The New Wizard of Oz London Cast Recording The full London cast album recording of The Wizard Of Oz is to be released on 2nd May 2011 on Polydor Records in association with Really Useful Group. The 24 track set includes all the much-loved songs from the Oscar-winning movie score by Harold Arlen and E Y Harburg plus new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The Wizard Of Oz cast recording features the full London cast of performers including the multi-award winning Michael Crawford and Danielle Hope, the winner of the BBC One hit TV show Over The Rainbow. The superb supporting cast comprises of Edward Baker-Duly (Tin Man), David Ganly (Cowardly Lion), Paul Keating (Scarecrow), Emily Tierney (Glinda) and Hannah Waddingham (Wicked Witch Of the West) accompanied by a 36 strong ensemble. Here’s the track listing from the show: Tracklisting ACT ONE 1. Overture 2. Nobody Understands Me 3. Over The Rainbow 4. Wonders Of The World 5. The Twister 6. Arrival In Munchkinland 7. Munchkinland / Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead 8. Follow The Yellow Brick Road 9. If I Only Had A Brain / We’re Off To See The Wizard 10. If I Only Had A Heart / We’re Off To See The Wizard 11. If I Only Had The Nerve / We’re Off To See The Wizard 12. We’re Outta The Woods 13. The Merry Old Land Of Oz 14. Bring Me The Broomstick ACT TWO 15. Haunted Forest 16. Red Shoe Blues 17. Bacchanalia 18. Red Shoe Blues (Reprise) 19. Over The Rainbow (Reprise) 20. If We Only Had A Plan 21. The Rescue 22. Hail Hail! The Witch is Dead 23. The Wizards Departure 24. Finale Read more: http://theatrebreaks.co/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz#The_New_Wizard_of_Oz_London_Cast_Recording#ixzz1IeYsvze4
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I posted to wizardofozlondon.co.uk
Wizard of Oz London Cast Recording
http://wizardofozlondon.co.uk/358/wizard-of-oz-london-cast-recording/
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April 5 2011, 8:09am | Comments »
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I posted to theatrebreaks.co
The Wizard of Oz; Million Dollar Quartet; Great Expectations; And the Rain Falls Down – review
http://theatrebreaks.co/267/thewizardofoz-milliondollarquartet-reviews/
Theatre reviews for The Wizard of Oz, Million Dollar Quartet, Great Expectations, And the Rain Falls Down. See also previous Wizard of Oz Review
This article titled “The Wizard of Oz; Million Dollar Quartet; Great Expectations; And the Rain Falls Down – review” was written by Kate Kellaway, for The Observer on Sunday 6th March 2011 00.04 UTC We’re off to see the Wizard, and whether he is wonderful or not is going to depend partly on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s reworking of Frank Baum’s book and of the classic 1939 movie. Danielle Hope, auditioned on the BBC’s talent show Over the Rainbow, is also making her debut as Dorothy. And, at the Palladium on the first night, the buzz is unmistakable. But we start by dropping in on a humble Kansas chicken farm where there is nothing more eventful to report than a broken incubator. No wonder Dorothy wants to leave home. This is also where we first clap eyes on the charming Toto, a white Cairn terrier, who deserves a review to himself (I hope there were treats offstage). Toto survives the yellow brick road, a circular treadmill, and is only occasionally understudied – when the going gets tough – by a stuffed toy Danielle Hope’s Dorothy deserves offstage treats, too – for her marvellous performance. If there is a problem, it is with the script. So many of her lines are plaintive, and the unvarying tone of high-pitched petitioning becomes an irritant. But, as a singer, she is perfect. Her voice has warmth, delicacy and power. She starts with the decent, if also-ran, new number “Nobody Understands Me” but we do not have to wait long for ‘”Over the Rainbow” which she offers in a centred, direct, affecting way. It is wonderful to watch her tilt her face upwards, allowing her voice to take off – as if letting out the string of a kite. Michael Crawford has cast himself as her protector. In his benign incarnation as Professor Marvel (the Wizard’s earthly alter-ego), he is encountered outside his caravan about to eat a sausage (which is nicked by Toto). He shows Dorothy magic lantern slides and sings “The Wonders of the World” (by far the best of the new numbers) about pyramids, the Eiffel tower, humpback whales… And he reminds us that he is a bit of a wonder himself, engagingly good at conversing his way through a song. Pots of gold, at the end of the rainbow, must have paid for Robert Jones’s spectacular sets, offset by Jon Driscoll’s virtuoso special effects. A fantastic cyclone transports Dorothy out of Kansas. An airborne cow, random masonry and Dorothy’s house – like a disintegrating matchbox – are hurled into the void. This effect is such a tour de force that Oz seems Toy Townish on arrival, a comedown – in every sense. But the emerald city brings a return to form: a green light district with art deco details, tipsy angles and the Wizard’s alarming residence. The good witch (Emily Tierney) is good – a magical air hostess. The bad witch (Hannah Waddingham) is bad (in a good way). Her “Red Shoes Blues” (another new song) is witty, full-blooded and magnificently performed. As the scarecrow, Paul Keating is poignant, merry and a natural at collapsing. Edward Baker-Duly’s tin man is excellent too, with rusty voice and echoing chest. David Ganly’s cowardly lion, in caramel catsuit and 60s mane, is sweetly camp, coming out with the line: “I’m proud to be a friend of Dorothy’s.” And Jeremy Sams’s direction is undaunted throughout. This show knows where it is going, as surely as if Dorothy had satnav to guide her home. Million Dollar Quartet focuses on 4 December 1956, when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins were together at Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee. This