The Wizard of Oz

A large audience gave this RSC version of a much loved musical an excellent reception and enjoyed the performances of well-known characters and musical numbers.

The society had two large teams of youngsters as Munchkins – the Emerald and the Yellow and we saw the former.  It was led by Annie Lewis as Dorothy in her first leading role at Hull New Theatre.  It’s an iconic part of course and Annie did a very good job with it, winning the audience over immediately.  Her rapport with the other main characters was excellent and she had trusty Toto (Leo) to work with as well – he knew what he was doing!  The Yellow team had Georgia Kingston as Dorothy and I have heard that they were equally impressive.

Chris Holmes portrayed the Scarecrow strongly as usual and he has a good presence on stage.  The Tin Man was very nicely played by Joshua Archibald continuing to show the promise seen in Legally Blonde in 2018 and the Cowardly Lion was warmly performed by experienced Richard Gorton.  All three supported Dorothy well.

Mandy Pearson was Glinda, the good Witch and Aunt Em and she did well to cope with being flown in on a hoop, singing at the same time.  The same goes for Claire Cooper who played The Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch.  At one stage she was flown across the width of the stage – very brave!  She looked just right but I felt that maybe she rushed her dialogue and her diction could have been better.  Ian Start was busy as The Guard and Uncle Henry and society newcomer Simon Field was The Wizard and Professor Marvel.

Choreography was fine, costumes bright and in keeping.  The Orchestra made a good sound and kept the pace moving.  There was a large set well utilised.  My only real gripe about the production (although I prefer the original version) was with the sound which really wasn’t good enough, not the first time I’ve had similar thoughts at this theatre.  I know that the production team were disappointed by this but the Scarecrow’s mic hardly worked, nor did the Lion’s and it made it very difficult for them to be heard.

However, maybe I’m being over critical as the audience’s applause for the very hard working and enthusiastic cast was highly positive at the end.

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