THE WIZARD OF OZ. To 19 January.
Newcastle-under-Lyme.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
by L Frank Baum music & lyrics by Harold Arlen and E Y Harburg background music by Herbert Stothart dance & vocal arrangements by Peter Howard adapted by John Kane for the RSC.
New Vic Theatre To 19 January 2008.
Mon-Sat various dates 10.30am, 2.15pm, 7.30pm.
Audio-described 5 Jan 2.15pm, 8 Jan 2.15pm
VBSL Signed 15 Jan 2.15pm.
Captioned 29 Dec 2.15pm.
Runs 2hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 01782 717962.
www.newvictheatre.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 December.
A whiz of a Wiz.
An MGM spectacle, throwing up fantasy images on a wide-screen, translated to a stage surrounded by its audience shouldn’t work. But by the time the last trap-door turns on the New Vic’s stage, returning into view the model Kansas farmhouse which had occupied the bare space at the beginning, Dorothy’s realisation about home and safety is ringingly endorsed.
In this realistic frame the multicolour world of Oz seems more than ever what it is: the result of a head injury to a lively-minded girl when her senses are working furiously and adults around her seem to be ignoring her.
Munchkinland’s yellow brick road is circular, illuminated in sections as Dorothy and her growing tribe of friends take the Emerald City highway, culminating in a distant glimpse of the place itself at the end of act one, a model rising skyward, drawing the end of the road after it.
The stage exits combine with a rotating track to allow swift arrivals and departures. The snow that good witch Glinda uses to counteract the poppy field’s narcotic effect is neatly conveyed by the chorus exchanging red umbrellas for white as they circle the stage.
That could look awkward, some kind of swap-shop. It’s testimony to Theresa Heskins’ command of the staging that it doesn’t. And the discovery of the little man behind the big voice of Oz is ingeniously made as the Wizard’s machinery springs a fault, leaving Paul McCleary helplessly bobbing in and out of view through a stage-trap.
Only the Wizard’s final balloon journey to earth defeats the New Vic stage; that apart the show sweeps seamlessly along, at moments moving through or behind the audience. It’s helped by a fine cast, with a Dorothy (Sheryl Lafferty) who treats “Over the Rainbow” with confident rhythmic variation and sings resonantly through most of the range. Add Maria Gough’s contrast between harassed Aunt Em and brightly benevolent Glinda, Nicola Blackman’s green-faced malevolent Witch and young performers Yasmin Wakefield and John Paul McCue enhancing choreographed chorus sections, and there’s every reason to be off to see The Wizard in the Potteries this year.
Miss Gultch/Wicked Witch of the West: Nicola Blackman.
Hickory/Tinman: Stephen Carlile.
Hunk/Scarecrow: William Finkenrath
Aunt Em/Glinda Good Witch of the North: Maria Gough.
Uncle Henry/Emerald City Guard/Ape: John Killoran.
Dorothy Gale: Sheryl Lafferty.
Professor Chester Marvel/Wizard of Oz: Paul McCleary.
Munchkin/Apple Tree/Poppy/Ozian/Winkie/General/Ape: John Paul McCue.
Zeke/Lion: Alastair Parker.
Munchkin/Apple Tree/Poppy/Ozian/Nikko: Yasmin Wakefield.
Toto: Condy/Bella.
Emeralds: Poppy Beresford, Samantha Fletcher, Lydia Hall, James Hart, Benjamin Hemmings, Daniel Henson, Chloe Ketteringham, Emma Mohring, Hannah Roberts, Jessica Smith, Adam Sutton, Rebecca Wilshaw.
Rubies: Georgia Bradley-Bourne, Elliot Clay, Christopher Evans, Emily Groves, Lizzie Hill-Jones, Lindsay Kearns, Miriam Mamlouk, Olivia McIntyre, Francesca Mills, Joshua Pender, Abigail Pritchard, Jessica Simpson.
Director: Theresa Heskins.
Designer: Kate Bunce.
Lighting: Jo Dawson.
Sound: James Earls-Davis.
Musical Director: Malcolm Newton.
Choreographer: Beverley Norris Edmunds.
Fight director: Kate Waters.
Assistant director: Jill Rezzano.
2007-12-26 23:59:11