The Wizard of Oz

Harvest Rain’s new production of The Wizard of Oz is the most enjoyable version of the story I have ever seen on stage. It’s bright, zippy and has a freshness that belies the age of the material.

Although the source material is over 100-years-old, this adaptation of the 1939 MGM movie was originally produced by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987.

Dana Musil was a believable Dorothy and sang the role’s signature tune “Over the Rainbow” well, despite a little too much ‘pop’ inflection. Shaun Kohlman (Scarecrow), Dan Venz (Tinman) and Matty Johnston (Lion) made an appealing trio of misfits who delineated their characters with an ‘aw shucks” charm and sang and danced with style. Angela Harding, with the best voice in the show, was a glittering Glinda, the good Witch, and Penny Farrow as her counterpart the Wicked Witch of the East, was deliciously vile and horrible. Steven Tandy, always good value, had a grand time as the Professor and the Wizard, and Grant Couchman and Kathryn Dunstan were spot on with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Top marks also to the Munchkins who were a delight. Their “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” was one of the highlights.

Other songs to register were “We’re Off to See the Wizard, “The Merry Old Land of Oz” and the three versions of “If I Only Had a Brain/Heart/Nerve.” This version of the musical also reinstated “The Jitterbug” a song that was cut from the movie. It’s a hokey number but it helped lift the second act.

Josh McIntosh’s set and costume designs were imaginative and grand (except for the opening scene which looked like amateur-ville in Kansas) and Callum Mansfield’s dance routines were executed with snap. Maitlohn John’s 18-piece orchestra sounded as it was, big! Tim O’Connor has proved time and time again that he can handle a big cast and keep a show moving. He was on top of his game with this one. Only quibbles, and they’re minor, the Tinman’s taps in “If I Only Had a Heart” which were done by the orchestra, were not in sync, (why didn’t Dan Venz do them live?), and someone should give Tim O’Connor a GPS so he can find the Yellow Brick Road. He had characters entering and exiting opposite it and sometimes nowhere near it.

Despite this The Wizard of Oz is without doubt the best Harvest Rain production in recent times.

Peter Pinne

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