• Strong leading voices, wouldn’t have guessed that I was seeing the two stand-ins; interesting that someone can have a ‘show voice’ as well as having the high classical notes
• Good staging/effects – the dragon, the lighting
• Good dancing and costumes – especially the main ‘Emerald City’ numbers
• As I’d hoped, a much more straightforward and accessible story (at least in the first act) than the book, which I found weird and dark and disappointing
• Enjoyed not being familiar with the music, so it’s all new – not a single song I’d ever heard before
• Music slightly atonal/’Britten’-like in places, but some wonderful affecting chords eg at end of company numbers
• Nice how it ties in with the film towards the end, ie tin man and scarecrow
• Best line, when Glinda is beside a semblance of the yellow brick road and says, ‘I do hope they find their way, I’m no good at giving directions’ (humorous because the song repeats over and over, ‘follow the yellow brick road’, ie the simplest directions possible)
• Pleasing to see a large woman among the dance cast
• Second act lost its way, too long and gets boring, story becomes unclear – what’s the Wizard’s agenda? Does she succeed in rescuing all the animals? Is she really good or evil?
• I heard someone say afterwards, ‘I don’t understand how she died’ – you need to know the film for that, and they should emphasise the significance of water, you can miss that
• Found the penultimate sentiment between the two women too ‘cloying’
• Using the ‘is this a show I’d like to bring my mother to?’ test – during the first act I was thinking yes, during the second act, no – so I’ve marked it down to 7 out of 10 because the second act was too heavy/confusing and less spectacular

Marks out of ten for general enjoyment/entertainment value: 7