It’s Pantomime season again in St Helens with this half term’s offering of The Wizard of Oz Directed by Reece Sibbald.
Dorothy (Maddie Hope Coelho) is caught in a twister storm and is transported to the Land of Oz with her little companion the very cute and adorable ToTo the Dog. However, in order to get home she must seek to find the almighty Wizard of Oz down the yellow brick road. However, it wasn’t going to be quite so easy as she first thought as the Wicked Witch (Bethany Grace) vowed to make Dorothy pay for killing her sister when her house landed on her after the twister. Glinda (Hayley Russell) reassured Dorothy by saying as long as you have those Ruby Shoes on your feet the wicked which couldn’t harm her. Upon her journey she found a Scarecrow (Reece Sibbald) who needed a Brain as he was made of straw, there was also a Tin Man (Adam Melville) who needed a heart and finally a Lion (Micheal Alan Bailey) who needed help to become more brave and less cowardly. So, they all took to the yellow brick road to get help from the Wizard (Warren Donnelly). Before the Wizard could do what they needed he requested that they do something for him and that’s take the Witches broom.
When watching the show yesterday (1 of 3) I felt that it took a while to get going. Before the show even started there was a delay of 20 minute and no announcements were made so audience members seemed to get curious as to why there was a delay. When the show had started microphones were not turned on for some actors so when they sang they weren’t heard due to the backing track volume which meant harmonies were lost. Crowd work from the actors was good but as they had to work for the audience reactions I felt it went on to long when we just wanted to get on with the story. However, when it came to the second act the show flowed a-lot better and there was energy in the room. Reece is great at entertaining not only the younger patrons of the theatre but adults as well and he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Bethany is one of the better evil characters that I’ve seen for some years in the pantos I’ve reviewed.
I do believe that this panto is a great way to spend half term as well as a great way to see kids burn off all that energy from the sugar. As there are moments for kids and even adults to shout, scream and gangnam style in their seats. It’s on at the theatre until this Saturday with some days showing it up to 3 times. The faults in the show weren’t down to the performers themselves just down to delays and in theatre these things can happen.
Reviewer: Luke Stephenson
Reviewed: 17th February 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★★