The Wiz (youth)

The musical “The Wiz” has music and lyrics written by Charlie Smalls with a plot based on the very popular story “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. This was another excellent production from the young people of SONG and it more than met their usual high standards, with the cast exhibiting lots of energy, loads of enthusiasm and working very well together as a team. There were a number of strong performances from the principal cast which included a very good confident performance by Layla Carlin in the central role of Dorothy who along with the very talented Charlie McMullan as The Scarecrow, Jamie Lonsdale as a splendid Tin Man and Lucas Frost as an excellent comedic Lion made a very good central team of principle characters. Other enjoyable key roles were played by Matthew Higginson as The Wiz, Charlotte Webster as Aunt Em, James Henderson as Uncle Henry and Thomas Corcoran as the Gatekeeper.  There were also some very amusing characterisations and performances from the three witches, who were Helena McCormack as Adderperle, Shannon Weekes as Evillene and Isabella Knowler as the ethereal Glinda. Further entertaining performances were given by those in the smaller roles and the enthusiastic well trained ensemble who along with some very nice singing from the pit singers supported the principal cast very well. Diction as well as pace and clarity of words was excellent meaning the action and story could be followed easily and American accents were mostly spot on. Choreography by Jenny Birch was very energetic, well thought out and was executed well by the whole of the cast. The band led by Musical Director Sarah Nicholson with Paul Williams as Assistant Musical Director were first-rate and supported the cast very well. The set was minimalistic and worked well and along with the excellent lighting, sound and good correct colourful costumes contributed to the success of this production, well done to the stage crew and all who worked back stage.

Congratulations must go to Director Sian Woolley and to all involved in this excellent production, thank you for inviting me, I hope to see you for your next show.

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