The full London cast album recording of The Wizard Of Oz is to be released on 2nd May 2011 on Polydor Records in association with Really Useful Group. The 24 track set includes all the much-loved songs from the Oscar-winning movie score by Harold Arlen and E Y Harburg plus new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The Wizard Of Oz cast recording features the full London cast of performers including the multi-award winning Michael Crawford and Danielle Hope, the winner of the BBC One hit TV show Over The Rainbow. The superb supporting cast comprises of Edward Baker-Duly (Tin Man), David Ganly (Cowardly Lion), Paul Keating (Scarecrow), Emily Tierney (Glinda) and Hannah Waddingham (Wicked Witch Of the West) accompanied by a 36 strong ensemble.

Here’s the track listing from the show:

Tracklisting

ACT ONE

1. Overture
2. Nobody Understands Me
3. Over The Rainbow
4. Wonders Of The World
5. The Twister
6. Arrival In Munchkinland
7. Munchkinland / Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead
8. Follow The Yellow Brick Road
9. If I Only Had A Brain / We’re Off To See The Wizard
10. If I Only Had A Heart / We’re Off To See The Wizard
11. If I Only Had The Nerve / We’re Off To See The Wizard
12. We’re Outta The Woods
13. The Merry Old Land Of Oz
14. Bring Me The Broomstick

ACT TWO

15. Haunted Forest
16. Red Shoe Blues
17. Bacchanalia
18. Red Shoe Blues (Reprise)
19. Over The Rainbow (Reprise)
20. If We Only Had A Plan
21. The Rescue
22. Hail Hail! The Witch is Dead
23. The Wizards Departure
24. Finale

Read more: http://theatrebreaks.co/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz#The_New_Wizard_of_Oz_London_Cast_Recording#ixzz1IeYsvze4

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One of the new songs written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for the new musical Wizard of Oz in London.

I want her shoeless.

London Palladium 1910- 2010 100 years of great entertainment

Danielle Hope was there of course, and spoke about her forthcoming part in the history of the London Palladium as Dorothy, leading role in The Wizard of Oz:

“Hello! and happy 100th birthday to the London Palladium. What an amazing afternoon. A wonderful group of people and such a great place to celebrate, I’m so proud  that I can be a part of it. There has been such tremendous history here, so far, and hopefully I shall make some more, all good I hope. So have a look at the cake, and Happy Birthday Palladium, cheers”

Following the excitement of BBC TV’s smash hit Over the Rainbow, we are delighted to announce a special gala performance of the family musical, The Wizard of Oz, coming to the London Palladium on Tuesday 15th of February 2011.

This enchanting adaptation of the much-loved classic has been completely reconceived for the stage by the award-winning creative team behind the recent revival of the Sound of Music. The new production contains all of your favourite songs from the Oscar winning movie score, all the characters and iconic moments, plus a few surprises along the way, including breathtaking scenery and a revolving stage, and some new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

Spectators will get a chance to see Danielle Hope, the winner of Over the Rainbow who captured the hearts of the country, playing the role of Dorothy. Danielle will also be joined by Michael Crawford as the Wizard. Crawford is internationally renowned for originating the title role in The Phantom of the Opera and loved by millions for his role in the classic British sitcom, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.

via We’re off to see the Wizard of Oz Charity Gala… and Michael Crawford is the Wizard! « Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

Theatres for Theatres is an exciting three-year initiative to raise £4 million to make a dramatic difference to the lives of our young patients requiring specialist brain surgery. The initiative will help to fund two new state-of-the-art operating theatres to be used by the Neurosciences team. The theatres will be used to treat children with complex and often life-threatening neurological and craniofacial conditions.

Theatres for Theatres will create world-class facilities which could allow treatment of up to 20 per cent more children in the next ten years.

“I’m looking forward to working with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the first time and Michael Crawford who is playing the wizard. The London Palladium feels like my second home. The Wizard of Oz will be my third performance here and I have a contract until early 2012.”

Carrie Sutton is currently in Sister Act and has been working with Sheila Hancock and Whoopi Goldberg at The London Palladium, the exact same theatre where The Wizard of Oz will open in 2011. She has also been in Cabaret, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Imagine This.

