The Wizard of Oz

It was an honour to be present at the redeveloped Maesteg Town Hall for Curtain Up Youth Theatre’s 25th anniversary production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.  The creative team decided to do the RSC version of the production which is most closely aligned to the much-loved musical film, starring Judy Garland.  Over seventy young performers took to the stage and entertained a packed auditorium.

The Curtain Up team know that I particularly love all aspects of technical theatre, having worked backstage in professional theatre for a while.  I was very impressed with this production’s technical elements.  The sound balance was excellent.  The lighting design was effective and well used in all scenes and I thought the use of the extremely high quality projections, in lieu of major scenery was excellent.  Scene changes, when required, were slick and quiet! One minor point for the future – occasionally as characters entered from the wings, the microphones weren’t quite cued in time and so the first part of lines were missed, which was a shame.

As Dorothy, Evie Boydell gave a lovely performance.  She had a nice character with great vocals during the musical numbers and struck up a good rapport with the rest of her cast mates.

Ffion Parry was great as the good witch, Glinda.  She sang well and had a calming influence to her character.  Well played.

Ezme Davies certainly seemed to enjoy herself playing the Wicked Witch of the West/Miss Gulch.  She had a strong character and played both parts well.

On her trip to Oz, Dorothy encounters the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion.  These characters were played by Scott Holmes, Lewis Worgan-Hill and Jonah Kelly-Fisher.  These three young men worked very hard to deliver well-known characters that audiences love.  Each of them had excellent characterisation and they all worked well as a team.  Strong energy, strong vocals.  Well done gents!

All the principals coped really well with using backing tracks.  You could see that plenty of work had gone into ensuring that the timing was spot on.

Other named characters: Auntie Em (Taia Sayce), Professor Marvel/Wizard (Ollie Smith), Uncle Henry/Guard (Noah Griffiths) and Winkie General (Reagan Protheroe) all added to the production with good characters.

The large ensemble worked well together when they were on stage to bring Oz to life and they should all be congratulated.  Good work everyone.  I particularly enjoyed the performances of Seren Jones, Daisy John and Nelle Williams as the Munchkin Mayor, Coroner and Barrister.  Performances packed with energy, well done.

The production was well costumed; they were authentic and vibrant.

I’ve waited until almost the end of my report to talk about a simply magnificent bit of theatre.  The curtain up team did not use a real dog for Toto, instead opting for a puppet version created by Aled Wyn Williams.  The puppet looked amazing, however that is not the main reason for me mentioning it.  Twelve year old Eden Jones was given the task of being the puppeteer and she was simply superb.  On stage for the majority of the performance and getting herself into some very uncomfortable positions, Eden was very professional in her delivery.  You almost forgot she was there as you watched the puppet Toto react to what was going on.  There was never a drop in work rate and also some wonderful directorial bits thrown in for good measure.  I loved it.  Well done Eden (and Toto).

Thank you everyone for your warm welcome once again.  It was a privilege to watch the performance with NODA vice-president, Kay Rowan, who was visiting Wales and watching a few productions.  I’m proud that she managed to see something in my district.  All the best for the rest of your anniversary year!   

The views in this report are solely of the author.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.