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by Lorna Wright & Nicholas Hune-Brown, directed by Tracey Flye

Ross Petty Productions, Elgin Theatre, Toronto

December 1, 2011-January 6, 2012

“G’day, Dorothy”

With The Wizard of Oz, Ross Petty adds a new children’s story to his arsenal of fractured fairy tales that makes up his annual pantos.  As usual only the barest bones of L. Frank Baum’s story from 1900 are used and families should definitely not expect to hear one note of the songs by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg from the famous movie starring Judy Garland from 1939.  Instead, in true panto style, an odd mélange of popular songs from the present and near past are substituted foe those sung at key moments in the film. 

The show has a strong start and, with one of its starriest casts ever, looks to headed for panto greatest.  Unfortunately, writers Lorna Wright and Nicholas Hune-Brown add so many digressions from and alterations to the main plot that what was an exciting, straightforward story becomes increasingly muddled. 

The show begins with Splenda the Good Witch (an endearingly funny Jessica Holmes) summoned to a Harry Potter-style Council of Magic consisting of Dumbledore, the Easter Bunny a leprechaun and so on.  They meet to choose someone to guide the Chosen One, Dorothy Gale, to Oz to prevent the Wicked Witch from world domination.  Splenda volunteers and we are whisked off to Toronto, the graffiti-riddled stand-in for Kansas.  There Dorothy (the ever-perky Elicia Mackenzie, formerly Maria in the Mirvish Sound of Music) practices her skateboarding amid the garbage bins and assorted denizens of the city.  Strangest of these denizens is Dorothy’s own man-hungry Aunt Plumbum played hilariously for the third time in a row by Dan Chameroy.  Costumed in tights, shorts, a fluffy top and white Afro wig, he looks more like the Chicken Lady than anything else.  When Dorothy’s song of self-expression is not “Over the Rainbow” but Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”, we definitely know we’re not at MGM anymore.   

Soon Splenda appears and conjures up a snowstorm that whirls Dorothy, Toto and Plumbum to the outback of Oz--as in Australia.  There she is g’dayed by a gaggle of Aussies in oddly high-waisted get-ups and cork hats.  Surveying the landscape and noting that there are bike-lanes, she exclaims in the show’s best line, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Toronto anymore”.  Since the Toronto recycling bin she was in has squashed the Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy puts on her ruby slippers and the munchkin equivalents celebrate with Men in Hats’ “Safety Dance”.  Despite the good weather and bike-lanes, Dorothy still wants to go home so Splenda sets off to the Emerald City, which happens to look like a green version of the Sidney Opera House.  But the Wicked Witch (Ross Petty, of course) must have the ruby slippers to achieve his/her evil goals.

So far so good, despite the use of Lipps Inc.’s annoying hit “Funkytown” for Dorothy’s travelling music.  The energy level then dips significantly when Wright and Hune-Brown decide to tell us how the Tin Man can to be.  Originally he a Donny (the likable Yvan Pedneault and former star of the Mirvish We Will Rock You), who is a wimpy miner and amateur magician.  There is no need for Donny’s hobby since is ultimately leads to nothing in the story and there is no need for the Tin Man’s backstory to give Dorothy a love interest.  She could simply fall in love with him as the Tin Man and have Splenda transform him into a real man, as happens anyway.  To have Dorothy and Donny fall in love, then out of love, wastes far too much time and delays the entrance of Fig, the Scarecrow, played by the wonderfully rubbery-limbed Kyle Blair, and Napoleon the Cowardly Lion, in a part that really should be beefed up more for Steve Ross.  The two have to enter together as if they were Tweedledee and Tweedledum.  It would have been much better to follow the original storyline and have Dorothy meet each figure separately so that we get to know each better and so that each gets at least a few stage minutes where he is our main focus. 

Surprisingly soon, the quartet meet the Wizard of Oz (Eddie Glen, who is also underused).  Then in a completely departure from the book (and dramatic sense), the Wicked Witch and his evil minions who look rather like winged Smurfs kidnap the Wizard.  This leads to a number of pointless digressions such as a competition between the Witch and Plumbum woo the Wizard all set to Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”.  Eventually, who has the ruby slippers and how they got them.  Dorothy, not the Wizard delivers the good news about brains, courage and hearts to her companions, but the main point of the story is completely altered.  In the original, Dorothy, who thought she wanted adventure realizes she just wants to go home.  Here, Dorothy stays in Oz!  Splenda says, “Home is where the heart is” referring to Donny.  But is there some reason she can’t whisk the couple plus Toto and Plumbum back to Toronto?  Isn’t it a bit disturbing to suggest to little kids that they have to leave Canada to be happy?  One doesn’t except accuracy in a panto but one also doesn’t expect the moral of a story to be completely lost--especially when there’s such an easy way to salvage it.

If the show tends to drag in the middle of both acts it is more the fault of the writers than it is of the efficient Tracey Flye.  With a set credited to David Boechler and costumes to Erika Connor, this is a wholly Canadian production unlike many of Petty’s previous pantos borrowed from anonymous British sources.  It’s exceedingly odd, especially when merch for the show includes koala bears, that Connor makes absolutely no use of any of Australia’s multitude of strange wildlife in designing costumes for the Wicked Witch’s companions.  The humour is strictly hit and miss with Splenda and Plumbum scoring the most hits and Petty the most misses.  It’s too bad that after the initial scene in the outback, political humour wanes to be taken over by sexual innuendo.  The visit of three selected little ones on stage to receive gifts is ill-timed since the departure of the three, who leave the Wicked Witch in charge onstage, is thus greeted with boos instead of applause.  You can enjoy the performances of all the actors and there is much fun to be had--but there could easily be more of it if Wright and Hune-Brown would revise their script and be sure to let everyone have a chance to shine on stage.     

      

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: Yvan Pedneault, Elicia Mackenzie, Kyle Blair and Steve Ross. ©2011 Ross Petty Productions.

For tickets, visit www.rosspetty.com.