Carrie has done a lot of chorus work and understudying lead roles so far in her career but what will be her role in The Wizard of Oz? If Hannah Waddigham is confirmed as the WIcked Witch then would probably leave Carrie the role of Glinda, the Good Witch.

Carrie Sutton is in Sister Act at the London Palladium

“I’ve been fortunate working with Andrew before so I thought there was no harm in trying again. We’re all very excited about the show”

Michael Crawford – Wizard of Oz

Michael Crawford has a long association with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s productions, having created the role of the Phantom in The Phantom Of The Opera, the most successful musical ever. He’s also well known to older readers as Frank Spencer from last century’s hit TV sit-com “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em”. Michael Crawford also originated the role of Count Fosco in ALW’s “The Woman in White”.

The Wizard is perhaps a minor male role in the film version of The Wizard of Oz alongside those of the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow when compared with the leading role of Dorothy which will of course be occupied by our own Danielle Hope and once a week by Sophie Evans. In the the London stage musical version of The Wizard of Oz however, it will have to be seen how much the role of the Wizard is adapted to make the most of Michael Crawford’s considerable talents.

I’ll play one of the hopefully supportive and important sidekicks, who is also important to the story. I think that there are six roles all on the side of being equal in terms of performance – the two Witches, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and of course the Wizard. They’re all important characters to support the story

On the story:

It’s a slightly different interpretation of the story and we are sort of developing our own character of the Wizard. He’s quite a craft character. He was played by Frank Morgan very successfully in the film so I’ve got a lot to live up to. I start rehearsals in December when I’ll find out what I look like with the make-up and the costumes. It’s not like a film, where you’ve got time to change, so you’ve got to use a little more imagination so that characters can evolve from one to another very quickly and so deceive the audience.

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has returned to L Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as source material and inspiration for his new interpretation, and the music features Harold Arlen’s original score from the film, including Over The Rainbow and Follow the Yellow Brick Road, plus several new songs composed together with Sir Tim Rice, the old winning partnership.

I’ve seen some lyrics that Tim has written for me and they are so complementary to Harold Arlen’s stuff and inkeeping with the piece that they don’t stand out as being from a different period

said Michael Crawford.

Here’s the classic Michael Crawford in his award winning role as the Phantom of The Opera with Sarah Brightman

Michael Ball will be hosting an exclusive interview with Webber about Love Never Dies as well as his production of The Wizard of Oz.

Ramin Karimloo accompanying ALW, plays the role of The Phantom in the Adelphi Theatre production of Love  Never Dies.

The episode can be seen live on ITV1 on Friday September 10th at 3pm in the afternoon, or later on the ITV Player at : http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=the%20michael%20ball%20show
Michael Ball and Andrew Lloyd Webber have worked together many time in the past, for example when Michael played Raoul in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, and Alex in Aspects of Love at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London and on Broadway.

Michael Ball DVDs

In a BBC interview, Tim Rice revealed that he would “likely” collaborate with Lloyd Webber on new songs he is writing for the production. The Rice and Webber team has previously produced ‘Evita’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, and ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ amongst others

‘The WIzard of Oz ’ will debut at the London Palladium in early 2011

So whilst Over the Rainbow could well have signalled the end of the partnership between Andrew Lloyd Webber and the BBC, the resulting production of The Wizard of Oz is likely to mark the start of a renewed collaboration between the composer and lyricist Tim Rice. Rice and Lloyd Webber had big hits in the 1960s and 1970s with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. In a recent BBC Radio 2 interview, Rice said the pair are likely to reunite for The Wizard of Oz, for which Lloyd Webber is writing four new songs. The production starts performances at the London Palladium on 7 February 2011.

Andrew Lloyd Webber with Tim Rice

One of the recent missions was about maintaining the Kansas accent and here you can see each of four contestants in a scene from Wizard of Oz that allows us to really evaluate their abilities as actors.

Now Andrew Lloyd Webber seemed to be bowled over by Danielle, so we get a clue here perhaps as to who he would like to see the public vote for tonight, but he also praises Lauren’s professionalism and wonders if she can pull out just a little bit more from inside her own emotion for us. Personally, I found the Danielle performance just a tad drawn out and over done, but there’s no doubt she would make a smashing Dorothy, as would any of them really.

Over the rainbow – Mission

After watching them each have a go at the real acting, who do you think comes out of this mission in the best position for tonight’s vote?