Post by santtu on Sept 10, 2011 9:19:13 GMT -5
This show is the classic musical movie transferred on stage. It features the familiar songs from the film by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg with new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Lloyd Webber has also produced the show.
And once again there was a reality tv-show to find a new star to play Dorothy and the winner was Danielle Hope who now gets to sing "Over the rainbow" on the legendary stage of the London Palladium. The cast is also led by the original Lloyd Webber's Phantom, Michael Crawford as Professor Marvel/Doorman/Tour guide/The Wizard, and Hannah Waddingham as Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West. (I saw the show twice and the first show I saw was according to a front house staff member Waddingham's last). Toto is "played by" a real dog, four dogs (Bobby, Razzamatazz, Dazzle and Topper) taking turns in the duty.
The plot is very faithful to the movie, no big changes to the story.
The sets and the costumes are great. They included the "black and white Kansas, Oz full of colors" idea here, so Kansas is very gray and colorless while Oz is shining in all the colors of the rainbow. In some of the Oz scenes they had these arch set pieces lowered from the ceiling which formed the same kind of double/triple arch as they have as fixed set pieces in WICKED. That was a bit disturbing. Only costume which I didn't like was the Witch's dress in Act II when she sings "Red Shoes Blues". Her dress is open from the front and she has these skin tight tights underneath with long boots and a wig that reminds me of a broom. But in the melting scene she has changed back to the feathery full-length dress with a wig similar to Glinda's.
The actors are good, but not really great. I didn't like Danielle Hope very much, she didn't seem comfortable at all and her Dorothy was very amateurish. I also saw the alternate Dorothy, Sophie Evans and she was very good in the role, much more natural and great deal more confident. Michael Crawford had four roles in the show, none of them was much of a stretch to him, but his strongest moments were as the Wizard. And that voice... Having listened the OLCR of TPOTO for about 20 years, his voice is more than familiar. And it hasn't changed over the years! So it was a great thrill to hear him belt out the bombastic "Bring me the broomstick". Of Dorothy's sidekick trio, Edward Baker-Duly did good job as Hickory/Tin Man. He gave Tin Man a bit of an Elvis treatment (vocally) but didn't over do it. And I loved how they timed the creaky sound effects to his movements in "If I only had a heart" and the empty "Boom" whenever someone pounded Tin Man's (empty) chest. David Ganley played Zeke/Cowardly Lion and I found him to be the strongest and most solid out of the three guys. For some reason I didn't like Paul Keating's Scarecrow at all! I don't know what it was that irritated me but something did and big time. Maybe it was because he didn't create much of a character but a caricature. Emily Tierney was good as Glinda, I really liked the way they had given Glinda a bit more personality than what she had in the movie. And her first entrance from the stage ceiling was stunning!
Hannah Waddingham obviously played her last performance as Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch when I saw this the first time. I don't know if it was because of this or did she do it every time, but she really pulled out all the stops! In "Red Shoes Blues" she had this Dorothy puppet hanging on a string from the set and instead of just twirling it around in the usual more calm way, Waddingham had the puppet hanging from the string and she was spinning it wildly around and banging it to the railing and dangling the puppet from its neck as if it was hanging from a gallows. And the audience loved it!! And when the audience booed to her evil character at one point, Waddingham, totally in character, screamed "Boo you!!!" right back getting a big round of applauds from the audience. Marianne Benedict, the new Wicked Witch, didn't do any of these, but as for acting the part, I preferred Benedict! Waddingham sang the role better but Benedict acted it much better. I really have to give credit to these actresses: when Dorothy has arrived to the Emerald City, and the Witch appears to rally the citizens of Oz to surrender Dorothy to her, the Witch is lowered on a wire from the incredibly high dome of the London Palladium! And it is really high!! Not a great stunt to do if one is afraid of hights!
Musically the show is great. Arlen's familiar melodies are as wonderful as ever. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice have written five new songs to the score plus one non-singing part (The Rescue). The program states six new songs, but just like in EVITA and SUNSET BOULEVARD, Webber uses once again same melody twice. Wizard's "Bring me the broomstick" and the Wicked Witch's solo "Red Shoes Blues" are the same melody, only the arrangement is different. I really don't understand the need for this! Why can't they have different melodies?! The melody is nice and works quite well both times, but still - was it absolutely necessary to use the same melody twice? Most of the ALW's new songs are okay, but not his greatest but the last song in Oz, "Already Home" is actually really beautiful!
The director Jeremy Sams has done decent job with this, although some of his decisions did make me wonder a bit. For example after the Witch has melted the guards of the Castle take on this Russian accent! Why? I didn't see the point or need for it.
