Never underestimate a drag queen.

Curious words to preface a review of a show based on Victor Fleming’s 1939 classic with, perhaps.

Yet there’s little shying away from the fact that OG RuPaul’s Drag Race UK victor, The Vivienne, is the big draw for this latest production of Oz as it flies into Wolverhampton in the latter stages of its tour. The marketing and posters certainly lean heavy on her green, immaculately contoured and unapologetically vixen mug as a decidedly 21st Century ‘Wicked Witch of the West’.

Interchangeably swapping in with Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood when touring and other commitments pulled her away from Oz, the big question orbiting the show was whether the evidently talented ‘Viv’ could cut the mustard in the big, razzmatazz world of musical theatre. She already showcased plenty of performance chops on the path to her deserved Drag Race victory, and an arguably even more impressive (some may say criminally overlooked…) follow-up on the vaunted seventh All Stars all-winners season, but as anyone within it will tell you, the musical theatre game is a fickle beast all of its own.

Before appraising any performances though, let’s start with the basics. The Wizard of Oz as a stage musical is a beefed up, slightly fluffed out version of the classic movie, with some extra numbers and wrinkles courtesy of a certain Lloyd Webber and Rice pairing.

Frustrated, wilful young Dorothy Gale (Aviva Tulley) is restless and tired of the Podunk life in the back reaches of Kansas. After her beloved dog Toto (beautifully voiced and puppeteer by Abigail Matthews) falls foul of mean-spirited local grouch, Miss Mulch (also The Vivienne), she decides to run away from home. A plan given short shrift by a pesky hurricane which ends up whisking the pair of to the fantastic, faraway land of Oz.

The general plot points and set pieces of the original movie (surely intimately known to many?) remain broadly intact. Dorothy sets off with a growing band of new friends through the mystical land of Oz in the hopes of meeting the eponymous Wizard, whom she hopes can magic her back home.

It has to be said that as a musical, whenever Oz strays away from Harold Arlen’s instantly hummable favourites, such as ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’, ‘Over the Rainbow’ and the titular ditty, it’s generally more forgettable fodder. Few of Lloyd Webber and Rice’s new songs linger in the memory, though a rousing finale about home teeters close and there’s a liberal dose of L Frank Baum’s whimsy with words throughout. Unforgivably, the Wicked Witch herself only gets one fairly short number, her malevolence and iconic status surely deserving of more scenery to chew and music to belt.

“Nikolai Foster and the Leicester Curve production team do an impressive job taking this occasionally middling book and crafting it into a vibrant, stylised spectacle…”

Nikolai Foster and the Leicester Curve production team do an impressive job taking this occasionally middling book and crafting it into a vibrant, stylised spectacle. Colin Richmond and Rachael Canning pitch their interpretation of Oz as a postmodern explosion of colour, technology and spark, with dashes of comic novella, steampunk and even dystopia filtering through. Douglas O’Connell’s rear screen projections feature heavily, and for the most part accent the fizz bangery well, though there are times when it can all feel like a bit of sensory overload when major, boisterous choreography, dazzling sets and costumes and whippet fast video transitions are blurring about on stage at once.

But generally, Foster and company aren’t afraid to pitch sillier, darker, broader. The ominous sleep-inducing poppies here get the borderline Kubrick treatment. The pre-reveal Oz himself looks akin to a turn of the millennium fever dream. The Wicked Witch is rarely on stage without throwing a shower of sparks someone’s way. Emily Bull‘s Glinda zips about on a neon pink scooter and has a wand that looks more akin to a fifties remote control.

It’s constantly eye-catching and never anything less than showy. Sure, there’s the occasional sense that much of it is style over substance, and the overall shallowness of Oz’s story and paper thin characters rings louder than ever in an age of Wickeds and Hamiltons, but go in expecting essentially a rich, lavish pantomime with a smattering of all-time great tunes and you won’t be disappointed.

Now let’s get back to that Wicked Witch. The biggest kudos must go to The Vivienne for not autopiloting to your standard Margaret Hamilton send-up. Instead, she opts for initially a much drier, sardonic take on the iconic villainess, lending a sneering, derisory tone that eventually gives way to the cackling and histrionics we all know and love. It’s a confident, fabulous turn that the talented queen absolutely devours, including, as mentioned, a sultry, sexy edge to this wicked witch that rounds her out into an altogether more interesting love-to-hate villain.

But she’s far from the only cast member doing great work and, along with the bold design choices, helps to elevate the piece considerably. Aviva Tulley is a perfect Dorothy, and given that she inherits one of the defining songs of the musical genre, delivers a faultlessly beautiful, crystalline sharp version of it. Musical veteran Alex Bourne doesn’t get a tremendous amount to do as either The Wizard or his IRL counterpart, Professor Marvel (I hope someone checked that one with Disney…), but what he does get he is characteristically fun and solid. Likewise for David Burrows, who pops and amuses in a number of bit parts. 

“It’s perhaps this production’s friends of Dorothy (and yes, it does get in a joke about that particular label…) who most frequently threaten to steal the show…”

It’s perhaps this production’s friends of Dorothy (and yes, it does get in a joke about that particular label…) who most frequently threaten to steal the show. Femi Akinfolarin cuts the moves and injects his Tin Man with all the heart he needs, whilst Nic Greenshields is both in mighty fine voice and regularly hilarious as the Cowardly Lion. But its an exuberant, elastic and malleable Benjamin Yates who impresses most, at times almost literally leaping off of the stage and showcasing incredible physical comedy chops throughout as the absent-minded, occasionally camp and ultimately loveable Scarecrow.

In all, audiences will likely go into The Wizard of Oz knowing exactly what to expect, and will be offered that… and a splash more. Foster’s direction, Richmond’s flashy design work and Shay Barclay’s big (if occasionally overly-busy choreography) transform the favourites into bonafide show stopping crowd pleasers, and a game, joyful cast – including some impressive drag royalty – lift the lower ebbs of Oz out of its doldrums and raise it, like a hurricane, to a place of wholesome, family-friendly entertainment on a scope and scale of which will likely have you clicking your heels to go back and absorb it all over again.