They have supplied footage of the audience clapping
Wicked Wizard Of Oz A Cirque Spectacular at Connexin Live
The producer behind a critically-panned pantomime production has spoken out in its defence. Wicked Wizard Of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular has been touring the country and showed at Connexin Live in Hull on December 19 and 20.
World’s Biggest Productions, the production company behind the show, billed it as a “brand-new, breath-taking Cirque staging” of the classic story of Dorothy and Toto’s adventures in Oz. Unfortunately, it has been plagued by bad reviews.
Journalist Katherine Hollisey-McClean, reviewing the show’s Brighton run for Sussex World, said she wanted to leave after just 15 minutes. The show also proved to be controversial in Manchester.
One panto-goer wrote to Hull Live, complaining it was an “awful production” and a “sad waste of money for families”. They claimed they had not seen the reviews online before attending and were taken aback by jokes “not appropriate for kids”.
The Hull panto-goer claimed “half the audience left in the interval”. However, when Hull Live brought the complaint to the team behind the production, they supplied a video of applause for the performers, which can be viewed above.
Producer Jon Conway said: “When any show entertains a large audience of 5,000 people as we did in Hull, there may always be a few customers who do not like some content or style of a production. Wicked Wizard of Oz received a great audience reaction at its recent visit to Connexin Live, as this recorded footage of the finale demonstrates.”
A public Facebook group, ‘The Woeful Wizard of Oz’, was created by disgruntled customers after the show was first staged at the Brighton Centre. People who have seen the show in other venues, including Connexin Live in Hull, have also been venting.
Gemma Cross said: “We’ve also just had the displeasure of seeing this monstrosity of a show in Hull today. It was quite possibly one of the worst things I have ever seen.
“I have issued a formal complaint to producer tix who I bought the tickets from. It’s diabolical how this show has been so misrepresented and falsely advertised. Has anyone else requested a refund?”
Carl Barker said: “We all know it doesn’t get better with performances, awful script, technical issues galore and a lion which is dressed in a cheap tiger outfit tells you how much money and effort went into this production. We was in the centre of the row, so out of respect for others patiently with gritted teeth waited until the interval to move and escape this dreadful show.”
Anne Michelle Garlick said: “I went to this show last night in Hull and wanted to let you all know it was just as bad!” She claimed she “left at the interval, along with droves of others.”