Ross Petty Productions Inc./ The Wizard of Oz: A Toto-ly Twistered Family Musical! by Matt Murray, (inspired by L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), directed and choreographed by Tracey Flye, Elgin Theatre, Nov. 30, 2018 to Jan. 5, 2019. Tickets available at 1.855.599.9090 or www.rosspetty.com.
Ross Petty has been staging his family musicals during the Christmas season for twenty-three years, and the evolution has been remarkable. The early days were marked by the cast trying to make each other laugh, ramshackle scripts, and garbagy sets and costumes. Fast forward two decades and these productions have become as slick and polished as any Broadway musical.
Somewhere along the line, Petty realized that parents and grandparents were accompanying the children, and needed to be entertained as well. As a result, with more on offer to anyone over the age of ten, there has been a sea change in the audience, and many adults now attend these shows sans children. In fact, a group of young women sitting near me — friends, or perhaps, office colleagues — had such a good time, that they swore then and there to make the outing an annual tradition. In other words, these productions have become much more than just shows for children.
Petty was originally inspired by the English pantomime tradition — the fracturing of a well-known children’s story by adding in song and dance numbers, topical references, one or more cast members in drag, and double entendres for the adults. While Petty never did subscribe to the traditional roles of the English panto — like the Principal Boy being a gorgeous girl with very long legs — he has developed a unique Canadian hybrid, a musical comedy that is entertainment for all ages.
If I hadn’t been sitting in the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, I would have thought I was somewhere in the United States, given the number of American references in the show, but then, Donald Trump does dominate the news these days to an excessive degree. Doug Ford, however, does come in for a drubbing. For example, in the tornado scene, when Dorothy (Camille Eanga-Selenge) is spun away from the Ossington Summer Festival to Oz, Ford is shown twisting in the wind, which was met by a roar of laughter and thunderous applause.
The Wizard of Oz does follow the original story very closely, with the added element of global warming and climate change. The villain this year, Miss Gulch/the Wicked Witch Sulphura (Sara-Jeanne Hosie) wants to pollute the air and make the temperature hotter. (Her punishment at the end is to drive a Zamboni in an open-air skating rink!) She is aided and abetted by her reluctant hench-thingy Randy (Eddie Glen), who also plays the Wizard. On route to Emerald City, Dorothy encounters Scarecrow (Matt Nethersole), Tin Man (Eric Craig) and Lion (Daniel Williston). One additional character is Sugarbum (Michael De Rose), the fairy-in-drag who can’t get her magic right. She accompanies Dorothy and her friends to Emerald City, and is responsible for most of the sexual innuendos. Supporting the main characters are eight chorus girls and boys who perform a variety of roles, from Oz-ians, to the witch’s minions, to the rich and famous of Emerald City. The main task of Dorothy is to spout homilies decrying bullies and praising true friendship. She is there to teach the moral values.
The only one I knew in the cast is Glen who has been performing in the Petty pantos for sixteen years. The others have credits that include the major musical theatres in Canada, like the Charlottetown Festival, Drayton Festival and Stage West. I can happily report that The Wizard of Oz performers are prodigiously talented. They are probably the strongest ensemble who have ever performed in a Petty musical and, to a person, can sing and dance up a storm. The musical score in these shows contains current pop songs, which clearly the crowd recognized with glee, and then clapped enthusiastically after each offering. Of course, the audience plays a big role at these shows, and a huge part of the fun is booing the villain and cheering the good guys. In fact, the audience seems to get more rambunctious every year, but this cast was excellent in controlling them.
Director/choreographer Tracey Flye has been associated with these pantos for years and she does a great job. Her dances are filled with modern idioms like hip-hop, Broadway/disco glitz, and doo-wop sync, which the audience loves. In the last few years, a much-anticipated feature has been the sponsor advertisement videos which include members of the cast, and are downright hilarious. There are also children brought up from the audience to help solve a problem — in this case, answering riddles to get Dorothy and her friends out of the Twisted Jungle — and their participation is as delightful as ever. The look of the show is scrumptious, and Cory Sincennes’ set and costumes are simply fabulous, as are Cameron Davis eye-popping projections. In fact, so colourful is Oz, that when Dorothy first arrives, she thinks she’s at a Pride parade.
These Ross Petty shows have morphed into vibrant, quality family entertainment for all ages. Did I have a good time? You bet I did.
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