REVIEW: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Billingham Forum

THERE were some great performances in this fun, pantomime-style production of this classic fantasy adventure – but only one made my little girl gasp with excitement merely for appearing.

Toto the dog stole the show as far as my eight-year-old was concerned just by being on the stage.

Other little girls were dressed up head-to-toe as main character Dorothy and some were so excited they took to dancing in the aisles.

There was plenty of audience interaction and at various points there were even pantomime ‘she’s behind you’ calls in this straightforward retelling of the classic Judy Garland film.

In recent years there have been clever takes on the story, including a prequel film and hit West End production, Wicked, which explores the relationship of the two sister wicked witches. However this boisterous production in front of a packed Wednesday-night audience rightly didn’t bother with any twists but simply got on with the job of telling a child-pleasing tale with its positive ‘believe in yourself’ message with a few good sing-and-clap-along songs thrown in.

My star of the show was the Wicked Witch of the West, played by Fiona Egan, who was scary enough to get the kids going, but got some good laughs too.

The young dancers from Karen Heritage’s dance studios, based in Stockton, gave it their all and surely have one or two stars for the future in their midst.

This show is good, reasonably-priced, family treat for the half term hols.

*The Wonderful Wizard of Oz runs until Saturday and has both evening and matinee performances on Friday and Saturday. Box office forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk or 01642 552663.