Theatre News

Final Three Dorothys Named in Rainbow Contest

Editorial Staff
London's West End

The final three would-be Dorothys for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s forthcoming West End revival of The Wizard of Oz have been revealed as: Sophie Evans (17, from Wales), Danielle Hope (18, from Manchester) and Lauren Samuels (22, from London). They will compete for the coveted West End role at the London Palladium in the grand finale of BBC One’s latest musical theatre reality TV contest, Over the Rainbow this Saturday 22 May 2010 at 7pm.

Tickets are now on sale for the resulting stage production of The Wizard of Oz, which will start performances on 7 February 2011 at the 2,300-seat London Palladium. The musical, best known from the 1939 Hollywood film starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, is being “totally reconceived” and will include new songs written by Lloyd Webber especially for it to add “extra colour to the story as it moves from film to stage”.

The production will be helmed by the same creative team behind Lloyd Webber’s Whatsonstage.com Award-winning revival of The Sound of Music starring his first reality TV winner Connie Fisher – director Jeremy Sams, designer Robert Jones and choreographer Arlene Phillips.

L Frank Baum wrote the first 1903 stage version of his 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story is best known from the 1939 Hollywood film. The stage musical version, adapted by John Kane from the Warner Bros movie, was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican in 1987, with a young Imelda Staunton as Dorothy. The Wizard of Oz has music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and EY Harburg and last had a major London outing at the Royal Festival Hall in summer 2008.

Following the formula of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything – which found Connie Fisher, Lee Mead and Jodie Prenger for West End productions of The Sound of Music, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Oliver! – Over the Rainbow has been searching for Dorothy (and Toto) for The Wizard of Oz since 26 March. Tickets for The Wizard of Oz range from £25 to £62.50.

BOOKMARK THE PAGE: We’ve been tuning into each and every episode on our Over the Rainbow blog on Whatsonstage.com. To catch up now, click here.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE! You can book your tickets for The Wizard of Oz by clicking here!