The U.K. and Ireland tour of The Wizard of Oz is making its final stop: a limited engagement in London's West End. The family favorite, directed by Nikolai Foster with choreography by Shay Barclay, plays the Gillian Lynne Theatre August 15–September 8.
JLS star Aston Merrygold and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner and Dancing on Ice finalist The Vivienne return to the roles of, respectively, The Tin Man and The Wicked Witch of the West for the London run. (Merrygold will perform on select dates with Moulin Rouge! The Musical's Femi Akinfolarin sharing the role of The Tin Man.)
They are joined by principal company members from the tour, including Allan Stewart (Stones in His Pockets) and Alex Bourne (Annie) sharing the role of The Wizard, Aviva Tulley (The Book of Mormon) as Dorothy, Benjamin Yates (Emmerdale) as The Scarecrow, Nic Greenshields (Love Never Dies) as The Cowardly Lion, Emily Bull (9 to 5) as Glinda The Good Witch, and Abigail Matthews as Toto.
The company is completed by
David Burrows, Adam Craig, Cole Dunn, Tyler Ephraim, Olivia Kate
Holding, Thomas Kalek, Sadie Levett, Kelsie-Rae Marshall, Martin
McCarthy, Rose Ouellette, Fanja Parent, Alexandra Regan, Nathan
Routledge, and Sydney Spencer.
Producer Michael Harrison said in an earlier statement, “The Wizard of Oz was seen by an incredible 185,000 people at the London Palladium last summer and is currently smashing box office
records on its U.K. tour, so it feels absolutely appropriate that we
return this spectacular production to the West End during the summer
holidays for 38 performances only, with an incredible cast led by Aston
Merrygold and The Vivienne.”
Based upon the the book by L. Frank Baum and the classic film owned by Warner Media, The Wizard of Oz has music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, additional music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, additional lyrics by Tim Rice, and an adaptation by Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams.
The production also features orchestrations by David Cullen, orchestrations adapted by George Dyer, set design by Colin Richmond, projection design by Douglas O’Connell, costume and puppet design by Rachael Canning, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Adam Fisher, creative consulting by Mark Kaufman, musical supervision by George Dyer, casting by Debbie O’Brien, props supervision by Marcus Hall Props, and wigs, hair, and makeup design by Elizabeth Marini.
The Wizard of Oz on tour is presented Harrison, Gavin Kalin Productions, David Mirvish, Crossroads Live, Nick Thomas, Rupert Gavin and Mallory Factor, Jake Hine and Playing Field, by arrangement with the Really Useful Group Ltd. This staging was originally produced at the Curve.
Visit WizardofOzMusical.com.
