Casting is now complete for the new production of The Wizard of Oz—the musical based on the L. Frank Baum story as immortalized in the 1939 MGM film featuring music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg—that will play a limited season at the London Palladium beginning June 23. Opening night is July 6.
Georgina Onuorah, currently playing Ado Annie in the award-winning production of Oklahoma! at Wyndham’s Theatre, will star as the Oz-bound Dorothy. Onuorah also played the role when Wizard of Oz was seen the Curve, Leicester last year. Her other West End credits include Millennials and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella.
Onuorah joins the previously announced Jason Manford as The Cowardly Lion, Ashley Banjo as The Tin Man, Dianne Pilkington as The Wicked Witch of the West, Louis Gaunt as The Scarecrow, Christina Bianco as Glinda The Good Witch, and Gary Wilmot as The Wizard/Professor Marvel.
The cast is completed by the newly announced Ben Thompson as Toto plus ensemble members Annie Southall, Charlotte St. Croix, Claire O’Leary, Eamonn Cox, Emily Ann Potter, Geoff Aymer, Harrison Wilde, Jacqui Dubois, Jessica Daley, Jonathan Dryden Taylor, Lauren Stroud, Marley Fenton, Michael Lin, and Sam Stones.
Directed by Nikolai Foster, the production will feature the film score—including "Over the Rainbow," "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," and "We're Off to See the Wizard"—with additional songs penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Lloyd Webber's stage production of The Wizard of Oz previously played the Palladium in 2011 with a cast that included Danielle Hope as Dorothy and Michael Crawford as The Wizard.
The summer staging will also have choreography by Shay Barclay, set design by Colin Richmond, projection design by Douglas O’Connell, costume and puppet design by Rachael Canning, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Adam Fisher, creative consulting by Mark Kaufman, musical direction and supervision by George Dyer, casting by Kay Magson, props supervision by Marcus Hall Props, and wigs, hair, and makeup design by Elizabeth Marini.
Michael Harrison (newly partnered with Lloyd Webber), Gavin Kalin with David Mirvish, Crossroads Live, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Rupert Gavin and Mallory Factor, by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Limited, present the Curve production of The Wizard of Oz.
Following the Palladium engagement, the production will tour the U.K.
Visit WizardofOzMusical.com.
