Show: ‘The Witches of Oz’, ‘Stranger Sings’ and ‘Peter Pan’s Labyrinth’
Society: London (professional shows)
Venue: The Vaults. Launcelot Street, London SE1 7AD
Credits: Various
Type: Sardines
Author: Caroline Jenner
Performance Date: 29/09/2022
The Witches of Oz
Caroline Jenner | 30 Sep 2022 14:47pm
Christmas might still be two months away but pantomime season is definitely here in the shape of The Witches of Oz at The Vaults. Written, directed and choreographed by Shane Shayshay Konno this is an all singing, all dancing romp through the Emerald City that has the audience singing along from the outset. Arriving at the Vaults you are handed your poker chip and drinks wrist band and sent off to collect your Broccolollipop with Kansas buffalo glaze dusted in munchie crumb and await the arrival of the Wicked Witch, aka Adele, played by Féyi Wey, in her first professional performance since graduating from East 15. Bold and brassy she takes charge of the room, encouraging us to get the booing out of our system before she tells us that the Emerald City is looking for a new Witch of Oz and she is going to stand as a candidate.
Grace Kelly Miller, the good witch, aka Kelly Oz-born , is standing against her. A cross between Marilyn Monroe and Dolly Parton she peppers her condescension towards the audience, or munchers as we are named, with advertisements for her housing complex, teeth whitener and other business ventures, all sounding a little on the dodgy side. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize which of these two candidates is probably the better option for Oz. Particularly once we start to be introduced to the issues facing Oz – climate change, political corruption, gender identity – sound familiar?
The arrival of Dorothy – or Dor-o-they – now going by the name Dor, single syllable names are all the rage says Tin, allows the old team of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman to be reunited and sent off by the Good Witch to kill off her arch nemesis, salvage her boots (so Dor can go home having sold the red slippers on e-bay during lean times) and leave the way clear for Good Witch Kelly to take over Oz and continue developing her business empire – cue boos from the audience.
Introduction to the characters made, for any alien who has landed with no knowledge of the Wizard of Oz, the audience are called out by name and seated for a three-course meal in the great hall. Although the starter is a little bland (Cornbread, blowtorched corn and a sweetcorn puree) the main course of glazed crown of chicken, root vegetable medley and beetroot salad is served piping hot and is followed by a fantastic candied apple crumble with popcorn crumb and rainbow Chantilly cream. In between courses we continue to follow the adventures of Dor and friends as they traverse the tables from one end of the dining hall to another searching for Witch Mountain.
“Which mountain?”
“Yes, Witch Mountain.”
“But which mountain?”
“Witch Mountain!!!”
It Is almost impossible to keep up with the jokes and puns that just keep coming. Beside the pacy dialogue there are great renditions of classics such as These Boots are Made for Walking, Spice up your Life and Take a Chance on Me to name but three. Quite a few of the company come from cabaret backgrounds, consequently we enjoy strong singing voices belting out the numbers.
ShayShay says of the production: “I wanted to make The Witches of Oz explicitly queer, complete with gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and trans characters” and with Lion deciding to be a he/him, Tin coming out as Tinwoman, our now non-binary Dor and Kelly and Adele admitting they find each other attractive, there is no doubt that ShayShay has achieved they/them’s aims.
The set looks like it’s been made of tinfoil, the costumes could have come from a child’s dressing up box but nonetheless the show is a success. As ShayShay says: “ It is part-panto, part-jukebox musical and pure camp” and this reviewer would happily rock up and see it all over again.