The Wizard Of Oz
Milton Keynes Theatre
17th July 2024
Even if you’ve never seen it on stage, ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ is one of those musicals that everybody knows, having almost certainly seen the legendary 1939 film with Judy Garland’s iconic ruby slippers, a cackling green witch and the famous Yellow Brick Road. It’s become a staple of popular culture, regularly quoted across all sorts of media, and has inspired countless adaptations, sequels and prequels, including the global megahit ‘Wicked’ which itself celebrated it’s 20th Broadway anniversary last year. A perennial favourite and widely beloved, ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ is always embraced by audiences looking for escapism just beyond the rainbow, which is exactly what Leicester’s Curve were hoping for when their production played the festive season in 2022. Directed by Curve Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, this production took to the road in 2024 and stops this week at Milton Keynes Theatre.
Nobody should need reminding of the plot, but needless to say we’re back on the Kansas farm with Dorothy Gale (played by Aviva Tulley), dreaming of a more colourful life in a land far away, when the infamous twister strikes and whisks her off to the merry old land of Oz. Her house lands on the Wicked Witch Of The East, which unfortunately makes Dorothy an immediate enemy of her sister, the Wicked Witch Of The West (Craig Revel Horwood). Dorothy sets off down the Yellow Brick Road to ask the Wizard Of Oz (Alex Bourne) for help to send her back home, meeting the Scarecrow (Benjamin Yates), Tin Man (Femi Akinfolarin) and Lion (Nic Greenshields) on the journey. Our heroic bunch form firm friendships and each hopes that the Wizard can give them the things they’ve been missing, but the Wicked Witch Of The West is hot on their trail and determined to deal with them first herself.
‘The Wizard Of Oz’ undeniably falls into the “classic” list of musicals, and when done traditionally it can perhaps feel a little twee and stale, so this production should be commended for trying to make the show feel more modern and give it a twist. However, while the show is certainly bright and colourful, the creative choices on display are a mixed success. Director Nikolai Foster has gone for an array of kitsch visuals and an over-reliance on video projections with decidedly 1990s graphics in place of traditional sets, which aren’t as impressive as they should be and leave the audience feeling like they’re in an overbearing computer game rather than a piece of theatre. Some of the decisions around set pieces feel illogical (e.g. the yellow brick road and the poppy scene), leaving the piece feeling muddled and confusing where it thinks it’s being inventive and clever, and losing a lot of the charm which previously lay in its simplicity.
Aviva Tulley leads the show wonderfully as Dorothy, radiating warmth and innocence, and performing “Over The Rainbow” beautifully. This does highlight a flaw of the musical itself – the heroine only sings one song on her own, and the other three supporting leads share another song between them. It’s always been too light on strong musical numbers, which Andrew Lloyd Webber tried to remedy by adding a handful of new compositions into this version, of which only a couple really stand out (namely “Red Shoes Blues” and “Already Home”). Benjamin Yates also stands out as the Scarecrow, full of bumbling charm and excellent comic timing, as does Nic Greenshields as the Cowardly Lion. A far cry from his towering performance as Javert in ‘Les Miserables’, Greenshields shows real versatility here and captures the Lion’s faux-bravado personality perfectly.
One of the most radical creative decisions for this production was to cast male performers as the Wicked Witch Of The West, turning the character into a drag role. While this may work in other shows (e.g. Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’), it is a mistake here. The Wicked Witch is one of the greatest villains in popular culture, the stuff of childhood nightmare, and she should be scary. Without a sense of real threat coming from her, Dorothy’s journey lacks conflict and peril and becomes far less successful. Craig Revel Horwood turns the character into a stroppy petulant diva, all of the fear that comes from the character’s intrinsic villainy just evaporates, and it just makes the show feel more of a pantomime.
Theatre should be reimagined and reworked, but it should remain true to the essence of the show and the characters. ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ will always be timeless entertainment, and there will be audiences who always enjoy it in whatever form it takes, and some who will revel in this production’s kitschy twist. For others, it will feel like some of the magic and “theatre” of the piece has been stripped away in the reinvention, and like its Tin Man, is lacking some heart because of it. Some excellent performances make the show worth seeing, but a misjudged turn from Horwood and the overly chaotic aesthetic of this production mean the show has fallen somewhat under the rainbow this time.
‘The Wizard Of Oz’ runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Sunday 21st July 2024 before continuing on its UK tour.
Performance runtime 2 hours 10 minutes including interval
Cast Note – Craig Revel Horwood plays the role of the Wicked Witch Of The West at Milton Keynes and Cardiff only. The role is played by The Vivienne for the remainder of the tour, at Wolverhampton and Sunderland.
