CityLife

Ale and Arty: Oz completes the cycle

MAGICAL: Wizard Of Oz

FOR 30 years Stuart Brennan has believed that "culture" roughly translates as "beer and football".

The chances of him changing now are much, much slimmer than his waistline, but we at City Life have set the M.E.N. sports writer a task - not to find the new man but to at least discover the new Manchester.

This week he clicked his ruby red slippers three times and returned home to Salford, to watch 'The Wizard of Oz' at The Lowry.

WHOA, hold on a minute. So, Dorothy is the Wicked Witch of the West's MOTHER?

It was a familial revelation akin to discovering Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's dad, or even that Paula Yates had been fathered by Hughie Green.

Closer inspection (always a spoiler, that one) revealed that it was actually Judy Garland, who peerlessly played Dorothy in the 1939 film version, who is the mother of Lorna Luft, who dons the green face paint and pointy hat to cackle her way through The Lowry's Christmas offering.

I took the kids to this one, as well as the wife and both grandmas, truly a family occasion, but Wizard of Oz is one of those works which transcends the generations.

Just yards from where we sat, in the fantastic Lyric Theatre, perched at the end of Pier Eight, from where in 1941, my dad sailed out to take on the worst that Hitler could chuck at him.

After the odd brush with German U-boats and bombers, he wound up in Bombay, and went to see the new cinematographic rave, 'The Wizard of Oz', at a local picture-house.

He claims it was because the theatre was the only air-conditioned building in the area, and the visit was an escape from the unbearably muggy monsoon.

But I love to conjure the image of a gang of rough, tough, hard-drinking merchant seamen swaying in unison to 'Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!'.

Completing a cycle

So it was with a sense of completing a cycle that 67 years later we were on the Quays, watching the latest version.

Following in the ruby red footsteps of the original film version is always going to be a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you don't".

Digress from the narrative of the film, and people grumble that "It wasn't like the film". Stick religiously to the format, and you look unimaginative.

This production chose the latter path, and it was the right decision.

The script is almost word-for-word the same as the film, the costumes a very close copy, and even the sets are as similar as the confines of a theatre allow.

The result is that you knew exactly what was coming, but that doesn't take away the enjoyment.

Indeed, being so close to Christmas, it just helped to bring out the pantomime feel - a few hundred kids screamed "They're behind you" as the witch's Winky guards crept up on the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

Dorothy Idol

I liked the fact that the Lowry's Dorothy was Katie Schofield, who landed the role after winning a Dorothy Idol contest.

I also liked the idea of Dorothy as a Bolton lass: "Ay up, Toto, I don't think we're in Kearsley any more."

Although she did disappoint by affecting an American accent.

And the kid done good. You couldn't expect anyone to emulate Judy Garland, but she sang well, and even had this hard-bitten old hack hoping against hope that she made it through a veritable fantasy assault course of witchy lightning bolts, vindictive apple trees, and flying monkeys.

Millon-dollar question

Which brings us to the million-dollar question. How could The Lowry reproduce the special effects which made the film such a hit?

Well, they did it brilliantly. A backdrop cinema screen, some splendid lighting effects and a few aerial wires mean that the tornado, the flying monkey, Glinda's bubble and the witch's sorcery were all engaging enough to capture the imaginations of the Nintendo generation.

And then there was Toto, a little mop of a dog, who stole the show, as animals are wont to do, simply by walking around and looking cute.

The result is a great family show - as three generations of my lot will testify.
 
NEXT week, Stuart has pretty low expectations of Great Expectations at the Library Theatre.