“The Wizard Of Oz” by Erewash Musical Society Youth Group
Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton

We all know the story of the young girl, Dorothy Gale who lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and 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 adventures on their way.

Just lately I have had the absolute pleasure of seeing some brilliant Youth Group/High School editions of musicals, and they always leave me flabbergasted as to the talent these younger groups have. This group are equally as amazing and talented.

With this particular musical, characterisation is everything and every one of these young actors completely nailed the characters they played.

Alice Renshaw (Dorothy) sounded like Judy Garland and her accent was spot on. She has a lovely voice and completely embodied the role of this Kansas lass.

James O Boyle (Scarecrow/Hickory) just blew me away with how he played the Scarecrow. It's a very physical role and he,literally, threw himself into it. Nice comic timing and slapstick elements.

Gabryl Oleshko (Tin Man/Hunk), again really got into the character and the physicality of the role exceptionally well.

Ethan Fletcher (Cowardly Lion/Zeke) .gave another character-driven role, completely winning the audience over.

James Christian (Professor/The Wizard) got into character really well and produced two wonderfully mature comedy roles.

Maddie Stevens (Wicked Witch/Miss Gulch), completely cornered the market of evil witch baddie, and I can see her doing really well in panto. Maddie looked like she was relishing every minute playing the two nasty roles, and quite rightly, received "boos" from the audience when she took her curtain call bows.

Bethan Moore (Glinda) gave a lovely performance as the good Witch. Very refined and delicate, befitting of the character, and she has a really lovely voice as well.

Emma Foster (Aunt Em) and Oli Hickling (Uncle Henry) also gave very mature performances, character wise and also image wise. They looked completely right for the roles, and to start with I thought that a couple of elder actors had been drafted in, so good was the imaging for this pair.

Evan Hagan (Oz Guard) may only be a small part but he played it with great conviction as well as a nice sense of comedy.

Alfie (Toto) stole many scenes as well as many hearts. The acting fraternity used to say "never work with children or animals", probably because both will steal the show, as this group and Alfie did.

I must also mention Joel Dawson, who played the Mayor, because his projection and supreme confidence on stage shows that this young man has a big future on stage.

An excellent ensemble who played every other character from snowflakes to flying monkeys to trees and Munchkins. One of the hardest working ensembles for their age group.

Produced and Directed by Chris Renshaw, he kept everything tight and pacy, and this is not a short musical, two and a half hours over with interval, so it was all go, and these youngsters kept that pace and energy going throughout.I'm sure that he is incredibly proud of this cast.Eliza Charnock was Assistant Director.

The ten piece orchestra never sounded so good and was well balanced. Musically Directed by one of the youngest looking MDs I've seen, Matthew Cook. A very talented young man who looks like he should have been tucked up in bed by the time the show ended. Maybe I'm getting old when MD's look so very young.I also really loved the acapella arrangement of "Over The Rainbow" at the end which really showcased the vocals and harmony work of the cast.

Choreographed by Carol Lawson, assisted by Natalie Austen, I love the choreography for this musical because it looks so simple, but anything that looks as simple as this cast made it look, obviously isn't. A great deal of energy and work has gone into making these routines look as if anyone could do them. Do not be fooled, Carol and her cast have worked so hard getting these routines perfect and the proof is definitely in this pudding.

One area that often gets overlooked is stage management, but I really must commend the stage crew and Stage Manager, Mark Robbins, for their work on this show.

Great sound by Dave Dallard and wonderful lighting, Dave Martin, two masters at this art, so I expected nothing less from these two wizards.

The costumes for everyone were incredibly good, especially to say that they were all sourced by the committee and family and friends. It goes to show what can be achieved when a theatre family pull together. The results were brilliant.

The backdrop cinematography was wonderful and gave great depth to the play and created a magical feel to the show.

It's not that often that I have nothing to nit pick on, but this production gave me nothing to nit pick on at all. Really well produced, directed and performed which shows the dedication and discipline EMUS Youth Group have instilled into them.

I think that there may be just a few tickets left for the Saturday performance. but if you can get some, you won't be clicking your heels to wish yourself back home, I can assure you that!

“The Wizard Of Oz” is at The Duchess Theatre until Saturday 6 July