Following its summer engagement at the London Palladium, 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—will embark on a U.K. tour.
The touring production will open with a holiday season at the Liverpool Empire beginning December 13 with additional dates to be announced. For more information visit WizardofOzmusical.com.
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. Casting for the new production will be announced at a later date.
The upcoming 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.