NW1 has built up a deserved reputation for the standard of their staging for their productions and this one was no exception. They continue to use their excellent projections but this was enhanced in this show by a number of colourful well-positioned flats (Coulisse Scenery works) as munchkin land in the first half and a gloriously green oz in the second.Sam Thomas (musical director) and Laurienne Imeson (Musical conductor) have worked hard with the students to good standard backing tracks and it showed as all the students came in with their cues to the music perfectly.
This is not always easy, especially with some complicated rhythms and notes but the young cast dealt with this really well.The costumes (Lynda Clarkson and Lore Walsh) and make up (Emma Campbell) were really colourful and recreated the main characters perfectly but I particularly loved the colour palettes used for the ensemble numbers and the green glasses were a touch of genius.
Choreographer Grace Hird had also cleverly made sure that all the students could been seen which was no easy feat especially in the full ensemble numbers.It was clear that director Amy Dee (no stranger to this show herself) had spent a lot of time with each of the principals working on the characterisation of their parts and each one succeeded in re creating the roles that we are all so familiar with.
Laura G was a suitably bendy scarecrow, Matilda N perfected a creaky stiff tinman and Arthur L got all the comedy out of his portrayal of an engaging cowardly lion.Molly O played Glinda the good witch with a mature empathy and was a stark contrast to the wonderfully wicked Elsie-May M as the wicked witch who maintained her character and accent throughout.
Great support was provided in the ‘real world’ by Aunt Em (Charlotte E), Uncle Henry (Verity M-B), Hunk (Theo B-O) Zeke (Elijah B) and Hickory (Charlie C). It was also a lovely idea to have the very cute Ernie the dog as Toto in the real world and Bobby K taking over the role in Oz.The star of the show of course is Evie D as Dorothy.
From start to finish she kept her character and accent and portrayed a friend who was big hearted but also feisty when she needed to be especially in standing up to the wizard (William H) and the wicked witch. She sang beautifully especially in a poignant rendition of the showstopper Somewhere over the rainbow.As always thanks must go to the chaperones and it was also lovely to see some older students helping out with the youngest members of the group.There were a lot of justifiably very proud parents at the end of the performance.
