The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz

11 Dec 2008

FESTIVE SPECTACLE Adapting a much-loved film for the theatre is always tricky. At the Citz, led by Helen McAlpine giving gutsy, note-perfect Garland, they’ve opted for a live recreation of the experience of the 1939 movie. Whatever the format lacks…

The Wizard of Never Woz

11 Dec 2008

Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 24 Jan. Typical! You wait years for a decent adaptation of that shining celluloid classic The Wizard of Oz to hit Glasgow, and then two come along at once. While the Citizens’ Theatre’s production is a straight…

Pantomimes

27 Nov 2008

Earlier this year, I took a trip to Scarborough to check out the headquarters of the Qdos Entertainment empire. This is the organisation responsible for 21 pantomimes in the UK alone, not to mention a handful of theatres, a couple of talent agencies…

Off to see the wizard

13 Nov 2008

‘They’re big shoes to step into, aren’t they?’ says Helen McAlpine, about the specially-customised ruby slippers she’ll be wearing onstage in the Citizens’ Theatre’s Wizard of Oz. She’s not talking about her shoe size, either – as Dorothy Gale, McAlpine…

The Wizard of Oz

13 Dec 2007

The Pitch If we aren’t in Kansas, Toto, Edinburgh makes for a pretty convincing substitute. Dorothy (Denise Hoey) moves from twister to twisted into the surreal world of Oz, where that absolute shoeligan the Wicked Witch of the West (Julie Austin) is…

Wizard of Oz, The

The Wizard of Oz

7 Dec 2006

NEW PRINT/CLASSIC The Wizard of Oz is about a girl called Dorothy (Judy Garland) whose neighbour, Miss Gulch, threatens to take away her dog, Toto, but they run away. A hurricane hits the house and the house gets blown away. Suddenly the hurricane…