Stuart Ardern, NODA South-East Regional Rep for District 14
(Southampton and West Hants)
2 Wood Road, Ashurst, Southampton SO40 7BD
023 8029 3120
stuart.ardern@lazybeescripts.co.uk
Review of EOMS production of
The Wizard of Oz
The Point, Eastleigh
5 May, 2015
Director: Keith Wiggans
Musical Director: Shaun Dodimead
Choreographer: Louise Hodson
With a show as familiar as The Wizard of Oz, it is hard to go to the theatre without some
preconceptions, thus the Munchkins came as a surprise: they were a lot bigger than I expected. Give
or take their diminutive leader, the Munchkin Mayor (played by the ubiquitous Ellis Bradley), they
were played by ‘The Company’ - so including a lot of adult chorus members, enhanced by colourful
hooped costumes producing an exaggerated, comical portly stature.
We’d arrived in Munchkinland from Kansas after a beautiful rendition of ‘Over the Rainbow’ from
Dorothy (Rosie Mellett) and the chorus, followed by a tornado which whirled the farmhouse around
the stage. Moving the farmhouse in sight of the audience made a great deal of sense - we saw the
journey really happening. The disadvantage is that we also saw an artificial leg being set in place for
the squashed witch, which rather diminished the impact of its subsequent discovery.
As ever, Dorothy’s companions got most of the fun. My favourite is always the lion (in this case
Director Keith Wiggans) because of Yip Harburg’s wordplay, managing to rhyme “prowess” with
“mouse” (by stretching it to “mowess”) in ‘If I Only Had the Nerve’. Unfortunately, on the night I
saw the show, there was a fault on the microphone of the beautifully costumed Tin Man (Matt
Chapman), with a crackle every time he moved which distracted me from the singing.
Nikki Bradley made a fabulous cackling Wicked Witch of the West, supported by Alex Harrison as
the Witch’s attendant, Tibia, who moved very expressively to Dance Macabre. There was a painting
of a witch on the castle wall which transformed into the screen through which the witch sees Dorothy
and her companions approaching. There was a bit of light-spill behind the gauze, which meant that
the audience could see the companions getting into place, spoiling the illusion. A curtain behind the
gauze might have solved that problem - certainly when the questers were lit up, the result was very
effective. The tipping of the witch into the cauldron was handled superbly, so the shrinking gag
worked perfectly, delighting the audience.
One of the most difficult issues with The Wizard of Oz is how to portray the Wizard in his first
hidden incarnation. The script is rather vague about this - the Wizard is hidden inside a machine
which the lion has to attack. EOMS did it as an enormous head with glowing eyes on an upstage flat.
This worked well, but left the scene a bit static until the lion rushed the flat and out tumbled the
Wizard (Mick Attwood) looking very much the American fairground hustler - a sort of Uncle Sam in
round wire-framed sunglasses. When he finally installed the scarecrow (Tom Harrison) in his place
and agreed to take Dorothy back to Kansas, his rocket ship was brilliant - a profile rather reminiscent
of Thunderbird 4, complete with pyro sparks as it powered off the stage, followed by a projected
flypast as the company sang their farewells. A delightful, spectacular finish, after which we were
played out with panache by Sean Dodimead and the orchestra.