Having a Wizard night out!

On the 15th of February this year I took myself off to the King’s Theatre in the centre of Glasgow to watch the visiting Paisley Musical and Operatic Society’s performance of The Wizard of Oz. I had not visited this magnificent Council owned venue for many years and was surprised and somewhat pleased to see that it had not changed very much. It was the old fashioned feel to this venue that made it an ideal location for a musical version of the much loved 1930s movie. The theatre had a traditional layout and sadly traditionally uncomfortable seats. However, I settled down and took in the excited chatter of the audience which consisted of young and old alike. The performance began with some introductory music from the fantastic live orchestra before the curtains rose to present us with an open stage. The first dialogue to be heard was Dorothy shouting on her beloved dog Toto. There was a bit of a pause; however, when Dorothy emerged with a beautiful white terrier (played by 3 year old Hayley) the audience were smitten with plenty of oohs and ahhs being shouted out. The first few scenes were in keeping with the film version I knew and there was little going on to enthuse the audience. Slowly other characters were introduced to the storyline such as the farmhands who would shortly reappear as the tin man, scarecrow and lion among others playing multiple roles. I was curious as to how the twister scene would be carried out as I remember being excited and terrified when watching this part as a child and thought it would be difficult to recreate on stage. Sadly my thoughts were correct as the twister scene was lacking in special effects. This crucial part of the story saw Dorothy swinging from an invisible harness for rather longer than seemed necessary and I found this disappointing. Over the course of the next few hours the audience belted out well known songs such as ‘We’re off to see the wizard’ and ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ with great enthusiasm. However, I became confused as to who the Winkies were in this version of the story as I didn’t remember them from the original film. I was informed that they were added by the Royal Shakespeare Company when they adapted the story many years before and that was when I realised the significance of the letters ‘RSC version’ on the front of the programme. The Winkies were pointless irritating characters who had me cringing for the actors who were playing them. In one of the Arts in Society workshops pertaining to theatre performances it was pointed out that the casting of parts could make or break a performance. If this were the case then the 24 children who portrayed the Munchkins made the performance very special. These young children of around ages 10-14 were unbelievably talented and very professional. In addition to this the Wicked Witch of the West was very believable and the actress who played her Sam McClelland stole the show. The only part of the evening I did not enjoy was that the Kings Theatre allows alcohol to be consumed inside the seating area and this led to lots of rowdy catcalling and silly comments being shouted out during quite moments. As a result it was quite often difficult to hear the dialogue being spoken and led me to becoming a bit distracted from the performance. Overall however, an enjoyable night out and worth the ticket price.