The Wizard of Oz 🌪️

#PRInvite #Gifted | They're out of the woods, they're out of the dark; they're into the Grey Granite town of Aberdeen - and the cast of 'The Wizard of Oz' are here to prove why there's no place like His Majesty's Theatre this week.

Star rating: ★★★★★

From the dusty brown sights of Kansas, to the grey Granite toon - look who just dropped in! Hoping to take cities around the UK by tornado-storm is the brand new production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which is fastly approaching the end of its UK Tour. This is a welcomed and well-timed refresher of the classic musical before the release of the highly anticipated ‘Wicked’ movies this year. But a classic story this is no more, as the musical which was adapted from Frank L. Baum’s novel has been revitalised with a new modernist and technological take - hinting towards political themes much wider than the original ever did. This is a bold, and rather experimental, reimagining of the beloved title which was first conceived at the Leicester Curve in 2022 before transferring to London’s West End. The show is on its way back to London in a few weeks time, where it will open at the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a summer stint. But for now, I can forgive Dorothy for thinking she isn’t in Kansas anymore, having landed in His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, for the week. The good news is that the Wicked Witch of the North-East has been left unharmed by her arrival.

It surprises me how many people are unfamiliar with The Wizard of Oz film in this day and age - I even heard patrons talking about their lack of knowledge when entering the theatre. Dorothy Gale is a young girl from Kansas who has no real sense of belonging at home with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. She daydreams about flying ‘Over the Rainbow’ to see what else the world holds, until a tornado rips through her family home, transporting her to a land she has never heard of: Oz. Here, she meets various 'Osians' - particularly the Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion - and they set off on a journey towards the Emerald City to ask the Wizard for a brain, heart, the nerve and a home respectively. This is a journey of self-discovery for Dorothy, disrupted frequently by the Wicked Witch of the West, where she learns that home is a place in your heart - giving her a new appreciation for the family members who took her in when her parents could care for her no more.

Although, this is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ like you have never seen it before. This is also ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that you could never have conjured up in your wildest dreams - for when the show first opened in Leicester, critics condemned the new production for its ‘wokeness’. The Mail on Sunday wrote: ‘the look is evil American capitalism. The agenda is woke’ as Oz is no longer portrayed as a beautiful utopian oasis, but it is merged with a dystopian, ‘battered’, land plastered with familiar logos. It is not dissimilar to a metropolis like to Las Vegas or New York, with high-rise skylines and Motels within reach. Robert Gore-Langton is not wrong when he reported that ‘the yellow brick road is a rusting, Route 66-inspired outback’. I was prepared for Nikolai Foster’s new directive vision, and if I am honest, I was left wanting more of this. As an English Teacher, it is easy for me to break down the metaphors in this industrial production - but without this level of analysis, this is certainly not ‘The Wizard of Woke’ to general audiences. Pardon a few, welcomed, references to economics and political instability during the Great Depression period at the start - the message of this particular show is more eccentric and eclectic rather than anything else, without hammering any points about tired American Dreams or capitalist views.

Foster’s vision is enhanced by Jeremy Sams as the book’s adaptor. The script, though mostly unchanged, featured new modern references and comedy which suggested that Dorothy had transported physically in place, but also in time too. The delivery of the entire script was different, though, with the iconic sequences re-paced and completely refreshed. The tone of the ‘Osians’ is now much more sarcastic and satire, particularly noticeable when Glinda the Good enters on a pink Barbie-like moped. It is not just the book that has experienced alterations, either, as legendary songs such as ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead!’ and ‘The Merry Old Land of Oz’ are performed uniquely to fit this new directive take.

Audiences may be surprised by some new music too, as Andrew Lloyd Webber has penned additional music for the production he once cast using the BBC One competition ‘Over The Rainbow’. I felt that the new music, such as the opener ‘Nobody Understands Me’, enriched the production and completed the original score, which is quite bare for songs for a full length musical. These new melodies were foreshadowed in the orchestrations before they were sung, meaning that they were not completely unfamiliar to the ear by the time they were beautifully performed. I, for one, have waited to see ‘Already Home’ performed on stage ever since the BBC programme’s success in 2010.

