Wizard of Oz

~~There is an old saying in theatre world “Never work with children of animals”; well Dee Bennie-Marshall need have no worries about this in her production of “The Wizard of Oz” this week.
From the word go this show was buzzing not only from the stage but from the audience as well, in which there was a fair number of children waiting to see their favourite characters, Dorothy, Scarecrow, The Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and of course Toto, the dog.
In the lead role of Dorothy was Aimee Good who oozed talent during her acting, singing and dancing performances. Aimee was perfect in this role and managed to bring every last bit of this character to life; her interaction with Toto, her dog played brilliantly by Maddie was second to none and when we talk about being laid back there could no other animal more laid back than this one. They both excelled, Maddie by taking every last bit of encouragement from the audience and Aimee by putting every last ounce of her emotions into the lead character.
On her journey to find The Wizard, Dorothy of course comes across her three friends, Scarecrow played brilliantly by Matt Roddis, he bounced his way around the stage, never once leaving his character while doing so, which is not an easy task as it could quite easily have become more of a pantomime rather than a musical show. Also on the journey with them is Tin Man played effortlessly by Ashley Booker, it is not easy to play a part while being encased in a metal bin, and full silver suit but Ashley pulled it off with ease as did the final member of the group, Ben Green as the Cowardly Lion, again having to play this part in a full, and what looked a very heavy animal suit but again Ben was able to deliver the goods.
All four of these characters interacted with each other in such as way that nobody in the audience would have any doubts as to what they were trying to achieve.
We all know this story starts back in Kansas with Dorothy her three friends who end up as the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion plus there is Aunty Em played perfectly by Isobel Canning who also doubles up as Glinda, the good witch. Glinda made a terrific entrance by flying on to the stage and continued to fly around whilst still singing the songs perfectly, of course Glinda has an evil sister who is the Wicked Witch of the West and there could not have been a more perfect casting than Louise Seldon in this part and of course Miss Gulch, Louise was fantastic and I am sure there would not have been a child in the audience, and maybe some adults too, who were not a little frightened of her.
It was good also to see the Wizard actually fly out from his balloon and casting Michael Cahill in this part as well as The Professor was another great job done as was casting Scott Hall as Uncle Henry and the Guard of The Emerald City.
As I have mentioned above this show as all about team work and from Maddie, the dog up to Isobel as Dorothy everyone played their parts to the full to give a cracking good show.
Well done to all involved.
 

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