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

Well everyone seems to be loving this but it didn't land for me, great performances spoiled by misguided creative choices. Hated the look of the Wicked Witch Of The West, key moments fall flat (particularly the tornado and the melting), staging often feels either clumsy or just plain bizarre, Christina Bianco woefully underused.... 3 stars was all I could give this because of how good the performances are, but everyone seems to be gushing over it so perhaps I missed something!

intrigued to see if the 'down-the-middle' reviews raise some eyebrows ahead of a palladium transfer

Set Plans seen towards the end of 'Curve Classroom - The Wizard of Oz Set and Projection Designs' on YouTube clearly have lines showing the size of the Palladium stage and its FOH features on top of the existing set at Curve. Extra red lines also show the Palladium Orchestra Pit.

Another full-proof sign of a transfer to the Palladium Summer 2023

Well it'll be a waste of the Palladium, that's all I can say! But good luck to it 😁

Yes I agree on the twister. It was more of a theatrical, metaphorical twister. We're used to seeing people in blackout clothes carrying bits of furniture across the stage to make it look like they're flying. They couldn't really do that here maybe because of the video screen.

London Palladium transfer confirmed

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/the-wizard-of-oz-musical-palladium_57923.html?

I have to say that was a very clever spot of yours westended regarding the diagram with Palladium dimensions. It was onscreen for a matter of seconds. Major round of applause to you! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thoroughly enjoyed this today, a very fun production and a great alternative christmas show choice!

I have to applaud the costume and set design, they are really fun and different, and some of the set pieces are so incredibly detailed (on some canisters in the make over chars they said OZ2 like CO2). Reminded me of how fun the music from the movie is, its bright, fun, and very positive.

I would have loved some more peaks and valleys from Dorothy, it all sort of stayed a little too perky the whole time? But she had a great warmth to her and I wanted to like her a lot, Glinda was lovely albeit underused with no arc, but her costume and moped are gorgeous, lion scarecrow and tinman all worked as a lovely trio, and toto was so fun and the puppeteer did such a wonderful job and he himself didnt make himself known so kudos to that. Wizaerd was lovely too.

The amount of big set pieces that would fly in and out was amazing, nice to see your money on stage for once, and im not normally a fan of led screens and projections but because they could be layered with the set pieces it gave it such depth, and lots of the direction felt very cinematic. it flowed nicely, some silhouette work, it was really nice. Loved how the did the yellow brick road and the crow puppets.

I wish the show would breathe a little, it's not a long show and zips by so quickly that everything just sort of 'happens' i never felt settled. this was mostly evident with the wicked witch who seemed a little uncomfortable, unsure, and didnt really take full ownership of the role. her scenes felt rushed the most, i never felt any menace. there were loads of school groups in and not one child shrieked in fear.

The ending is a little muddled re: 

Perhaps once in the palladium they will let up a bit, i hope the set doesnt get drowned out, but i still had a lovely time! If youre close by go check it out, or wait until it comes to london. the orchestrations in particular are so fun, funky and fabulous, and a fun modern take on the visuals make it a fresh evening out!

Intrigued, how did they melt her?
And was it just a projection of the twister?

I've been in an Am Dram production of WOZ and we managed to effectively melt the witch. It's not the most difficult stage trick to achieve, I actually think it's harder to get it wrong than it is to get right. 

How does this work?!