The Wizard of Oz - Curve / Palladium / Tour & GL

I saw this at the Sunday matinee with a lottery ticket (excellent central Stalls). Pretty full. I have to say, I enjoyed this more at the GL than at the Palladium. It is smaller scale with much done through projections, but it's all performed with fun and the sound is perfect.

Fantastic to see TB favourite Benjamin Yates on a London stage again. During the interval, I heard people around me talking about their favourite character, and the Scarecrow won overwhelmingly. With Ben on stage, it's always hard to know how much of his comedy is scripted and how much is ad-libbed, but I wasn't surprised to see him using nozzle to oil up (the perfectly serviceable) Aston's more intimate areas.

Allan Stewart was on as the Wizard and very good. He is splitting the role in London with Alex Bourne. Avina Tulley has a sweet voice as Dorothy. Clearly many of the crowd were there to see The Vivienne, who got much more of a reception than Aston. The Vivienne has a career ready in pantomime.

All in all, although this will never be one of my favourite musicals, the ALW version works much better for me than the original. I generally like the new songs and the various spoken and sight gags, especially those for the adults in the audience. There are also plenty of jokes to watch out for hidden in the projections. As I mentioned, this works really well a smaller venue than the Palladium.