Every year, my family and I eagerly anticipate one special holiday event: seeing a Ross Petty show at the Elgin Theatre.
We love panto! Pantomime takes familiar fairy tales and children’s stories (past productions have included Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow White, Peter Pan), and injects them with hit music, contemporary references and audience participation to create raucous, wacky entertainment that’s fun for everyone in the family.
The Wizard of Oz, Ross Petty’s latest over-the-top family musical does not disappoint. Right from the start, you know that Ross Petty, along-side a cast of talented Canadian artists, is aiming for something more than a charming classic family tale!
A Toronto blizzard sweeps Dorothy and Toto (and a couple of TTC Streetcars) to a far-away land – the land of Oz – Australia to be exact. She, along with the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man, embark on a journey of full of zaniness as they search for the Wizard, who can help Dorothy find her way back home. The lion hopes to find courage while the scarecrow is looking for a brain, and the tin man a heart. But first, they must escape the Wicked Witch of the West who is in pursuit of Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Of course there are some twists and turns along the way as this quirky version diverges from the classic tale.
Happily, it all works. The Wizard of Oz plugs in enough pop tunes, ad-libs, parodies, and cheeky humour keeping the grown-ups just as entertained as the kids! Don’t expect to hear the usual ‘over the rainbow’ stuff as Dorothy and her buddies boogie their way down the Yellow Brick Road singing “Won’t you take me to Funky Town?”.
The cast is outstanding:
Elicia Mackenzie (Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC – Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre and ROCK OF AGES – Royal Alexandra Theatre) plays a modern-day Dorothy. Quebec’s Yvan Pedneault (also from ROCK OF AGES) plays the flashy role of the Tin Man. He was also one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men in the 2009 Ross Petty production.
The hilarious Dan Chameroy (of Stratford Festival fame) reprises his signature role of Plumbum von Botox, and in my opinion, steals the show! Plumbum made her first appearance and was brilliant as one of Cinderella’s Ugly Stepsisters. She then migrated to Maid Marion’s guardian in Sherwood Forest, and now transforms into Dorothy’s aunt. We’ve loved her every step of the way!
Ross Petty = BOOOOOOOOOO! The usual baddie and guy/girl we love to hate – appears as the Wicked Witch of the West. With the ruby-red slippers in her possession, her dreams of world domination will finally be fulfilled.
The sweet Jessica Holmes (CBC-TV’s ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE) plays the Good Witch Splenda to perfection!
Stratford Festival’s Steve Ross is the Cowardly Lion; the Shaw Festival’s Kyle Blair portrays the Scarecrow and fan-favourite Eddie Glen is the Wizard himself.
And kudos to Toto (played by Hauli) for being such a well-behaved dog!
The Wizard of Oz is full of wit and fun. The filmed commercials highlighting this year’s sponsors (Sears, The Fairmont Royal York, Lowes, The Toronto Star and P & G) are hysterical.
Join in as the crowd cheers loudly for the heros/heroine, and boos and jeers the villain. It isn’t often kids can scream as loud as they want to at the theatre… The Wizard of Oz should be at the top of your list of holiday activities for the entire family!
The show runs at the Elgin Theatre until January 6, 2012. For more information and tickets, visit www.rosspetty.com.
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Very good information and facts, many thanks to the creator. This is puzzling to me today, but in general, the effectiveness and relevance is overwhelming. Really much thanks again and best of luck!
AMAZING, AWESOME, COOL, FABULOUS!!!!!!! I won tickets to see the show (thanks toronto4kids) and it was great!!! the show was totally unexpected the cast was terrific and best of all the children absolutely loved it!!!! A must see!! I have recommended it to all my friends and family.. My daughters went to school and told all their friends and teachers and I had the teachers and parents asking about it. My oldest daughters teacher was undecided about buying tickets cause they are a bit expensive!! but once she heard what a wonderful time we had there was no lnger an issue about expenses.. She even got a room at the Fairmont so they could experience the whole package like we did!!! LOVE ROSS PETTY PRODUCTIONS!!!! Thank you so much toronto4kids without your contest my family would never have had this experience!!!!!! Oh and the Fairmont hotel stay was perfect!!!