Additional principal casting has been announced for the new production of The Wizard of Oz鈥攖he 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鈥攖hat will play a limited season at the London Palladium beginning June 23. Opening night is July 6.
Dianne Pilkington (Wicked, Young Frankenstein), Louis Gaunt (Mary Poppins), and Christina Bianco (Forbidden Broadway, Funny Girl) will star as, respectively, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Scarecrow, and Glinda The Good Witch.
These artists join the previously reported Jason Manford as the Cowardly Lion, Ashley Banjo as the Tin Man, and Gary Wilmot as The Wizard. Additional casting will be announced.
Directed by Nikolai Foster, the production will feature the film score鈥攊ncluding "Over the Rainbow," "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," and "We're Off to See the Wizard"鈥攚ith 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鈥機onnell, 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.
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See Christina Bianco in Funny Girl at Th茅芒tre Marigny:
