The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Bridgetown Repertory’s end of year pantomime is always a special event.

This year’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will entertain and delight all those who get to see this show. The pantomime is ablaze with bright and colourful costumes, amazing special effects, with scenes that are absolutely stunning, which together contribute to setting the stage to make a wonderful show.

Margaret Korver, the play’s director, has been working on bringing this production to the Bridgetown Theatre for around twelve months and enthusiastically talks about the process.

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz pantomime was adapted by Nigel Holmes from that well known book by L. Frank Baum ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’.

“The planning work which I been undertaking over the year has been with the concept of sets, choosing the songs and making sure the copyright allows us to use music we have chosen.

“We have also had to adapt parts of the script to suit our production. We have bonus characters of Ugg and Lee, together they become Ugglee, really fun characters.

“Other fun characters are Prince Smarmy and Princess Porlain who are in the wrong pantomime, their antics add another layer to the script and leads to a lot of comedy.

“When it came time to hold auditions, we had a truly wonderful turnout, giving me the best choice of actors for the roles.

“Every young person attending the auditions who wanted to be a munchkin was given a role, they are mostly highly enthusiastic children.

“Once the show was cast. I found I had a wonderful mix of seasoned actors and new performers.

“There have been wonderful surprises with the talents of the actors, two girls, the ‘Abbeys’ who play Ugg and Lee.

“These two literally bounce off each other: being childhood friends has made them comfortable playing the comedic role together, it’s a ‘dumb and dumber’ role they play, with their facial expressions they use making them both shine.

“Dorothy, who is played by Chloe is both ‘awesome and gorgeous’, she’s a natural, I’m so pleased.

“Sam who is playing the Lion’s role is now getting used to being punched in the nose by Dorothy, it is so funny each time it happens, I know the punch is coming, it’s his reaction that’s makes it funny each time.

“Tin Man is played by April, she has a very strong presence on the stage, and she is very good in the role.

“This cohort of young actors in the pantomime are focused, well behaved and are talented lot. I am so surprised at times with the maturity they show for their age.

“Really, everyone is surprising, I endeavour to let every actor shine in their time on stage, they all will have their moment.

“Sue Bottomley has been cast as the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’, a role she is taking great delight in playing.

Sue is also the Wardrobe Mistress for this production, she has hardly stopped sewing since being asked to make the costumes for the pantomime.

“The set designs, the set painters, the production team, cast and crew are perfect in every way, and I would like to thank them all for being so fabulously awesome, which is making this year’s pantomime something special.

The pantomime will be presented over the first two weekends in December, 3r, 4th and matinee on the 5th than the weekend of 10th, 11th with the matinee on the 12th December.

So do yourself a favour and make sure you get to see this year’s pantomime. Let yourself be entertained as Dorothy leads her aunt, the lion, tin man and the scarecrow down the Yellow Brick Road in an endeavour to find a way for her and her aunt to return home. The adventure is all set in an atmosphere which has a touch of magic and mystery, adventure and friendship and of course, love.”