The Wizard of OZ

This was an excellent choice of show for the 30th Anniversary Year of this company, as it gave everyone of whatever age an opportunity to perform. It was unfortunate on opening night that many in the audience did not appear to be aware of theatre etiquette and continued chatting throughout the overture; which meant much of it was lost to those who wanted to listen.

The opening scene took us to a farm in Kansas where there is concern that a ‘twister’ is on the way and young, daydreaming Dorothy has not returned home from school. After singing the famous song, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, she goes inside the house, while everyone else goes into the storm cellar, the twister strikes and she is carried, along with the house, to Munchkinland, which is at the rainbows end. Everything contributed to create a fantasyland, the set and costumes, which were a complete contrast to the farmstead, and all the Munchkins being played by children.

There was an array of lovely sets and backcloths, which were changed smoothly and efficiently taking us to the various locations.That of the Great Forest was very intricate with well-lit gauzes giving a 3D effect, as the intrepid travellers set off along the Yellow Brick Road. For me the most outstanding set was Emerald City, very angular, green and sparkly.

The show calls for some difficult technical effects with the ‘twister’, rotating bridge, snowstorm, the witch, watching the progress of our four friends from her castle and the audience with the wizard. These were all handled extremely well, partly with clever lighting and sound for the ‘twister’, lighting for watching the friends, and part practical, with moving the set around in the ‘twister’ and the rotating bridge. The audience with the Great Oz made a big impact with exciting lighting, plenty of smoke and the amplified voice. The lighting was well designed and operated with lights set to dissolved the gauzes perfectly, and ending with the lovely rainbow effect.

I enjoyed Heather Newman’s choreography, it was not overlong which kept the interest of the children in the audience, had been well rehearsed and was performed accurately; although I was disappointed with the Ghost dance as it is usually done with skeletons under U.V lighting, this one did not have the same impact.  The Changing of the Guard was well presented and the Jitterbug was very energetic.

The costumes contrasted the two parts of the story, with the plain Kansas folk and the fantastical inhabitants of Muchkinland and Oz. The Munchkin costumes were so colourful and defined the different ‘guilds’ as they welcomed Dorothy.  Those of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman did not cover their faces so we did not loose facial expressions, nor did they restrict movement. The dress worn by The Sorceress of the North helped create a real ‘fairy godmother’ character.  The attention given to makeup and hairstyles enhanced the overall pictures. 

Musical Director David Manifold had control of his orchestra, who played particularly sympathetically for the young Munchkins who did not have microphones, but could still be heard. Everyone sang clearly and with enthusiasm, particularly in Ding Dong the Witch is Dead. Principals sang well throughout, with a lovely, wistful rendition of Over the Rainbow.

So many people have seen the film and so have certain expectations of how the main characters should be portrayed, but this was no copy cat production; everyone brought different elements to the characters making them their own.  I must make special mention of The Scarecrow who stood tied to his post for a very long time without moving, and when he did there was a gasp of surprise from many in the audience. After standing for such a long time how he managed to then fall and move as though he was made of rubber is a mystery to me, such a good performance. Under the direction of John Pannett everyone had created individual characters, which helped make this a successful show.  The young people playing the Munchkins were superb. The Mayor was certainly in charge and delivered his lines with amazing clarity. There was loss of pace in a few places on this opening night, but everyone had worked hard to bring this colourful production to the stage of the Bacon Theatre. Well done everyone.

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