The Wizard of Oz -The Panto

BASE – The Wizard of Oz - The Panto

Burton Amateur Stage Entertainers - BASE have a raison d’etre, a true calling, to bring quality pantomime to Burton-on-Trent, at the ever-popular Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton. 

The Wizard of Oz The Panto, written by Tom Whalley is a superb script; BASE worked with Tom tweaking the script to suit their particular needs, delivering to us a very witty, hilariously over the top, traditional multi-level humoured panto, appealing to each age strata of the audience demographic as it should.

Opening to a very lively clap along full chorus rendition of the Steps number, 5-6-7-8, really set the level of anticipation of a fun packed night at the theatre. Great choreography from the outset of the show courtesy of Callie Brandrick and Sam Uche.

We meet Dorothy played beautifully by Emma Phillips, her sweetly sung rendition of the iconic Somewhere Over The Rainbow, was lovely, great interplay with the other cast members, especially Ava Harrison as the embodiment of her dog Toto.

Fantastic entrance by Keiron Swann as Aunt Em/Glinda the Good, (the Dame of our tale) excellent throughout, cheeky, bawdy and fun, without overpowering the storyline. Uncle Henry/Wizard of Oz, Craig Poxon, covered both roles with aplomb.

Hickory, Dickory and Doc aka Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, aka Peter Bourne, Ken Dawson and Matt O’Donnell all brought their collective A games to their roles. The ‘Twister’ scene was hilarious.

Gemma East excelled as The Wicked Witch of the West, revelling in every boo and catcall filled moment, brilliantly nasty. As Kermit the Frog once sang, “It’s not easy being green”, Gemma made it look easy, she certainly pulled it off! Her beleaguered sidekick Winkie the Monkey, Laura Craddock should look into doing simian voice overs, her monkey cackle was amazing. 

The introduction to each Oz character was very well developed, and led to some brilliant new one-liners, both visually and script wise. I particularly enjoyed the velcro(ws) visual. The Lion Sleeps Tonight introduction courtesy of a David Attenborough cut-out, was pure joy.

A panto lives and breathes on audience reaction, there was great interplay with the audience, Oh Yes There Was! Good scenery and lighting added to the absolutely fabulous song selection, performed with swagger and panache by the well-rehearsed and dressed cast. The slick script delivered equally as slickly, with banter coming thick and fast, delighting the audience young and old alike.

This panto had everything; I almost expected a kitchen sink to fly across the stage at one point so stuffed with hilarity as it was. The inspired vibrant genius of Act II opener Everybody’s Talking About Dorothy, will take some beating. We loved it.

The Haunted Castle scene is absolute panto magic. Nb, companies miss this at their peril. It’s the gift which keeps on giving, the sheer delight of toying with the audience is a real skill, BASE nailed it. 

A great night’s entertainment, Directed by Jodie Swann says it all really, she also played the role of the horrible Ms Karen Gulch. Aided and abetted as usual by accompanist Alex Priestly, he has such a deft finesse in his playing.

Fantastic panto version of a beloved children’s tale. Very well done one and all.

 

 

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