"The Wizard Of Oz" by Mansfield Operatic Society.

Mansfield Palace Theatre.

Dorothy Gale lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and her little dog, Toto. It tells the story of how a tornado sweeps her, her home and Toto to a magical land called Oz, how she manages to eradicate the Munchkins from the Wicked Witch of The East by flattening her when the house lands on her.

On the way to meeting the Wizard, so she can get back home to Kansas she meets, and helps The Tinman, Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion while the quartet have a few scary adventures on their way.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it, this show always reminds me of when I was a kid, watching the film with Mum and Dad, sitting on one or the other's knees and just having that lovely warm glow and feelings of being safe; after all, it's quite a dark storyline. This production took me back to those days, normally a Sunday afternoon on BBC2, right after a big dinner cooked by Mum.

Dorothy is played by Macey Shaw. I think I last saw Macey playing the role of Cinderella for Masque Productions, and at the time commented on what a gorgeous voice she had back then, and this was 2023. Sixteen months later and Macey is playing another iconic role and her voice is every bit as exquisite as when I last saw her, if not better. She captures that innocence that Judy garland has in her speaking voice, and her singing voice has, at times, a certain fragility, at others such strength, both qualities perfect for this role.

Toto is played by Max Brough-Savage, and who could not fail to fall in love with this four legged chihuahua/terrier mix cutie. I know just how lovable these mixes are as I've also got a chihuahua/terrier cross, and they are so loving and playful. Max was incredibly well trained and stole the hearts of the whole audience.

Uncle Henry is played by Graham Berridge, after playing another gentleman character last year as Mr Price the elder in "Kinky Boots". What Graham brings to this role is a feeling that Henry has worked all his life on the farm and has that certain steadfast and hard working aura of the character. 

Aunt Em is played by the lovely Ann Colgan, who just seems to get younger and ever more sprightly every time that I see her, on and off stage.

Glinda The Good Witch of The North is played by Helen Savage. This production has no stops left because Mansfield Operatic Society have pulled them all out, and in this we see Glinda flying in on a halo of colour - there was one tiny wobble on the part of the operator just before Helen took off again into the rafters, but this did not phase Helen one bit, and off she ascended into the air.

Scarecrow/Hunk is played by Jamie Savage. who you may remember playing Charlie Price in "Kinky Boots" last year. Jamie has a great voice for musical theatre and is a very good character actor who is also a very flexible dancer. What more could you ask for in an actor playing a Scarecrow, Great fun.

Tinman/Hickory is played by Oliver Ward. Now, Oliver's costume is something that I must mention from the start. Whoever created this costume deserves a medal because it is fantastic. You actually can believe that this character is made of tin, also in no small way a credit to Oliver's physicality of the role. Another massive plus for me is that Oliver is a very capable tap dancer, showing his skills in this field, belying the supposed weight of being made of tin with some very light on his feet choreography. Brilliant vocals, although I felt that they could have been turned up more in the mix by the sound operator, but it's first night and I know that sound operation and mixing gets better as the week progresses; never the less a brilliant performance in all areas from Oliver.

Cowardly Lion/Zeke is played by Wayne Shutt. OK, everybody knows that this is one of my favourite characters in musical theatre because it is the perfect role for a comedy actor who can bring out every ounce of comedy from a character role. Well, my friends, that role was perfectly cast with Wayne. If Bert Lahr was alive today, he would be jealous of this characterisation. It's almost as if the film role was transposed on stage, some kind of avatar, but there was always that lovely warmth that Wayne always seems to inject in all of his roles, making every character a Wayne Shutt special.

The Wicked Witch of The West/Miss Gulch is played by Carolyn Firth. Being an evil character who wants to drown dogs and kill little girls is SO far away from Carolyn's persona, but I think that Carolyn absolutely adored being the nasty one if this performance was anything to go by. Well, they always say the bad characters are the most meatiest and fun to play, don't they? What must also have been fun to do was to fly around the stage each night of the run, on a broomstick through clouds of smoke. Plus due to the wonders of cinematography we also get to see Miss Gulch riding her bike through the twister and transform into The Wicked Witch, right before your very eyes! 

The Gatekeeper to Oz is played by Garry Richardson. This is another role that I feel is a perfect casting. Garry has such personality and comic ability, and this role is packed with personality and comedy. The Gatekeeper is a very important person, well that is what he has us believe, and Garry just exudes fun playing this role, and I also love the green costume that reminded me of a leprechaun, straightaway putting a smile on my face. 

The Wizard/Professor Marvel is played by Matthew Bird. Every "Wizard" I see always seems to be just a little bit different to any other, and Matthew stamps his personality and style on this one. The contrast between the video Wizard and the physical Wizard is quite vast. The video version is really quite scary and looks like it should be doing battle with Dr Who, but the physical one is, although very matter of fact and shows everyone that he is in charge, is really quite a friendly pussy cat. No wonder Matthew was cast in this role!

A large ensemble, as you would expect in this musical, consisting of the following....

