FAQ

They are: (1) Oliver's trial, (2) the burglary scene involving Sikes and Oliver, and (3) the idea of having Sikes try to make his getaway on the rooftops, near the end of the film. These scenes are not in the original stage version, though reportedly there is a recent stage version that has been modified to be more like the film. In the original production, Act I ends immediately after Oliver is arrested, and Act II begins after he has already gone to Mr Brownlow's house. There is no burglary in the stage version, and Sikes tries to make his getaway on London Bridge instead of across the rooftops. There is much less spoken dialogue in the original stage version than in the film, making the play seem much like a series of song cues rather than a story with songs added. The film feels more like a version of "Oliver Twist," with more plot and dialogue, than the play does.

Aside from the obvious fact that "Oliver Twist' is not a musical, there is an entire subplot in the novel that was left out of the musical. In the novel, Oliver has a half-brother that he knows nothing about. This person is named Monks, and is almost as evil as Bill Sikes (though not nearly as violent). The real reason that Fagin wants Oliver kidnapped from Brownlow's house is that Monks will pay Fagin to make Oliver a criminal. This is because, unbeknownst to him, Oliver has an inheritance which he will automatically lose if he ever commits a crime, and the money would then go to Monks, whose father was also Oliver's father.

Later on in the novel, when Sikes tries to use Oliver to help him commit a robbery and it all goes wrong, the two do not escape safely, as in the musical film. Instead, Oliver is shot and Sikes abandons him to die. Oliver is then taken and nursed back to health by the people in the house, who realize he was forced to participate in the robbery. Oliver never returns to the thieves; instead, Nancy, who secretly discovers Monks's identity, takes steps to ensure that he will not be kidnapped again, by informing on Monks (and only Monks). When Fagin hears of this, he is furious at the loss of the money Monks would have paid him. He lies to Sikes and makes him believe that Nancy informed on all of them; this is why Sikes kills her. He accidentally hangs himself while trying to escape; Monks is caught and forced to confess, and Fagin is sentenced to death and hanged.