The Wizard of Oz

This was my second visit to Glantawe and thankfully one of my favourite musicals. As always, we had a lovely welcome to the Welfare and we were met with a very busy audience which is always great to see. Right from the word go I was delighted to see Glantawe making full use of their younger members which is so important for the future of any society. The Wizard of Oz is iconic and therefore the expectation on certain roles is always there. Heather Rees played a lovely Dorothy and delivered a great version on Over the Rainbow to a very appreciative audience. 

The farm hands were played by younger members of the company (Erin Maggs, Kyle Treseder & Gruffydd Watkins) and whilst I think giving them opportunities is great, it did slightly detract from the magic of them becoming - The Scarecrow, Tin Man & The Lion, but this is of course just my opinion. They did however give it everything and that was fabulous to see. Speaking of The Scarecrow (Stacey Harries) Tin Man (Lowri Paynter) & The Lion (Russell Rees) I felt these 3 characters stood out and were very well cast. There is nothing wrong with females playing predominantly male roles if the characterization and vocals are there. All 3 leads were equally as good and moved the show on at pace which is valuable and integral with this musical. 

Rebecca Treseder played the Wicked Witch with a cackle that made me jump, Leah Hopkins a gorgeous Glinda, then of course the supporting cameo roles which are usually doubled but giving the adults more to do was a very wise choice. Lee Bentley as Professor Marvel, Becci Wakeman as Anut Em, David Treseder as Uncle Henry, Heidi James as Almira Gulch and Anthony Evans as the Guard were all great. 

Now, the Childrens ensemble - they were absolutely fabulous and were clearly having the time of their lives on that stage. Every time they had an opportunity (which isn’t much in this show) they were a delight. 

The costumes throughout were bright, colourful and true to this musical, the set worked really well and even though there were only 3 in the band, whatever Andrew Harries did, he worked his magic to create a lovely full sound, complimented by some fine singing on stage. Congratulations to Anthony Evans on directing Glantawe’ 50th Anniversary production and lets hope, there’s another 50 to come. 

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