Review: THE WIZARD OF OZ, London Palladium
Photo credit: Marc Brenner
Last night, we followed the yellow brick road all the way to the London Palladium to watch the revitalised production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams’ The Wizard of Oz, directed by Nikolai Foster.
For those of you who may not know the story, The Wizard of Oz follows Dorothy (Georgina Onuorah), an endearing girl from Kansas who, with her loyal dog Toto (Ben Thompson), gets sucked into a cyclone and transported to the magical land of Oz. One rather flattened witch later, Dorothy embarks on a journey to find the almighty Wizard of Oz, to implore him to send her home. Along the journey, she meets three companion:, a scarecrow, a tin-man and and a cowardly lion. All in need of the wizard’s magic, they set off together and an adventure unfolds of legendary proportions, with wicked witches and munchkins a-plenty.
Georgina Onuorah as Dorothy is a touch of class as far as casting goes. The perfect hero to this oft told tale. Her experience pours through in her performance and we can safely say, as the person who carries the weight of the show on her shoulders, those red shoes do not buckle once! Her rendition of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ is just gorgeous.
This show undoubtedly has a star studded line-up, something that doesn’t always work out the way a show hopes it will, but we thoroughly enjoyed the whole cast. Jason Manford is as funny you would hope from a world-class comedian and also has superb characterisation. Ashley Banjo does a sterling job as the Tin-Man and let’s face it, not many move better. His physicalisation in the role is exquisite.
Louis Gaunt is one of the clear standouts as the Scarecrow. It’s rare you see a performer ooze charisma with such ease. A character actor you can’t help but feel your eyes gravitate towards.
Completing the leading line-up, we have an ever reliable and charming performance from Gary Wilmot as the Wizard of Oz, a larger than life performance from West End Best Friend favourite Dianne Pilkington as the Wicked Witch Of The West, and Christina Bianco is, as always, outstanding in the role of Glinda, though greedily we would have loved to of see her on stage more.
It must be said though that the star of the show is Ben Thompson puppeteering Dorothy’s dog Toto. It’s so easy to forget just how much work puppeteers put into their craft. In fact, with this show, it’s easy at times to forget that it‘s not a real dog on stage. That’s how good Thompson is at breathing life and character into the puppet of Toto, a stunning design created by Rachael Canning.
Whilst Kansas is set against a dreary background that mirrors the devil’s back porch, Oz is more of a futuristic virtual reality theme park meets Broadway’s Times Square, aided greatly by Douglas O’Connell’s video design both upstage and on the proscenium arch. The bold and bright set design from Colin Richmond is truly inspired, a complete feast for the eyes and though we like to use fancy words when writing reviews, the costume design from Rachael Canning is just “chef’s kiss”.
Foster’s direction is clear and precise, with one obvious intention, to entertain, and we can safely say that box has been ticked.
Sometimes the nostalgia of the original story and characters blend perfectly with this new vibrant reimagining and sometimes it clashes and we lost the magic. But overall it’s a throughly enjoyable show that has something for the whole family.
We’d highly recommend you taking a trip to see the Wizard of Oz, Besties. After all, if we enjoyed it this much, why oh why wouldn’t you?
A must see because, because because because because because... because of the wonderful show it was!
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: James Edge
The Wizard of Oz plays at the London Palladium until 3 September, with tickets available here.
