The Wizard of Oz London: Critic Reviews

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 1:53pm

This is the topic where critics reviewes of Andrew Llyod Webber's production of "The Wizard of Oz" can be posted here. I'm looking foreward to seeing what they have to say about it after his last show "Love Never Dies" got mixed reviews.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 2:18pm

"Clearly a lot of money had been spent on the set and designs, and the double-revolve was put to good use. But the essential ingredient, imagination, was missing."

"The aerial work and ‘effects’ were hardly ground-breaking especially when viewed from the upper circle. We felt as though the tone veered from panto to musical and back again. Whatever the intention, the result was indecisive."

Sounds like Spider-Man.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium: review of the preview 19th February 2011

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 3:35pm

Oops, didn't see the other thread about the pictures. Updated On: 3/1/11 at 03:35 PM

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 6:47pm

Here's a review from Daily Mail:

"Will The Wizard of Oz make money? Given all that TV coverage, I suppose so. Toto is adorable. The Palladium is always a spectacle for children.

But the story lacks the emotive motor of a love affair and the ticket prices will be little more than a reflection of celebrity appeal.

To be honest, the dramatic buzz here is not much better than you’d find at a decent pantomime."

Toto takes a bow-wow! Dorothy's pet pooch is a wizard of the stage Updated On: 3/1/11 at 06:47 PM

[The Pud]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 7:26pm

How does this show compare to the movie since it is so iconic?
I can't imagine anyone sings Over the Rainbow better than Judy
Garland. The Wizard of Oz is one of my all time favorite movies actually, stories. We had the original L Frank Baum book collection when I was growing up and Hollywood changed the original story quite a bit in 1939. Dorothy of Oz was actually more true to the book. I liked Broadway's Hairspray better than the movie version but I liked Chicago's movie version better than the Broadway show.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 7:26pm

"Sounds like Spider-Man."

Except that I'm sure The Wizard of Oz went into previews with numerous full runs having been completed and will actually open when the producers say it is going to.

[The Pud]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 7:36pm

Oz Books by L. Frank Baum
There are fourteen books in the Wizard of Oz series by Baum, plus a book of short stories. The following lists these by date of first publication. The first book written in 1900 is
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" FYI

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 7:38pm

The Telegraph gave it 3 stars:

"Jeremy Sams’s production pulls out all the stops, with ingenious designs by Robert Jones that skilfully conjure up both the sepia world of Kansas and the lurid colours of Oz. Dorothy’s flight to the enchanted land is thrillingly caught with the help of film effects that wouldn’t look out of place on Dr Who and the story is told with clarity and pace. Better yet the Munchkins are genuinely sweet rather than the grotesque freak-show offered by MGM, and Toto – a delightful white Westie - proves absolutely adorable.

I wouldn’t get too excited by the prospect of the handful of new songs written by the old firm of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, though Red Shoes Blues sung by Hannah Waddingham’s magnificently malevolent Wicked West of the Witch brings some welcome wit to the party. As the green-faced, flame-spurting, and disconcertingly sexy villainess contemplates young Dorothy, and sings “She’s pretty, she’s clueless and I want her shoeless” you realise that the Lord has been without his old sparring partner for too long.

One leaves the theatre humming the tunes and admiring the spectacle. But this finally strikes me as a soullessly efficient production rather than an inspired re-invention of The Wizard of Oz."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz, London Palladium, review

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 8:38pm

The Guardian also gave it 3 stars:

"The Victorian theatre of spectacle is alive and well, and residing at the London Palladium. But although this adaptation of the Frank Baum book and the 1939 movie, with additional songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, is quite an eyeful, it's somewhat lacking in humanity. I came out feeling blitzkrieged rather than charmed.

Of course, there are the songs; it's good to be reminded of such classics as Over The Rainbow, We're Off To See The Wizard, and Follow The Yellow Brick Road. The additions by Lloyd Webber and Rice are also perfectly acceptable. Dorothy is given a good plaintive opening number, and Red Shoes Blues, sung by the Wicked Witch, has a pounding intensity. But, as a film scholar remarked to me, the movie was a story with songs rather than a full-blown musical. That delicate balance has been changed, and an essentially simple fable about the importance of individual worth seems overblown.

I suspect in the end the show will be critic-proof and people will go to see both the winner of the TV talent contest and to luxuriate in the sumptuous visuals. But the paradox of the evening is that it suffers the same dilemma as the Tin Man: it might have been so much more if it only had a heart."


The Wizard of Oz - review Updated On: 3/4/11 at 08:38 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 8:43pm

"Except that I'm sure The Wizard of Oz went into previews with numerous full runs having been completed and will actually open when the producers say it is going to."

That goes without saying.

I was referring to those two paragraphs.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/1/11 at 9:31pm

I'm surprised the new songs are receiving reviews like "acceptable" and "good". Personally, I don't think they aid in the storytelling in any way, which renders them completely useless. The Kansas scene with two additional songs just seems to drag on and on forever, and I found it slightly hilarious that Webber was lambasting the original for not having an opening number and then turning around and opening his show with that musical vomit. The show would have been better off without it.

I do give Tim Rice some credit for his "You Went to See the Wizard" reprise which I found somewhat poignant, but the rest of the new material just doesn't work for me.
Updated On: 3/1/11 at 09:31 PM

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/2/11 at 3:51pm

Variety's review:

"Were it not for Robert Jones' eye-popping sets and costumes, the star of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production of "The Wizard Of Oz" would be the West Highland Terrier playing Toto. He rivets attention because at any given moment audiences cannot tell what he will do. That's a kind of rebuke to almost every other element of the big-budget show. Director Jeremy Sams does his damnedest but his hands are tied because it's well-nigh impossible to add tension to an evening in which almost everything is predictable and, well, doggedly faithful.

The combination of the title, the continually growing audience for "Wicked" and Hope's unforced charm should ensure a healthy initial run. But for a grand-scale show as costly as this, extended life beyond Hope's contract is highly questionable."


The Wizard Of Oz: The new Andrew Lloyd Weber production is predictable and doggedly faithful.