'The Wizard of Oz' review – this musical is upbeat, colourful fun and a great introduction to theatre

Read our review of The Wizard of Oz, featuring songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, now in performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre to 8 September.

Few movie musicals are as beloved as MGM’s The Wizard of Oz or have a more iconic visual identity. In 2011, Andrew Lloyd Webber produced a new stage version with supplementary songs written in collaboration with Tim Rice, which starred winner of talent show Over the Rainbow Danielle Hope opposite an extraordinary West Highland terrier as Toto (plus Hannah Waddingham as The Wicked Witch of the West), and stuck pretty closely to the film’s visuals and performance styles.

It’s to be welcomed that Nikolai Foster – perhaps the busiest director of musicals in Britain and also currently represented in London with his outstanding production of A Chorus Line – has put his own spin on the material. The show has landed at the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a short run, the conclusion of its original jaunt down the Yellow Brick Road at the Leicester Curve, a stint at the Palladium last year, and a national tour, and it's a wizard treat for the school summer holidays.

Jeremy Sams’s 2011 adaptation features several knowing winks (including nods to being friends of Dorothy). Douglas O’Connell’s projections are a key part of the video game-style concept, in which we’re plunged into a sort of 1950s-inspired steampunk futurism, heightened even further by Rachael Canning’s eye-popping costumes.

The Emerald City is filled with adverts, including nods to Lloyd Webber’s own musicals as well as Margaret Hamilton: The Musical (wouldn’t that be fabulous?). The Wicked Witch’s castle is a kind of industrial wasteland, and Dorothy’s arrival back in Kansas replicates Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World.

However, quite a bit of the sweetness, sorrow, and sincerity of the essential story gets lost amid the flash and busyness. The emotional stakes are diluted, particularly Dorothy’s longing to return home as there’s little opportunity for reflection. Stepping into Judy Garland’s ruby slippers and dressed in classic blue gingham, Aviva Tulley sings "Over the Rainbow" beautifully and is fiercely loyal to her beloved Toto and her new friends.

Benjamin Yates’s folksy Scarecrow is a close cousin to Oklahoma!’s Will Parker and Nic Greenshields is an endearingly galumphing Lion, while JLS’s energetic Aston Merrygold completes the trio as the Tin Man. Toto is represented by a puppet manoeuvred by Abigail Matthews, bringing a touch of necessary low-tech theatricality to the proceedings, and is particularly cute when he nuzzles with Dorothy.

Emily Bull’s bell-voiced ponytailed prom princess Glinda arrives not by bubble but on a hot pink Vespa that Barbie would covet. The Vivienne’s glamorous Wicked Witch of the West is more campy-vampy than evil (no one can help the fact that it’s impossible to be as terrifically terrifying as Margaret Hamilton). The witches are denied the opportunity to defy gravity (all the flying is in projections), lending an earthbound quality.

The additional Webber and Rice songs provide structural balance but can’t hold a candle to the wit and jauntiness of the Harold and E.Y. Harburg originals. However George Dyer’s musical direction is full-bodied throughout and choreographer Shay Barclay provides bubbly ensemble numbers.

It’s been a bumper summer for classic musical revivals (including Kiss Me, Kate, Hello, Dolly!, A Chorus Line, and Fiddler on the Roof), with which we’ve been thoroughly spoiled. If this doesn’t hit the same heights, it’s nevertheless upbeat, colourful fun that would serve as a great introduction to theatre. There’s no place like the West End!

The Wizard of Oz is at the Gillian Lynne Theatre to 8 September. Book The Wizard of Oz tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: The Wizard of Oz (Photos by Richard Lakos)