Grace Bowskill, Amy Shaw, Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson (Ozettes).

Kay Thomason-Vardy (The Mayor of Munchkinland), Lauren Taylor (The Coroner), Paul Marples (The Barrister), Harry Bramall, Oscar Jack and Ollie Weaver (The Tough Guys), Joshua Wells (The Fiddler), Christian Bird (Braggart), Grace Bowskill and Rebecca Wigman (The School Teachers), Khaleesi Boreham, Leah Noke and Megan Wells (The Tots) and Lewis Mathias, Harriet Shaw-Browne and Steve Webb (City Fathers).

Tineke Fleet, Amy Shaw and Lauren Taylor played the trees who unwillingly gave up their apples on the Yellow Brick Road.

JJ McCormack - whose voice I recognised but didn't recognise visually until later in the show - Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson played a wonderfully comical trio of crows.

Claire Barlow, Bex Haddow, Elizabeth Sisson and Fay Walker (Dorothy Beauticians), Rebecca Wigman, Becky Miller, Gemma Strange and Chloe Thistlethwaite (Scarecrow Beauticians), Jonathan Cooper, Thomas Ince, Paul Marples and JJ McCormack (Tinman polishers), Gemma Case, Tineke Fleet, Amy Shaw and Harriet Shaw-Browne (Cowardly Lion Manicurists).

JJ McCormack (Winkie General), Grace Bowskill (Jitterbug Leader), Geraldine Smith (Nikko Commander Flying Monkeys) - who also literally got to fly - and Elsiha Agnew, Adelphie Fleet, Bella Shaw and Emily Shutt (Flying Monkeys).

And that's not all......

Elisha Agnew, Claire Barlow, Graham Berridge, Khaleesi Boreham, Christian Bird, Harry Bramall, Gemma Case, Jonathan Cooper, Pauline Dowdall, Adelphie Fleet, Tineke Fleet, Bex Haddow, Jan Hodgetts, Thomas Ince, JJ McCormack, Angela Lee, Lewis Mathias, Oscar Jack, Paul Marples, Becky Miller, Leah Noke, Garry Richardson, Amy Shaw, Bella Shaw, Harriet Shaw-Browne, Emily Shutt, Elizabeth Sisson, Geraldine Smith, Gemma Strange, Lauren Taylor, Chloe Thistlethwaite, Kay Thomason-Vardy, Fay Walker, Ollie Weaver, Steve Webb, Josua Wells, Megan Wells and Rebecca Wigman all took part in the ensemble and played various characters like Munchkins, Poppies, Snowmen, Winkies and Emerald City Folk.

Khaleesi Boreham, Grace Bowskill, Gemma Case, Ann Colgan, Adelphie Fleet, Bex Haddow, Leah Noke, Amy Shaw, Bella Shaw, Harriet Shaw-Browne, Emily Shutt, Elizabeth Sisson, Geraldine Smith, Gemma Strange, Kay Thomason-Vardy, Chloe Thistlethwaite, Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson were the dancers in various guises.

Directed  and Choreographed by Cassey Brough-Savage. Cassey has thrown everything at this production; from flying witches on stage to cinematic twisters and green screen visual effects to good witches gliding around in the air on pink and purple halos. You don't see half of these in professional touring productions, never mind local theatre shows. Then there's the various set changes. Some trickier than others which meant just a little longer to place but on the whole didn't slow down the pace by much.

The choreographic side of this show is immense and sometimes I don't think that the audience fully appreciate the work that goes into this area of production. There were two big tap sections as well as all of the other dance heavy scenes, and scenes like "The Jitterbug" is exhausting to watch, so to perform, I can only imagine takes dancers with a lot off stamina, especially when in costume as well.

The make up and prosthetics by Cora Machin, Natalie Midgley and Naomi Shaw are truly fantastic and give another level of professionalism to this production. 

The costumes are definitely some of the best that I've seen for this show and are very detailed. I don't know if they have been sourced, bought in or made by the group but Cassey Brough-Savage, Pam Frith, Amanda Brough, Jen Bird, Karen Richards, Edie Hogg, Emily Beet, Pam Thompson and the company need recognition for excelling in this area.

Stage Manager Eddie Ratcliffe also needs a mention for his part in this production. In my opinion, the Stage Manager is a very under rated and vital member of any theatre group.

I mentioned about the scenery and projections and they are down to Scenic Projects and Matthew Bird, Linney Create and Theatre Avenue for the Projections with Blue Chilli Flying for the flying effects.

Musical Director is Roger Holland who gave that wonderful old school sound to the soundtrack. There's not an awful lot of time where there's no music or sound because apart from the twenty five main pieces, there's also several incidental musical pieces to fit in, so Roger doesn't have time to sit back and twiddle his baton at all! 

Performance Track Technician is Emily Beet.

Lighting Design and operation is by Nick Elliott, Amanda Joyce, Alan Betton and associate.

"The Wizard Of Oz" is at Mansfield Palace Theatre until Sunday 9 March.