Theatre
The Wizard of Oz
MFCC

There’s no place like panto during the holiday season and this year’s MADC offering, The Wizard of Oz, was truly other-worldly.

Dame Żufjetta... did not hog the show and the final result was all the better for it, because the instances where she appeared were punchier, funnier and all the more effective

Talk about being transported to a faraway land!

Even though the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre is not my favourite faraway land by any means, I was eager to see what Alan Montanaro had conjured up this time. Montanaro penned the show and Denise Mulholland and Marco Calleja directed.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did this show follow the plotline of the book relatively faithfully, but that it also allowed, in terms of the scripting, for several cast members’ performance skills to be showcased properly.

Montanaro’s Dame Żufjetta from Valletta (u ma tibża’ minn ħadd ­­­­– is scared of no one) did not hog the show and the final result was all the better for it, because the instances where she appeared were punchier, funnier and all the more effective.

With catch phrases from past pantos that seem to have stuck in the public conscious, such as “UN-believe it!” and “I said to myself: ‘Myself..!’”, Dame Żufjetta had everybody in fits.

Montanaro’s way with both children and adults, with tongue-in-cheek, quick-fire improvisations and impeccable comic timing, made for a slick performance.

However, it wasn’t just the dame that shone this year. The cast sparkled as brightly as those famous ruby slippers.

Glinda the Good Witch and Dorothy Gale were interpreted by no less than two actresses each – apparently both sets of performers were so equally matched that they shared the shows between them. I happened to go on the night when the performances were interpreted by Philippa Cassar as Dorothy and Chantelle Micallef Grimaud as Glinda.

Cassar exuded sweet innocence as a very well-meaning and enthusiastic young girl who wants to get back home and yet do right by her newfound friends. Her singing is excellent and has a particular quality to it that just promises of great things to come.

Micallef Grimaud’s Glinda was appropriately prim and self-important – she managed to mix the right amount of snobbery into her advice to make it sound just like the memory of an old headmistress you rather like but find mildly daunting.

What struck me about this year’s cast was their on-stage chemistry. Dorothy’s companions – Andy Catania’s Scarecrow, Alex Gatsey Lewis’s Tin Man and Ralph Mangion’s Cowardly Lion fell into their roles both individually and as a team with ease and their interactions with Dorothy and Dame Żufjetta were great to see. Catania’s Scarecrow was quite a revelation. Lewis and Mangion portrayed their characters well as well.

Of the baddies, Isabel Warrington’s Wicked Witch of the West was great – I love an evil character done well and she was fantastic in her nastiness. Meanwhile, her supposedly ruthless minions, Chimp and Zee, played by Chiara Hyzler and Maria Buckle respectively, came across as endearing cheeky chimps without a mean bone in their bodies and made a set of loveable sidekicks.

Music played an important role in strengthening this year’s panto-formula – with vocal coaching by Cathy Lawler and Paul Abela’s musical direction. There were some great performances by Cassar in Somewhere Over the Rainbow and by Luke Saydon who played Stan – a member of the Crows, along with Mandy Randon’s Mavis, Marta Vella’s Mildred and Sean Borg’s Chuck.

I didn’t quite see the point of starting the show with a rendition of This is the Night, other than getting the audience into Eurovision mood which Dame Żufjetta complemented with her outrageous costumes and constant desire for fame.

It was certainly a pity that the night I watched the show, there were some technical difficulties, which led to very distorted miking at times, especially forthe Crows.

Peter Howitt’s magical set design, complete with a yellow brick road – that lit up to show the protagonists their way and acted as part catwalk, for Dame Żufjetta especially, and part road to fulfilment – as well as political satire and popular comedy took on an extremely visual turn thanks to the ingenious projection, especially during the tornado scene.

It was, however, the witch’s curse just before the interval that stole the show in terms of creativity: a witch-puppet dominated the background while floating fluorescent crescents transformed into staring eyes and eerie lettering which spelt ‘beware Dorothy’ in a macabre dance.

It was a mark of excellent directorial choices by the Mulholland-Calleja duo that their vision, although influenced by the original 30s Technicolour film, emerged as a fresh, original and altogether excellent seasonal show.

I just wish I could click my heels back there right now.