composer's doomed show about the Israeli stateswoman will make their debut online

The self-taught musical genius Lionel Bart was the Londoner who first successfully challenged the long-established dominance of Broadway shows. When he launched Oliver! on the West End in 1960 it took first Britain and then America by storm, breaking records and becoming a classic of musical theatre and then a beloved film. But Bart never reached such commercial heights again, despite his talent.

Now music from the lost show once set to relaunch Bart's career as he struggled with ill health and debt is to be performed for the public for the first time.