The original Broadway production of "Oliver!" opened at the Imperial Theater on January 6, 1963, ran for 774 performances and was nominated for the 1963 Tony Award for the Best Musical and received nominations for Best Book and Best Score.
The whole "Who Will Buy" sequence took 6 weeks to film.
The whole of Bloomsbury Square in London was recreated on the Shepperton Studios backlot for the "Who Will Buy" sequence. In fact, the entire Shepperton Studios was given over to the production of Oliver!.
When he finally received his payment for the film at the age of 18 (the money had been put in trust for him), Mark Lester went out and bought a Ferrari with his earnings.
While filming the scene where Oliver gets a peek at Fagin's treasure, director Carol Reed was not satisfied with the reaction on Mark Lester's face. Later, while re-shooting the scene, he hid a small white rabbit in his pocket and stood behind the camera. As Ron Moody opened the box of treasures, Reed pulled the rabbit out of his pocket. Lester's reaction to the sight of the rabbit was then used in the final film.