The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Pantomime

The Haven Players have added their unique touch to a classic story in the way that it’s told, and this time adapted by the Director Charisse Goddard taking both from the novel and the film. This is a company so full of warmth and heart, generous on stage, with attention to detail, and loving everything they are doing. You can feel the team spirit shining in every section of show, through the way they support each other, through inclusion, and through their enjoyment of bringing this production to life. 

First of all, adapting a new version of this classic is a huge achievement in itself, huge congratulations to Charisse Goddard on this accomplishment. Her name is peppered through the programme as being instrumental in sound design, set design and construction, props, as well as direction and choreography, plus operating the lights during the show! The vision for the production comes across so clearly, it’s a cohesive production with exactly the right pace as well as length. The consultations with Warner Brothers that she did to prepare for the adaptation resulted in some apparent restrictions, but you wouldn’t have known unless you were told.  

An example was the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn’t allowed to be green: but dressed in black and green with lovely green eyemakeup and in a green light, you would never have known. Another restriction was not being able to use the Ruby Slippers, so Dorothy had silver slippers instead, which is an homage to the colour they were in the original book: they were changed to ruby in the film of course so the ‘technicolor’ would pop on the screen. Again, not anything you would know unless you did quite a bit of research into it all, which Charisse has obviously done. It was also adapted to be pantomime style, with the Dame, and a lovely twist about the Wizard. Fabulous job.  

Costumes were super for everyone in the show. Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion all looked exactly as an audience would expect them to look, including hair and makeup. Dorothy had the little white ankle socks and classic dress, and long bunches in her hair. Tin Man was entirely in silver, including his face, Scarecrow had straw poking out everywhere. Lion’s makeup was superb, with yellow face and accentuation of round cheeks, just as the film; and she was clad in a full Lion suit with paws and tail. The chorus were all co-ordinated in outfits, some with shiny skirts, some with shirts and breaches. Mabel – Aunty M – Syrup’s outfits were brilliant too: and the changing of hairstyles according to outfit worked really well. The red embroidered trouser outfit with a flavour of the East was especially stunning. 

Scenery kept changing throughout as well, with painted side and back panels showing where they were. The corner of the house with the feet coming out from under it at the beginning was really well done, as was the Wizard face with glowing red eyes. Lighting was lovely throughout, changing in colour which helped hold the mood of each scene, as well as reflect the multicolour brightness of the way we expect this story to be told. The use of backing tracks for the songs worked really well, especially as some of the main characters had head microphones so this helped balance the sound. Some songs were classic ones and some more modern, appealing to all the ages in the audience, some of whom were up and dancing towards the end. 

All of the actors and chorus did really well. Wendy Knowles had wonderful presence and swagger as Lion, including a little sashaying across the stage at appropriate moments. Her twitching while she slept the way cats (large or small) do was an especially nice touch. Toby Phipps gave a lovely performance as Mabel Syrup, hopefully this will give him the confidence to sink even more into a Dame role next time and be even bolder. Mark Canelle as Tin Man did really well especially with a solo song as almost his first moment on, holding the stage really well. Every member of the cast had lovely moments and they all worked really well together. 

The Chorus too worked well together, Zara Belcher’s strong and pitch perfect vocals were a joy to hear. Tegan Mayhew also had a lovely vocal quality. And from nowhere, Sue Davies surprised everyone at the end with a strong almost operatic soprano as part of the song which was wonderful. Phoebe Hare’s dancing moves were very clean and finished, showing skill as a dancer; and Mo Munday’s solo contemporary slow balletic dance accompaniment to one of the songs was really gorgeous. It was great to have the singalong with words on a board for the audience towards the end: huge fun. And the set piece “if I were not in pantomime...” with accompanying choreography was genius: when Lion came on with gardening shears and added that to the dance it was a breath holding moment for everyone! It was truly fabulously funny. 

A wonderful, warm, charming, thoughtful, special production from a wonderful community. Congratulations to everyone involved.  

 

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