The Wizard of Oz, first brought to the world in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel and more famously turned into a classic 1939 film, has become a staple family tale, known throughout all ages as a result. Therefore it was little surprise that back in 2011, musical maestros Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice created their own musical of the story, incorporating original film songs by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, and populating it more with those of their own. Since its first appearance in the West End, it has had a number of tours and revivals and this new one, reaching Milton Keynes Theatre this week, plans on once again bringing it to another new audience and back to those of old. The question is, does it do the world-famous story justice?
First of all, the lead definitely does the story justice, as taking on the iconic role of Dorothy is Aviva Tulley and she very much makes it her own from the very beginning with a stunning performance of the classic song Over the Rainbow and continues throughout to be a delightful character on stage. There is a brilliant confidence in her performance and boundless enthusiasm, coupled with her stunningly perfect singing voice makes her one of the strongest parts of the production
Company for Dorothy is of course the rather splendid Toto, and in this production, the tour takes the safe route of a rather delightful puppet dog, controlled brilliantly by Abigail Matthews. While some children (and adults) might miss the appearance of a real dog, it does allow Toto to be much more of a character within the show, be it from stealing sausages or a great little "What's that Skippy?" moment.
Across Dorothy's adventures in Oz, she of course meets her new friends, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion, and here, as always comes much of the entertainment within the story of
The Wizard of Oz.
Playing The Scarecrow is Benjamin Yates and he brings an excellent physicality to the role alongside some deft playing of his constant dumbness. Femi Akinfolarin plays The Tin Man, more as a slightly broken robot rather than a tin man made of cans and his suit, one of many excellent costumes from Rachael Canning, is more of a science fiction creation of the future than that depicted in the film. Finally, of the characterful trio, Nic Greenshields plays The Cowardly Lion pitch perfectly and is easily the most entertaining of the three. It is well-judged casting-wise also, that Greenshields great height, plays beautifully with his being scared of his shadow and indeed, everything else. A great performance with some excellent in-jokes as well for the character.
The main name within the cast is of course the appearance of Craig Revel Horwood as The Wicked Witch of the West and he doesn't disappoint with his enthusiasm in the role, bringing both his natural larger-than-life character to the stage alongside quite an impressive singing voice. Finally from the cast, both Alex Bourne as The Wizard and Emily Bull as Glinda do as much as they possibly can from their slightly limited roles in the production.
The songs are brought to life with enthusiasm from the cast and even more enthusiasm from musical director Iestyn Griffiths alongside his orchestra. However, the very best of the numbers are still those of the original with no real classics coming in this show from the work of Lloyd Webber and Rice. There were unfortunately some issues with the volume at times as well, especially early on during the Kansas intro with music drowning out much of the sung dialogue.
Set design from Colin Richmond is minimal as this new production relies mostly upon projection, designed by Douglas O'Connell. These provide a vivid backdrop to the adventures of Dorothy and her new friends, but it does continue to become a sad path of modern theatre shows relying more on visuals such as this rather than solid, innovative physical set design. At times they can also be incongruous as well to the scene setting, with one key one during the classic
Over the Rainbow number. This whole scene plays out with Dorothy, Toto and two hay bales, simply positioned dead centre across a country road visual backdrop. There is no denying the quality of these backdrops, but this is theatre and not cinema, and while its use can be an advantage in places, it shouldn't become 90% of the scene setting in shows as it easily feels it is here.
The Wizard of Oz never fails to entertain and there are within it, many five-star moments including some great performances. However, as a whole, with the lack of production ambition (no stage flying for any characters for instance), and some sound issues, it fails to become a stage show deserving of such a classic name.
Entertaining throughout, but lacking the production values in key areas makes it overall a disappointment.
⭐⭐⭐
Performance reviewed: Wednesday 17th July 2024 at the Milton Keynes Theatre.
Production photos: Rich Lakos
