Wizardry in Toronto

Last night my mumsie and I went to go see The Wizard of Oz (as adapted for the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber and his peeps).

This show hasn't gotten the most glowing reviews, but it's hard to both stay true to and re-invent a classic film that is so iconically embedded in pretty much the entire world's collective pop culture heart. It was either religiously stick to the film version and just regurgitate it on stage, or go all crazy and off the grid with a very un-literal and modern approach.

The actual version was a somewhere in between that I was happy with. It pretty much stuck to the 1939 cinematic tale in my opinion (itself actually an adaptation of Frank Baum's book, which is very different if you've ever read it), except for a few original songs courtesy of Webber. I wasn't as offended by these as some seemed to be. The Wicked Witch of the West's opener to Act 2 was a welcome addition of her personality and pizzazz in song form (as the witch doesn't sing in the film version). And the ending song of "Already Home" I thought fit right in with the "there's no place like home" message and return to Kansas.

My favorite part of the show by far was the sets and costumes, the visual elements. It was an explosion of the brightest of colours and Oz was brought to life. The first visual entrance into the world of Oz, where Glinda's dress sort of drapes downward like a curtain revealing Munchkinland, made me feel like an excited little girl and I almost ooh-ed and aww-ed in delight. Plus Glinda's dress sparkled and moved like a million tiny little diamonds and I wanted to put it on and just twirl and twirl and twirl all day long.

Emerald City was just as much an awakening of the colour senses, though I wish I could have somehow seen a horse of a different colour (this I suppose could not quite translate on stage, sigh).

The Witch's castle scenes did go a lil off the grid and modernized, the flying monkey's slightly absent (there were 1 or 2 lonely looking monkeys that kind of weakly flitted about in the air) and replaced by Moscow-looking cabaret dancers doing a stomp routine. However, I quite enjoyed that part and found it fitting of the Witch to have herself surrounded by these buff suspender-ed men. That is so her.

As for the musical portion of the show, it was enjoyable, not "oh my god" amazing, because at the end of the day you do just find yourself wanting to hear the Judy Garland version that you're used to and reminiscing of the characters you've grown to know and love in the film version, exactly as they are.

All in all, I'm very glad to have seen it and had a wonderful time watching my childhood memories of the wonderful world of Oz re-incarnated and come to life. 

And I'm excited to one day introduce this classic tale to the soon to be born babe, making it wonderfully part of their childhood memories too.


[images via Mirvish.com]