A nice and enjoyable show but there are better shows in London's West End.
And once again there was a reality tv-show to find a new star to play Dorothy and the winner was Danielle Hope who now gets to sing "Over the rainbow" on the legendary stage of the London Palladium. The cast is also led by the original Lloyd Webber's Phantom, Michael Crawford as Professor Marvel/Doorman/Tour guide/The Wizard, and Hannah Waddingham as Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West. (I saw the show twice and the first show I saw was according to a front house staff member Waddingham's last). Toto is "played by" a real dog, four dogs (Bobby, Razzamatazz, Dazzle and Topper) taking turns in the duty.
The plot is very faithful to the movie, no big changes to the story.
The sets and the costumes are great. They included the "black and white Kansas, Oz full of colors" idea here, so Kansas is very gray and colorless while Oz is shining in all the colors of the rainbow. In some of the Oz scenes they had these arch set pieces lowered from the ceiling which formed the same kind of double/triple arch as they have as fixed set pieces in WICKED. That was a bit disturbing. Only costume which I didn't like was the Witch's dress in Act II when she sings "Red Shoes Blues". Her dress is open from the front and she has these skin tight tights underneath with long boots and a wig that reminds me of a broom. But in the melting scene she has changed back to the feathery full-length dress with a wig similar to Glinda's.
The actors are good, but not really great. I didn't like Danielle Hope very much, she didn't seem comfortable at all and her Dorothy was very amateurish. I also saw the alternate Dorothy, Sophie Evans and she was very good in the role, much more natural and great deal more confident. Michael Crawford had four roles in the show, none of them was much of a stretch to him, but his strongest moments were as the Wizard. And that voice... Having listened the OLCR of TPOTO for about 20 years, his voice is more than familiar. And it hasn't changed over the years! So it was a great thrill to hear him belt out the bombastic "Bring me the broomstick". Of Dorothy's sidekick trio, Edward Baker-Duly did good job as Hickory/Tin Man. He gave Tin Man a bit of an Elvis treatment (vocally) but didn't over do it. And I loved how they timed the creaky sound effects to his movements in "If I only had a heart" and the empty "Boom" whenever someone pounded Tin Man's (empty) chest. David Ganley played Zeke/Cowardly Lion and I found him to be the strongest and most solid out of the three guys. For some reason I didn't like Paul Keating's Scarecrow at all! I don't know what it was that irritated me but something did and big time. Maybe it was because he didn't create much of a character but a caricature. Emily Tierney was good as Glinda, I really liked the way they had given Glinda a bit more personality than what she had in the movie. And her first entrance from the stage ceiling was stunning!
Hannah Waddingham obviously played her last performance as Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch when I saw this the first time. I don't know if it was because of this or did she do it every time, but she really pulled out all the stops! In "Red Shoes Blues" she had this Dorothy puppet hanging on a string from the set and instead of just twirling it around in the usual more calm way, Waddingham had the puppet hanging from the string and she was spinning it wildly around and banging it to the railing and dangling the puppet from its neck as if it was hanging from a gallows. And the audience loved it!! And when the audience booed to her evil character at one point, Waddingham, totally in character, screamed "Boo you!!!" right back getting a big round of applauds from the audience. Marianne Benedict, the new Wicked Witch, didn't do any of these, but as for acting the part, I preferred Benedict! Waddingham sang the role better but Benedict acted it much better. I really have to give credit to these actresses: when Dorothy has arrived to the Emerald City, and the Witch appears to rally the citizens of Oz to surrender Dorothy to her, the Witch is lowered on a wire from the incredibly high dome of the London Palladium! And it is really high!! Not a great stunt to do if one is afraid of hights!
Musically the show is great. Arlen's familiar melodies are as wonderful as ever. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice have written five new songs to the score plus one non-singing part (The Rescue). The program states six new songs, but just like in EVITA and SUNSET BOULEVARD, Webber uses once again same melody twice. Wizard's "Bring me the broomstick" and the Wicked Witch's solo "Red Shoes Blues" are the same melody, only the arrangement is different. I really don't understand the need for this! Why can't they have different melodies?! The melody is nice and works quite well both times, but still - was it absolutely necessary to use the same melody twice? Most of the ALW's new songs are okay, but not his greatest but the last song in Oz, "Already Home" is actually really beautiful!
The director Jeremy Sams has done decent job with this, although some of his decisions did make me wonder a bit. For example after the Witch has melted the guards of the Castle take on this Russian accent! Why? I didn't see the point or need for it.
A nice and enjoyable show but there are better shows in London's West End.
