"Where is Love?" is a song from the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning British musical '' Oliver!'' and the 1968 film of the same name, based on the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

. The musical was written by

Lionel Bart Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's " Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his wor ...

and was first staged in London's West End in 1960. Oliver is a young boy on the search for his mother, and comes across many people, friends and criminals alike.

Background

Oliver Twist, the leading character, sings the song after being thrown into the cellar of a funeral parlour for getting into a fight with Noah Claypole, another servant of the undertaker. Later in the show, a reprise is sung by Mr. Brownlow's housekeeper, Mrs Bedwin. In the 1968 Columbia Pictures musical film version of ''Oliver!'', "Where is Love?" was performed onscreen by Mark Lester, whose singing voice was reportedly dubbed by Kathe Green (the daughter of the film's conductor and musical arranger, Johnny Green), though Lester was actually given credit on the soundtrack album.

Cover versions

* Oliver on his 1969 album, '' Good Morning Starshine''Oliver, ''Good Morning Starshine''
Retrieved March 16, 2012. *

Irene Kral Irene Kral (January 18, 1932 – August 15, 1978) was an American jazz singer who was born to Czechoslovakian parents in Chicago, Illinois and settled in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. She died from breast cancer in Encino, California. Kral's ...

on her album '' Where Is Love?'' * Mike Preston covered both Where Is Love? and I'd Do Anything.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Where Is Love? 1960 songs Songs written by Lionel Bart Songs from Oliver! Oliver (singer) songs Shirley Bassey songs