creates an opportunistic excuse for an almost non-stop performance of their hits. This jukebox musical plays so safe it ought to be dangerous, but a fresh cast, directed with pizzazz, by Eric Schaeffer, saves it. Ben Goddard, as Jerry Lee Lewis, is a sensation: manically musical. Michael Malarkey has an admirable stab at Elvis (an impossible undertaking). Robert Britton Lyons (the only cast member imported from the US) convinces as Carl Perkins. And Derek Hagen exactly catches Johnny Cash’s brooding quality. The “story” is held together by record producer/narrator Sam Phillips (a capable Bill Ward). I took one of my teenage sons along. He has had no experience of blue suede shoes, great balls of fire or of hound dogs – at least, not musically speaking. “The music was great,” he said. Tanika Gupta’s intrepid idea is to transpose Dickens’s Great Expectations into 1861 India. Sensibly, she keeps Memsahib Havisham (Lynn Farleigh) recognisable: an ancient bride-in-waiting but also daughter of an East India company trader. Pip (Tariq Jordan) is a likable lad who leaps out of the guava trees of his childhood into a challenging Calcutta adulthood as a nouveau riche English gentleman. Colin Richmond’s design attractively suggests an India of sunlight, silk and calico. But keep your expectations modest too: for all its promise, the surgery on the novel has been violent. Its staccato dialogue rings false. And, oddly enough, the abbreviations do not rescue the show from its longueurs. And the Rain Falls Down is conceived by talented theatre company Fevered Sleep (directed by David Harradine) and aimed at three- to four-year-olds. There is a cloud, like a bathmat, on the floor. Other clouds are pinned on a washing line. The show is, in case you couldn’t guess, about rain. It is beautifully simple and intermittently torrential. Two actors get drenched. The woman (Karina Garnett) adores it. The man (Carl Patrick) is a more cautious anorak-wearer. There is much umbrella innovation: little ones are equipped with see-through brollies and invited to splash about. Eventually there will be an umbrella rainbow. The audience, at the show I attended, split into land-lubbers and water babies. Several landlubbers were crying heartily not wanting to go over – let alone under – the rainbow.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
The Wizard of Oz stars Danielle Hope and Michael Crawford.
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March 7 2011, 5:17pm | Comments »
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I posted to theatrebreaksinlondon.co.uk
Theatre Breaks in London for 2011
http://theatrebreaksinlondon.co.uk/107/theatre-breaks-in-london-for-2011/
Two Shows for Theatre Breaks In London 2011 I’m going to suggest two shows that I think will be very popular for theatre breaks in London by the end of 2011. The first has already been mentioned in passing at the end of the previous post about New Season Theatre Breaks in London and that show is The Wizard of Oz. The new musical of The Wizard of Oz just has so many things going for it that it’s hard to see how it can fail. The first thing is the timeless popularity of the film and the book and all of the amateur and professional adaptations of the Wizard of Oz that have been produced over the years. Building on a heritage such as this is unadventurous, sure but it gives the venture a head a shoulders start. The next cunning ploy was to use a TV casting show to gain loads of pre-publicity and to guarantee that you already have a star who the public adores! That star is Danielle Hope and she shone through with a wonderful natural talent in all departments despite being up against a host of really high quality competitors. In fact the Dorothy who came a close second, Sophie Evans is set to play Dorothy as understudy every Tuesday, so it’s two TV selected Dorothy stars for the price of one. Well, it would be for the price of two if you wanted to book theatre breaks in London to see both of them, but you know what I mean. Just being an Andrew Lloyd Webber production is another huge factor in the show’s favour, but this is more than that since it’s the reunion of the formidable music and lyrics team of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber no less. Tim Rice is writing the lyrics for about four new songs including one for, wait for it….. Michael Crawford. Casting Michael Crawford as the Wizard has to be the piece de la resistance but there could well be more. Who will be the Tin Man, Scarecrow or the cowardly Lion? Ghost London Theatre Breaks
Ghost London Musical The second show is one you may not have heard of yet, but rest assured you will have done by 2011. It’s Ghost the Musical, an adaptation of Ghost the movie, but with a solid rock music soundtrack supplied by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. Another film to stage adaptation, Ghost London is sure to be a hot ticket in 2011. Dates for Ghost And Wizard of Oz Theatre Breaks in London Theatre breaks in London to see The Wizard of Oz can be booked for dates from March 2011 while Ghost will arrive in London for theatre breaks from June 2011 after a run in the Manchester Opera House first.
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September 24 2010, 9:06am | Comments »
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I posted to theatrebreaks.co
Wizard of Oz London
http://theatrebreaks.co/109/wizard-of-oz-london/
The Wizard of Oz, one of the most well known musicals ever because of the famous MGM film starring Judy Garland, is coming to London in 2010. Yes, our old friends the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow will be following the yellow brick with a Dorothy chosen by another TV casting show called “Over The Rainbow” or possibly also “The Wizard of Oz” depending who you believe. The Wizard of Oz London
December 12 2009, 2:28pm | Comments »
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