ABSTRACT
Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are two of the most prominent novels in the Dickens canon to feature child-heroes, though the major musical adaptations of these works reverse some of the characters’ (and the novels’) key traits. In Oliver Twist, the title character is silent, passive, and incapable of telling his own story. Conversely, the musical Oliver! celebrates the voice of the child-hero and elevates him to a more prominent role by eliminating Dickens’s narrator. David Copperfield highlights the voice of the child by emphasizing that David—the adult narrator—speaks most honestly and openly when he adopts his younger-self’s perspective. However, the musical Copperfield reduces the significance of the child’s voice by omitting the adult David’s narration.