Visually, this is where the show has its strengths and weaknesses combined. Colin Richmond, set designer, has immersed this production in its technological reimagination using screens and animations. This is enhanced by projection designer Douglas O’Connell and lighting designer Ben Cracknell. Some aspects of this show really pop and look captivating, where others fall flat and look empty on stage. When the graphics are used well, this is really impressive - matched with some clever staging; but there are a few times where the screen cheapens the production and this was an unfortunate imbalance. There were some touching tributes to the original film’s cast sprinkled throughout, too, as little hidden Easter eggs. I will leave that to the eagle eyed viewers to find for themselves, but this was poignant and felt like this production was picking up the baton and following the yellow brick road laid out for them by preceding icons such as Judy Garland. I really enjoyed the unconventional set pieces for a show like this - for example, the Tin Man’s entrance stuck to an ‘Ozzo’ petrol pump and the Poppy-Cola vending machine in the poppy scene (a clear dig towards Esso and Coca-Cola respectively). But again, without fully embracing these political and capitalist references, sometimes the set pieces could appear quite randomly to the audience. Rachael Canning designed the costumes and puppetry, and these were particularly noteworthy.

Leading this production down the Yellow Brick Road is Aviva Tulley as Dorothy. Tulley is outstanding in her portrayal, and embodies this character wholeheartedly. Her rendition of ‘Over The Rainbow’ is simply stunning, and is reprised throughout so that you get to experience the magic again and again. It was so gorgeously performed, not even a few patrons with poor theatre etiquette in front could dispel it.

Tulley is joined by Benjamin Yates as Scarecrow/Hunk, Femi Akinfolarin as Tin Man/Hickory and Nic Greenshields as the Cowardly Lion/Zeke. All three characters were modernised, with the Tin Man even getting a break dance and rap sequence, but all three were familiar to the characters we know and love from the film - the Cowardly Lion mostly. One of my main criticisms of the show comes from the revamped pacing of the direction. By the end of the show, I felt I had not spent enough time watching this group dynamic before Dorothy returned home and this was disheartening.

Someday I’ll wish upon a star: Allan Stewart joins the production as The Wizard and Craig Revel Horwood plays Ms Gulch and The Wicked Witch of the West. This move towards drag for the Wicked Witch works well for this version of the show, where she runs the 'Wicked Witch Industries' - a factory with robots, monkeys and Winkies... oh my! Again, this gestures towards the American Capitalist ideas embedded into the show, but it is never explored explicitly, meaning that the audience have to find out these re-envisioned subplot lines for themselves. This is a shame, because they are both so creative and clever. However, be prepared to lose all sense of the character played by Margaret Hamilton in the original film as Horwood's portrayal is closer to a pantomime dame obsessed with her 'fab-u-lous' ego. Horwood’s vocals in new song ‘Red Shoes Blues’ were very enjoyable, but the overall characterisation was a real slump for the show. It only occurred to me that during the ‘Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!’ reprise, the Osians never really seemed fearful of the Wicked Witch of the West, so the move to this camp portrayal was fun, but very limiting for the story and I missed this tremendously. This green Wicked Witch is more of a neighbour from hell, rather than a real danger to Dorothy.

This is the year of the Witches of Oz for sure. Though it is a shame that those audience members I overheard upon entering having never seen ‘The Wizard of Oz’ before didn’t experience the original magic - there is no doubt that this vibrant new production is an excellent and colourful night out for all the family. Replicating the original film is not what this creative team intended: this is bright and silly, but the best of fun. For those sceptical with the changes - I would be lying if I said this was not a bold new take, but it is still very in-touch with its roots and had me feeling nostalgic towards the story I grew up with.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ flies out of Aberdeen on Saturday, before visiting its final four stops on tour, subsequently landing in London’s West End over summer. If you are thinking of journeying down the Yellow Brick Road this week, I'm clicking my heels to go back! Go on and Ease On Down the Road.

Credits

Instagram links: @theatregramuk, @aberdeenperformingarts, @yellowbrickroad

Review by Joel Simpson cc: theatregram@gmail.com

Production photos supplied by Aberdeen Performing Arts