The Wizard Of Oz

On a very stormy, and almost Tornado like, evening it felt very appropriate for my Panto visit  to be to watch The Wizard Of Oz with Hudswell Village Players.

Despite running for only 5 years now, and obviously with a little gap in the middle, HVP have now not only gained themselves a huge following (another sold out run) but also a great and loyal membership base with a lot of familiar faces once again in the 17 strong cast.

Now, the Village Hall is probably the smallest venue in the whole of NODA North yet the production team make use of every inch of space possible with entrances from the toilets and kitchen area all in use. The staging was basic with raised blocks and blacked out curtains yet colour flowed through the production. A clever yellow brick road through the audience, a huge Green Wizard cutout with a moving mouth added good detail. Most importantly though, this show had wonderful costumes to match any big budget production. The Lion was perfectly cuddly, the scarecrow looked like stuffing was coming out of all areas, the Tinman glistened from every angle and the Dame/Glinda had some outrageous outfits (I especially loved the OTT cow print oversized skirt in the farm scene). Not only this but all of the Junior ensemble matched perfectly. From the vibrant Emerald City green waistcoats to the men in black style baddie outfits they all looked perfectly in Unison.

Add to this the great lighting effects, SFX that included snow, great sound effects and well balanced music the technical side of this show was well above what you would expect for a small village pantomime.

So did all of this attention to detail take the focus away from the performance side of the show…. Absolutely not! Under the meticulous direction of Jordan Hamilton-Leighton and slick choreography from Sarah Singleton the show was entertaining from start to finish. 

The Junior ensemble did a brilliant job and were involved heavily throughout, their confidence seems to grow each year and this very was noticeable in their dancing and singing which was very slick for such a young group of actors. I especially loved the opening Texas Hold ‘Em number with Dorothy and Everybody’s Talking About Dorothy which opened Act Two.

Huge well done to Annie, Lydia, Layla, Charlotte, Jasmine, Lucy and Ethan as main ensemble.

It is great to see the Juniors stepping up to more principal roles too with the Society and in this show we had Arthur Martin and Archie Robson as Winky and Twinky, the Wicked Witches sidekicks. Both very funny in their roles with Archie playing a lovely dimwitted fool constantly being bossed (and whacked) about by Arthur who also showed off some lovely lead vocals on the night. Arthur and his Sister Charlotte also helped with choreography for the show and took the lead in many of the ensemble numbers both showing great ability.

On the other shows, Annie and Lydia Martinson played Winky and Twinky and from their ensemble contribution I am sure they will have excelled in the principal roles too.

Matthew Robson is another young promising star who has been involved with the group from the start and it was lovely to see him take on the role of the Wizard. A really bold and confident portrayal of the character with a very wordy dialogue.

Now The Wizard of Oz is not your traditional Pantomime and one I had never seen in this format so I was unsure to see exactly how it would work but a fab script by Tom Walley made it work perfectly. 

Of course the show needed the 3 most well known characters and playing Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow were Heidi Bradley, Christine Meldon and Tanya Robinson.

Heidi gave us a lovely stiff and upright Tinman playing it perfectly straight and hard faced whilst showing off her stunning vocal talent with a beautiful rendition of Anyone Who Had a Heart.. Great song choice for a very talented performer.

Christine Meldon, whilst being involved with the Society for a number of years as their fabulous photographer and publicity officer finally got back on the stage and it’s certainly where she should be as her soft and terrified Lion was just perfect. Christine really captured the character and I only hope the constant napping and screaming was for the role! Another great song choice for her solo with Holding out for a Hero which was delivered with great vocals from a lovely Soprano voice. 

Tanya Robinson was absolutely wonderful as the Scarecrow, pushing along the pace at all times, her interaction with the audience was perfect whilst her dimwitted and clueless portrayal worked perfectly. She managed this instant connection with us and the use of the West country accent was perfect to exaggerate the clever lines and really bad jokes!

Richard Hamilton-Leighton has almost become the resident Hudswell Dame and fresh from his recent Noda Award success it is so easy to see why. Playing a slightly alternative Dame in the role of Glinda he still managed to give us the cheeky innuendos, stunning little facial smirks and audience flirting we have come to love. Despite carrying a bit of a sore throat the vocals were still as always exceptional.

It is rare I say a part was made for someone yet The Wicked Witch role was absolutely perfect for Scott Edwards. The balance of evil and wit was balanced wonderfully. The sharp interaction with the audience was perfect, the posture and stances ideal and the perfect costuming and green makeup an ideal backdrop for some outrageous facial expressions and eye gestures. 2 huge songs were chosen, Down The Witches Road and One Way or Another and both were sensational with great power and control throughout. Even a little stumble into an audience member was pulled into character and made to feel as if it was scripted!

In young Grace Baker HVP have found themselves an absolute star in the making. Involved for pretty much the whole show and in most musical numbers Grace handled the role of Dorothy like a seasoned pro. Dressed in the traditional blue and white check the characterisation was beautiful with a soft caring edge yet showing real edge when required. Her projection and pronunciation was excellent and wow what a voice this young actress has. Her tone and subtlety in Over the Rainbow was beautiful, showing a great understanding of where to give us light and shade in storytelling. She also showed how she can control a musical number with numerous bursts of the Travel Song, a great alternative choice to Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Of course she had to be supported by a Toto and in Lily the miniature Jack Russel she had the perfect companion. 

Hudswell Village Players was set up to provide an opportunity to young people within the local and wider dales area to take part in theatre. Well in Grace and the rest of the Juniors it just shows that their mission statement is working to perfection. 

So I had previously stated that HVP has the smallest venue, well they certainly don't have the smallest productions. Every member of the cast was wonderful, bringing life and joy to all of their characters. The audience loved the whole evening, especially the great Panto routines we have come to love (Ghost gag and 12 gifts of Christmas to name a couple). It just shows that you don’t need a 1000 seater stadium or huge budgets to put on a great show. What you need is great direction, vision, passion, talent and hardwork and Hudswell proved that with a brilliant performance. 

Thank you for a wonderful evening and I can’t wait to see what you have in store for 2025

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.