Oz The Panto

“Oz The Panto” follows the journey of Darcey and her new found friends in their quest to find the Wizard.  It’s a story that we’re all familiar with – the twister, the rainbow, the yellow brick road…but the Gargrave Pantomime Groups version had an extra special element added.  This version was very cleverly written by Edward & Beverley Munday – and it was great to see Darcey joined by Bruno, Craig & Len!

This panto had a great community feel to it – performed in the beautiful Gargrave Village Hall, with great set and props.  The backcloths were so colourful and brilliantly painted by Lesley Woodhouse, Sarah Pawson and Marcia Firth.  I particularly like the scene where the house was caught in the twister – and the audience were enthralled when they saw the house get blown across the stage!

With a cast of around 30 people, ranging from age 5 upwards (the cutest 5 year old fairy I’ve ever seen) they performed with gusto and enthusiasm.  Well drilled in song and dance the whole audience was entertained from start to finish.

A strong cast of principal characters who cleverly transformed from “Strictly” characters Bruno, Craig and Len into Scarecrow (Cassia Sauer), Tin Man (Duncan Faulkner) and Lion (Neil Hellewell) – to accompany Darcey (Laura Lipscombe) and Aunt Em (Peter Poulter) on their journey to find The Wiz (Paul Smith).  On their way they were joined by a trio of good witches – Gladys (Anna Burke), Nora (Ellie Addis) and Cath (Poppy Tetley) and one very wicked witch aka Ms Gargrave (Claire Addis).

There was great support from the Crows, Greenies/Woodcutters, Fairies and Poppies (who all joined the ensemble) and they delighted us with their amazing, well thought out costumes, hats, stylised hair and cute makeup.

Great lighting and sound effects helped move the story from “good” (bright light) to “bad” (green light) – I thought the Witch’s lair was most effective, and I think we’d all like a magical brolly with fairy lights on it!

The story moved through at a great pace – and there were some very funny comedy lines which were delivered with great timing.

Well done to the production team – Chrissee, Claire & Laura.  You must be so proud of what you have all achieved, and it must be such a great feeling to be back performing your annual panto after the break last year.

Productions like this cannot go ahead without a great team “behind the scenes” – from the list of names in the programme there is clearly a dedicated “crew” supporting the production.  Congratulations to you all – a total team effort, producing really enjoyable results which the whole audience were most appreciative of.

 

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