The Wizard of Oz: A Toto-ly Twistered Family Musical is Oztagram worthy
7 Dec 2018

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Racheal McCaig

The Wizard of Oz: A Toto-ly Twistered Family Musical is the 23rd panto production courtesy of Ross Petty Productions, and like a scrappy child growing into a feisty teen and then blossoming into glorious adulthood, it sets the bar for the tradition even higher. Where it works best is as a slick, smart Broadway-esque musical with the panto roots acknowledged and lovingly toyed with but somewhat immaterial. Eye-popping costumes and sets frame a cast that is having a contagious blast as they sing and dance at a level worthy of the great white way. The holiday season just got a big fabulous gift.

The plot follows, loosely, the beloved story while peppering it with pop culture and political references. The ostensible concern is climate change and a basic message of empowerment, but the aim is to entertain. And entertain it does. While Eric Craig and Sugarbum rip the roof off with a satirical but touching semi-parodic version of "All By Myself," Matt Nethersole (Acha Bacha, James and the Giant Peach) - who is no slouch himself having almost stopped the show with his loose-limbed sex appeal in his first number - stands at the side unable to help himself from cracking up with laughter of sheer joy. And he is holding the adorable Olive who plays Toto, who also seems to approve as she joined in with harmonic barking in the finale.

The Wizard of Oz is an embarrassment of riches in terms of triple-threats. Panto veteran Eddie Glen (A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, etc) is an amiable foil with a knife. Most of the political jokes, a panto staple, are glossed over simply because our current situation is already so far beyond absurdity into horror that it can't be borne, but Glen pulls out a Trump parody that is side-splittingly funny. He even stands up impressively to the force of nature that is Sara-Jeanne Hosie (Falsettos) whose vocals are as powerful as a tornado. She gleefully basks in the audience's boos of appreciation for her malevolent glamour. As Glen quips, "She's nasty but she can land a joke."

Daniel Williston (Kinky Boots, Evil Dead the Musical) is a cuddly bear of a Cowardly Lion dispensing one-liners and glorious high notes. Though Camille Eanga-Selenge as Dorothy suffers from not getting to deliver "Over the Rainbow" (and you will ache to hear her tackle that standard) and establish a character, she compensates more than ably in the finale. She is mainly a plot device prone to stating bromides and self-help, but when she rips into a version of "This is Me," she transcends the schmaltz and easy way out of coasting on the song's established emotions, and induces actual tears in the audience. 

And of course Sugarbum (Michael De Rose of Merrily We Roll Along, Grease, and My Dinner with Casey Donovan) is effervescent and sweetly raunchy with double takes of "Did I just say that?" that are irresistible. And when she sings, The Wizard of Oz's conceptual framework is made manifest, there is so much power and gorgeous tone that any insecurities or concerns about being different are irrelevant. Sadly, Sugarbum never makes a costume change (not to suggest she isn't a vision in pink pink pink glitter) but the strong ensemble makes up for it. From hipsters to colourful Ozians to slithering Twisted Jungle denizens to sensual evil witches and beyond, Darren Burkett, Sierra Holder, Julia Juhas, Judy Kovacs, Kevin McLachlan, Jennifer Mote, Matthew Pinkerton and Conor Scully, never flag for a second and never fail to dazzle.

Director Tracey Flye keeps things moving quickly and semi-coherently, and Matt Murray's text is genuinely witty and solidly constructed. As mentioned, it is the panto conventions that interrupt the flow but are mercifully dispensed with quickly. The commercials, a necessary evil that have become eagerly anticipated, are used for scene changes, The first time is funny while the rest slow down the second act. But then I would not have lived fully if I had missed Sugarbum and Petty's liaison in the sponsoring Hilton.

The Wizard of Oz is of course a sacred text, and this The Wizard of Oz takes fluidity for granted. It is impossible to tell if the queer references are intentional inserts or if culture has just been infiltrated, finally, to the point where they are mainstream. This is after all a "family musical." The Wizard of Oz begins and ends with the disco classic "Born to be Alive" and quotes Yentl, RuPaul's Drag Race and "Born This Way," a personal favourite and legendary for being Madonna's first job as a singer even if back-up. When Dorothy arrives in Oz she scans the rainbow-hued set and marvels, "Where am I? I thought Pride was next week." Sugarbum jokes about lubricant, BDSM, multiple past conquests, Celine Dion, etc, etc. Maybe the jokes were meant to be inside references, but the entire audience, including the kids, all laughed heartily. 

Of course there were also jokes and references spanning Sharknado, our shark-like premier's ineptness and bulk, and Guns N' Roses. But a visual pun involving Andy Warhol as shorthand for setting a scene, is not only clever but is a welcome change from the overwhelming heteronormativity of the holiday season and much musical theatre. But subtext and sur-text hardly matter when a show is this unabashedly entertaining and packed with talent, it is just icing on an already delicious souffle. This annual panto deserves to be immortalized on Sugarbum's Oztagram, the current gold standard.