The Wizard Of Oz

Thank you for inviting me to your production of The Wizard of Oz, at the rather charming Palladium Theatre in Millom.    This was the first time I’d seen The Wizard of Oz as a pantomime and it was lovely meeting you all.

There were some confident performances on display throughout the production, notably Melanie Sherwood as The Cowardly Lion whose energy was as bubbly as a bottle of champagne which permeated to her fellow performers.    Florence Tyson sang beautifully as Dorothy and was ably supported by Charlie Clunie as the Scarecrow and Emily Sherwood as the Tin Man.  Katherine Mossop gave us a suitably bad Wicked Witch Of The West and played well off her rival Witches, Shelly Dixon and Hannah Thompson.

The ensemble worked brilliantly together, giving real impact to the company numbers which the audience greatly enjoyed.

I’ve said before in another review that my bête noir is lines being prompted.  There were far too many dropped lines (particularly in the second act) and I struggle to connect with what I’m watching when a phantom voice is constantly prompting lines.

Each group has their own quirks and traditions which I’m sure the Millom audience have come to expect over the years at the Palladium pantomime.  I confess on my first visit I felt the end of the show got totally derailed with - there’s no other way to say it – a slightly chaotic song sheet.  It felt very hard to get the show back on track from this. Many of the audience had been taken on stage to join in, for the remaining audience members to then have to wait whilst nothing happened as they all returned to their seats! 

The scenery was simple but was changed at a good pace and was lit nicely using the Palladium’s modest lighting rig.

Diane Vernon led the costume department and did a fantastic job designing and creating a vast array of costumes for the large company.  I particularly liked the look chosen for The Lion – a cowardly lion with a modern twist.

The music choices were good, though I did feel more adventurous music choices would have made the whole piece slightly more ‘panto’ as opposed to ‘musical’.

Thank you for making me feel so welcome - I love seeing how different groups put their shows together, so the backstage tour at the end was very appreciated.

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