We were given tickets to this show free of charge for the purpose of this review.
Last night we headed over to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for our second helping of outdoor theatre this summer; The Wizard of Oz, by Immersion Theatre. All four of us attended and we all really enjoyed the show, which had us clapping along, singing, dancing, and laughing out loud.
The cast were all really versatile and it was very entertaining. The show follows the basic story of the original book, with a few twists to make it suit the barebones theatre style & limited cast needed for outdoor theatre. There were very few props and no set changes – but the brilliant acting was more than enough to help your imagination conjure up the land of Oz.
My favourite character – and Georgie’s too – was the “Big, Bad Lion” while Lydia opted for Glinda the (very pink) good witch. Georgie was a little scared of the Wicked Witch and hid behind me when she was out in the audience during the interval handing out feedback forms! All of the costumes were brilliant – I loved the fun touches like Glinda’s pink trainers and the Lion’s funky waistcoat.
The audience were involved all the way through the show; everything from encouraging us to sing, clap or dance along with them, to picking on a random Dad in the audience to demonstrate to the scarecrow just how to be scary! The lion character went dancing through the audience several times, and his enthusiasm was infectious.
Both the adults and children in the audience were laughing every few minutes – the show was packed with jokes & comic moments aimed at all ages, and I think even the grumpiest audience member would have had to crack a smile at their antics. The performance was peppered with pop culture references and witticisms, paired with catchy, toe-tapping original songs which entertained us all. The cast had good singing voices and we could hear almost all the dialogue and the songs easily enough from our rug right at the back of the audience.
My only criticisms of the show aren’t anything to do with the performances – I think the rugs area was too small as there were quite a lot of people sitting behind the chairs area on rugs, who had to sit further back one the slop in order to see above the seats, and my other niggle was that white van parked behind the stage. It could have been moved somewhere less obvious, as it ruined the look & feel of the stage a bit for me.
However, it was a great evening & many thanks to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for inviting us along to review. All four of us enjoyed it and I wish I could download a recording of those catchy songs to sing along to while doing housework! This musical show is definitely something special, and simply put it is very very fun to watch.
There are still a few dates left on The Wizard of Oz tour so check out where they’re headed and get booking – you won’t regret it! Get a glimpse of the show in their trailer below…
