I'm American and I loved The Wizard of Oz film as a child. I have seen it many times, but I wouldn't call myself an Oz purist. To be honest, I had never been interested in stage versions of it before since they all seemed like museum pieces to me--just trying to stick the film onstage, for the most part. Also, I've seen clips of the much-lauded RSC version and was extremely underwhelmed. I have no problems whatsoever with the idea of adding songs to the existing ones, and cutting out some that don't work on stage(I don't miss "King of the Forest" one bit). If it works, then why not?
Still, I love the ALW casting shows--I know that makes me a minority here, but I do--and I was intrigued by the upcoming production. I watched Over the Rainbow online and Danielle Hope was my favorite from her first audition. So, when she won, I wanted to make another trip to London to see the show. I loved it. It's not super-innovative, ground-breaking, high art kind of stuff. It's just a really well-made "fun" show--or at least to me it was. I thought Danielle was wonderful as Dorothy, and the rest of the cast was excellent as well, especially Hannah Waddingham. The sets were also amazing, and I thought it worked well as a stage show and not a slavish replica of the film. It's not the best show I've ever seen, but I really enjoyed it.
If you already hate ALW, Oz is not going to make you like him. As for me, I like some of ALW's music but not all of it, even though I respect him as a person and as someone who has done a lot for musical theatre. I used to hate him, but seeing his casting shows made me re-visit his shows and decide that I actually do like some of them. I have to judge his shows on a case-by-case basis, and I liked Oz a lot, and the new songs, especially "Already Home" and "Red Shoes Blues" work for me.
As for Broadway, I think it has the potential to do very well there. ALW is actually well-loved by the general public as far as I have been able to tell. The vast majority of my friends who have a casual interest in musicals love his shows. His name is a draw, and I also don't think Americans are going to be that picky about his adding extra stuff. Nobody I've mentioned the idea to has even batted an eyelash at it. If it's well-done and looks good and has good publicity, people will see it. ALW has also thought about doing the Dorothy search on TV here as well, which would also create interest. I personally wish he'd just bring Danielle with the show to Broadway, but (sadly) I doubt he will because of the great potential for publicity that a US casting show can bring. I do expect Michael Crawford to transfer, though, and possibly Hannah Waddingham as well.
Updated On: 6/25/11 at 03:06 PM
