The Wizard of Oz – Leeds Playhouse

Lucy Sherman and Toto puppeteer Ailsa Dalling in The Wizard of Oz at Leeds Playhouse. Picture: The Other Richard

The Wizard of Oz continues at the Leeds Playhouse until 25 January 2020.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A suggested new title for this production could be Wizard of Oz: Full Throttle. This is a breathless production that is not afraid to innovate, but pays its respect to the 1939 MGM original.

For example, director James Brining retains the switch from monochrome to colour that occurs when Dorothy lands in Oz but adds other dimensions by bringing a female Scarecrow into the mix and combining a real dog in Kansas with a puppet version in the Oz sequences. Also, the ‘Jitterbug’ number is restored which is one of the reasons that this version adds 40 minutes to the film.

Such quieter moments as there are fall on the slight shoulders of Lucy Sherman as Dorothy. Her rendition of ‘Over the Rainbow’ has that aspirational rise and fall that reminds us all that dreams are essential to our lives. At the same time, all Dorothy wants to do is return to Kansas – “there’s no place like home”. It is a contradiction explicitly alluded to in the developing story.

There seems to be just as many talented youngsters who can hold an auditorium the size of the Leeds Playhouse in the palm of a hand as there were when Frances Ethel Gumm, aka Judy Garland, emerged from obscurity. Where do they get their confidence from?

While Dorothy’s adventure is the core of the show, the supporting cast provides colour and contrast.

The darker shades come from the splendid Polly Lister as Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch. How we relish her nastiness when it is safely confined behind the fourth wall, although I wonder how secure the children in the  ringside seats felt when she approached the front of the stage. In the opening scenes, Lister’s Miss Gulch is icily vindictive, but she is transformed into a deranged Wicked Witch in her lust for Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Quite an acting tour de force.

Dorothy’s principal supports – Sam Harrison as Tinman; Marcus Ayton as Lion; Eleanor Sutton as Scarecrow – are perfectly cast, each reflecting, but adding further dimensions, to their predecessors. I was particularly impressed by Ayton’s rendition of ‘If I Were King of the Forest’.

This is a big cast  which, in the illusion that is theatre, seems to be multiplied by doubling up on roles. And, of course, a children’s chorus representing the Munchkins.

The band, led by musical director Tamara Saringer, is spot on and choreographer Lucy Cullingford makes good use of the Leeds Playhouse stage.

In other productions Brining has demonstrated how adept he is in deploying large resources. He allows no let-up in the pace, action and colour. Pulling together all the elements of a production like this – singing, dancing, animatronics, aerial silks, video – is no mean feat.

Investment in the newly refurbished (and recently renamed) Leeds Playhouse is in safe hands.

Mike Tilling