"The Wizard Of Oz: Youth Edition" by Intermediate Musical Theatre Company

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.

The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition is an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, specially tailored for younger performers. The Intermediate Musical Theatre Company is part of the Kristian Thomas Company roster of talented actors, singers and dancers.

Any time I watch "The Wizard Of Oz", it always takes me back to when I was a kid and the film on TV; my parents always watched it, and that could be the reason why I love this musical, and musicals per se. Plus, it takes me back to those happy days of having my parents around and simpler days.

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.

Dorothy is played by Millie Denney. Squint, and it could almost be Judy Garland on stage. No one will ever match Garland's vocals, but tonight it wasn't Judy garland singing, it was Millie who had to take on the mammoth task of singing the iconic "Over The Rainbow" and she did a brilliant job, and there were hardly any scenes that Millie was not in, showing just how hard working Millie is.

The Scarecrow/Hickory is played by Kodie Foxon, who I remember being in Kristian Thomas Company's production of "Annie Jr" last year, and he has grown. Kodie has grown in every way; not only is he taller but his singing, acting and dancing skills have also grown. I remember last year asking who Kodie was as he stuck out from the ensemble for me, and I am so pleased that in this production he was cast as one of the comic characters because Kodie seems to have a natural talent for comedy. At such a young age, that is something that will take him far in the theatre.

The Tin Man/Hunk is played by Carly Hodgkins. This is a role that requires good physicality as it requires the actor to move in a stilted way, and Carly smashed the physicality of The Tin Man.

The Cowardly Lion/Zeke is played by Grace Hindle, and like The Scarecrow is a fine comedy role which also combines the need to be physical. You can tell that all of these actors have worked so hard to nail the character of the roles that they play, and I had so much fun watching Grace play the lion who didn't have any courage, and I loved her rendition of "If I Were The King Of The Forest".

The Professor/The Wizard is played by Alfie Bridges. Another wonderful character piece with both roles, but it's that role as The Wizard that showcases Alfie's dancing skills. 

Wicked Witch/Miss Gulch is played by Isla Baskill-Conroy. The make up for the Wicked Witch is brilliant because it's that make up, as well as the brilliant costume that allows Isla to deliver a wonderfully evil performance, and was quite scary. To compliment the make up and hair department also for the Miss Gulch role because they made Isla look a lot older than she is, but it's Isla who breaths life into both characters. Isla also has a really strong singing voice and her version of "No Bad News" is one of my favourite musical numbers from this production.

Glinda The Good Witch is played by Olivia Bonham, whose theatrical and singing credentials I know very well. There was an invisible aura surrounding Olivia tonight because she has a certain sereneness in her version of Glinda; she made you feel that everything was going to be alright with Dorothy; a lovely mature presentation of this character. Needless to say, her vocals are always spot on, especially with "Already Home", one of the new songs that appear in the updated version of the musical, written by Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Aunt Em is played by Sophia Ireland, and even though this is a role that is seen at the start and the end of the musical, Sophia ensured that her role was significant and memorable.

Uncle Henry is played by Finlay Lewis, and like Aunt Em, is not a major role in the Youth Edition, but Finlay did a cracking job in this part. Minor parts doesn't mean a minor role in any musical though because the actors who play these parts always spend more time on stage in the ensemble, so in some ways work just as hard, sometime even more, as the major characters.

Toto is brought to life thanks to Izzy Hollis and operated by Effie Lennon Ballard. Once you get used to Toto being a puppet, and not a real dog, you half forget the puppet master, and I say half forget because Effie follows the same choreography as Dorothy and the others, and that is one thing that you can't make a real dog do, well not without months of training, so Effie shows the positives of having a puppet character on stage.

An excellent ensemble who played every other character from crows to trees to Munchkins. The multi talented ensemble are Alfie Bridges, Autumn Quach, Alana Broderick, Bailey Duffy, Beatrice Bridges, Bella Radford, Chloe Hale, Darcey Green-Wright, Diya Cheema, Emma Finnigan, Finlay Lewis, Frazer Brown, Grace Bills, Henry Ferdinando, Imogen Ridgway, Imogen Satherley, Isla Farrell, Jake Bavin, Josie Brennan, Lillyana Benselin, Lucia Durie, Nancy Fox, Olivia Richardson-Purdy, Sophia Ireland and Scarlett Tabberer.

Directed and Produced by Katie Lawson, assisted by Alysha Gomes and they really kept this show tight and looks as if between them, they had great success bringing out the personalities of the characters through these actors. There are some brilliant costumes which have also been sourced by Katie and the Kristian Thomas Company.

Choreographed by Becky Wrench. One of the reasons why this show is such a success is the choreography. I absolutely loved the "Jitterbug" section; it's so much fun and has such an energy about it, and that's down to the work that the actors and Becky have invested in these scenes. The "No Bad News", "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" and "The Merry Old Land Of Oz" are also favourites choreographically as big numbers, and then there's also the classic short dance sections for Dorothy, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion are really well performed.

Musical Director is Sam Hedley and again this is another area where some great work has been put in. there are some really strong and controlled performances in this production, and that is partly due to Sam working with this cast. The final version of "Over The Rainbow" from all the cast is powerful and quite emotional due to the beauty of the song, the words and of course the vocal talents of this cast.

Sound is by Dave Dallard, and a nice balance between the singers and the backing music creating a comfortable aural experience.

The lighting design is by Stephen Greatorex. A very colourful design with plenty of greens and reds to highlight specific scenes and characters, creating an exciting visual treat.

Creating even more visual excitement with projections by Kristian Cunningham really moved the story on nicely, especially with the storm and then the transformation back from Munchkin Land to Kansas.

The Kristian Thomas Company have such a massive reputation for quality and this show is further proof of the level of quality that this company deliver and provide to their students.

"The Wizard Of Oz - Youth Edition" is at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 1 June with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm