REVIEW: The Wizard of Oz on the Curve, Leicester

The Wizard of Oz has had a wierd relationship with the theatre. Of all of the retellings of L. Frank Baum’s basic youngsters’s novel, the 1939 MGM starring Judy Garland is undoubtedly the best-known and as such, all diversifications shall be in comparison with it. Despite its seemingly massive potential, the wondrous world of Oz has typically felt stagnant within the theatre and variations have solely managed brief runs earlier than being relegated to countless performances by faculties and novice dramatic societies.

This model – with extra music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice – was first staged in 2011 on the London Palladium and got here to fruition via the BBC expertise present Over the Rainbow, which sought to search out an unknown actress to play Dorothy and was received by then- 18-year-old musical theatre prodigy Danielle Hope, who has gone on to an illustrious profession within the arts.

However, regardless of a promising begin within the West End, even that manufacturing – which had the advantage of a large theatre and an enormous publicity marketing campaign behind it – closed in 2012 and has not been seen within the UK since – till now.

Esteemed director Nikolai Foster – who has an extended historical past with the Leicester Curve and at the moment serves as Artistic Director – is on the helm of this yr’s Christmas manufacturing and it’s clear from the beginning simply how decided he has been to move the magical world of Oz into the considerably restricted area, making heavy use of bold video footage and intelligent graphics all through, however it is usually very clear from the offset that he’s needs to do to an Oz that differs from the model everybody is aware of.

If I Only Had the Part…

Georgina Onuorah – recent from starring within the West End manufacturing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella – is taking part in the function of Dorothy this time and steamrolls her means via the half with confidence and bodily sass in a fashion much like that of Hairspray heroine Tracy Turnblad. A really a stark distinction to the wide-eyed innocence of the legendary Judy Garland however her rendition of the evergreen torch music ‘Over the Rainbow’ was amplified into an almost-too-soon eleven o’clock quantity and met with rapturous applause.

Casting animals on stage is all the time a little bit of a contentious problem, however on this manufacturing, Dorothy’s beloved canine Toto is a puppet expertly operated by Ben Thompson. 

The standout efficiency of the night was Jonny Fines; along with his physicality and comedian timing, he actually embodied the character of the brainless Scarecrow and charmed mother and father and youngsters alike along with his rendition of ‘If I Only Had a Brain’, whereas Giovanni Spano was loveable because the Lion who longed for braveness.

Paul French seemed each bit the Tin Man who wished a coronary heart in his very convincing go well with however sadly decides to play the character as actually heartless, as an alternative of lacking a coronary heart, which means he spits each line and fires off a collection of disdain appears all through the present. A chilly and bitter manner doesn’t work for a personality who has had a coronary heart all alongside and it renders the Tin Man unlikeable.

Christina Bianco was a sugary candy Glinda with a voice to match and seemed extra like a Barbie doll along with her sizzling pink motorcycle and matching outfit, whereas more-than-capable understudy Ellie Mitchell took on the function of the Wicked Witch of the West instead of former ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ star Charlotte Jaconelli – who was indisposed on account of sickness – as she performed a comic book but sultry antagonist who made her cackling entrances and exits additionally using on a bicycle.

I’ve a sense we’re not in Oz anymore…

While the set – designed by Colin Richmond – is little question a murals, it’s a million miles away from the Oz most are accustomed to and as an alternative resembles a dystopian New York City with metropolis-style junk yards, seeming to echo the Motown musical ‘The Wiz.’

With projections by Douglas O’Connell, Emerald City resembles a high-tech Tokyo with numerous manufacturers corresponding to ‘Ozney’ and ‘OzBucks – and a sweet but contrived poster of Judy Garland hanging in the middle – glaring loud and proud.

It is almost as if the alarming backdrops are used to compensate for the fact it is impossible to shift the entire world of Oz onto the stage but in being so decidedly unusual it does not allow the audience to actually make the trip with Dorothy and leaves them wondering just where on earth they are.

Ding dong, another song!

The show’s opening quantity is an Andrew Lloyd Webber authentic titled ‘Nobody Understands Me’, a quite redundant Irish jig of a tune that’s meant as an instance Dorothy’s frustration that her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry usually are not within the potential hazard her canine Toto may very well be in by the hands of Miss Gulch. Following ‘Over the Rainbow’, Dorothy heads off to fulfill Professor Marvel they usually sing one other Webber authentic, the candy however time-filling ‘Wonders of the World’ earlier than a tornado hits and Dorothy is transported to Oz through a technically sensible sequence dropped at life with intelligent lighting design by Ben Cracknell and the bodily efficiency of actors.

Other extra music numbers embrace Act One nearer ‘Bring Me the Broomstick’, which the Wizard sings to the 4 pals as he sends them off on a mission to the Witch’s fortress. That works superb till you keep in mind that on this manufacturing, each witches journey round on bicycles.

In holding with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s obvious perception that each character will need to have a music, the Wicked Witch now has a comical anthem known as the ‘Red Shoes Blues’ by which she laments about how a lot she needs the Ruby Slippers from Dorothy. Following her demise and Dorothy’s want to return house is granted, the viewers are handled to a beautiful rendition of the customarily underrated ‘Already Home’, each of which have been private highlights.

Somewhere…Near the Rainbow?

This manufacturing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Wizard of Oz has the brains of technical wizardry, its coronary heart is in the fitting place and exhibits the braveness of making an attempt new issues however strays so distant from the Yellow Brick Road that we by no means fairly make it to Oz. But however, it’s an bold manufacturing and a timeless story that all the time feels proper at house at Christmas.

It’s a tornado of a present!

The Wizard of Oz runs on the Curve Theatre, Leicester till eighth January, Tickets vary from £10 to £34.

Review by Jordan Lloyd Beck

Rating: ★★★ 

Brains, coronary heart, and braveness – someplace. 

Seat: L4 | Price of Ticket: £29