The Wizard of Oz

Although this ‘Muny Version’ was described as quite a different one to the original well known story, it still included many of the familiar ingredients including the characters and songs you would expect to see, whilst enabling some original touches to be added.

The central character is of course ‘Dorothy’ and although only 12 years of age, Hollie Williams in her first lead role provided a mature performance, singing and projecting well from her first solo number ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and  throughout the production.  The farmhouse where Dorothy lives is swept away by a tornado to Munchkin Land in the Land of Oz and this journey was very well depicted by the company with some innovative choreography. The opening scene in Munchkin Land was a blaze of colour with some very impressive individual costumes. It was obvious a lot of effort had been made with the costumes throughout the entire show.

The farmhouse lands on and kills the Munchkins cruel leader the Wicked Witch of the East, much to everyone’s joy, except her sister the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’, a solid performance played with  great power by Ellen Fearnley. Dorothy is welcomed by the Mayor of Munchkin Land, which was very well and amusingly handled by Bella Butler aged just 8 years. Soon Dorothy meets three new friends; the ‘Scarecrow’, the ‘Tinman’ and the ‘Cowardly Lion’, well portrayed respectively by Louis Ayers, Toni Odell and particularly Jessica Lewis. Good support is also provided by Phoebe Hall (‘Sorceress of the North’), Leah Jones (‘Aunt Em’), Daniel Chorley (‘Uncle Henry’) and Leah Stafford (‘Munchkin Farmer’).

Act 2 opens in the Emerald City of Oz, where the opening number is well led by Darcey Norcott as ‘Gloria’. Ryan Simcock as ‘Lord Growlie’ and Brad Alexander as ‘The Wizard of Oz’ each provide a solid performance. One of the impressive aspects of the whole show was how tight the dialogue was and delivered at a very good pace which kept the whole action moving. Throughout, the company worked well together including all those involved in the Ghost dance, the Munchkins, the ‘Lullaby League’  ‘Lollipop Guild’ and ‘Gloria’s Gang’.

The set was colourful and effective, particularly the farmhouse, the rotating bridge and the rocket which eventually and happily returned Dorothy to Kansas. The orchestra was well balanced in itself and along-side the amplification of the principals. The production team should be very pleased with the overall result.

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