I was lucky enough to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production of the classic 'The Wizard of Oz' early in it's run and it was an impressive technical achievement.
The show follows the MGM movie to a large degree. It's obvious effort has been made to turn the film friendly structure into something more suitable for a two act musical spectacle (though the poppy field sequence was still unnecessary and slipped a bit into panto with good and bad witch swinging wildly over the action). And it aims more at the younger family than the growing up angst of 'Wicked'
All the actors manage to fill the shoes of their illustrious predecessors with performances that are somewhere between homage, pastiche and reinterpretation. Hannah Waddingham hits the Kansas vowels squarely making such universally recognised lines as '...and your little dog too' and 'I'm melting!' bring a shiver of recognition and pleasure. Danielle Hope convinces as Dorothy and Edward Baker-Duly just had the edge for me with his fighter of a Tin Man.
The new music fitted into the style of the rest of the score but never really came to life. The understated melody of 'Wonders of the World' allowed Michael Crawford to sparkle like the old pro he is but the Wicked Witch's new song didn't really hit the highs that I know the actress is capable of. Overall these were nice but not essential additions - the show comes across as constructed rather than composed.
Monkeys swooped, impressive sets slipped effortlessly onto the stage, pyrotechnics pyroteched and tornados wooshed us away from Kansas. The staging along with the set and costume design are the major strengths of the production. Obviously a lot of attention and love has been put into thew look of the show.
But, ultimately, all eyes were on Toto - would the small dog, utterly uninterested in what was going on around it, misbehave? Would he rush off stage at an awkward moment? Would he give up travelling around in circles on the Yellow Brick Road (yes, as it happens)? Would he chase after the wrong actor or show an impressive amount of affection for the Wicked Witch? And this was what was missing from the production as a whole, all very slick but we were left looking to the dog for some warmth and humanity.
Bill Count: 2
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