Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Dorothy and The Wizard Of Oz
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Rachel Tucker “The Wizard And I”
Jun 21st
Rachel Tucker (a former Nancy contender from I’d do Anything) is currently starring as Elphaba the wicked witch in Wicked The Musical, which is a prequel to The Wizard of OZ.
Here’s Rachel Tucker singing “The Wizard and I” at the “West End Live 2010″ festival in London’s Leicester Square last weekend:
Wow!
Rachel Tucker – The Wizard and I
And here’s the backstage interview conducted by Keith Martin of Leicester Square TV with Rachel Tucker of Wicked herself:
In the interview, Rachel Tucker describes how Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Loosely based on the Wizard of Oz Wicked has a kind of twist to it. It’s the story of how the good witch and the bad witch became enemies, so Dorothy has nothing really to do with it. It’s an amazing moral story highly relevant to anybody who has ever been bullied or discriminated against just for being different.
Wizard of Oz Sequel – Surrender Dorothy
Jun 15th
Drew Barrymore is set to direct the film “Surrender Dorothy,” which will be a “loose sequel” to the classic 1939 movie musical “The Wizard of Oz“.
Drew Barrymore
Barrymore has been developing the project for years, and at one point appeared set to play Dorothy’s great-great-granddaughter, who learns to use the ruby slippers’ power when the Wicked Witch unexpectedly returns to take over Oz and the earth. It’s unclear if Barrymore will still take the role or just direct.
Now “Surrender Dorothy” is just one out of five “Oz” films that have been reported as being in development recently, following the big box-office success of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
Possible films include “Oz the Great and Powerful,” a Disney project that would show how the Wizard came to Oz. There may also be a film version of “Wicked“, the musical prequel to Wizard of Oz. Wicked the musical has been fabulously successful on Broadway and in the London West End.
When Danielle Hope is not Dorothy
May 23rd
If you are eagerly looking forward to seeing the newly emerged Wizard of Oz Dorothy, Danielle Hope, winner of Over the Rainbow it may be worth taking note of the following information when booking tickets for next year.
Danielle is not guaranteed to play the following performances of Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium on:
Tuesdays.
The winner’s annual holidays have also been reserved as:
Week commencing 2nd May 2011
Week commencing 5th September 2011
Week commencing 12th September 2011
Of course nothing can really be guaranteed and in the event of illness etc the part of Dorothy will be played by an understudy but if you want the best possible chance of seeing Danielle Hope in the role then avoid booking Wizard f of Oz tickets or theatre breaks for a Tuesday or those three weeks in May and September next year.
Danielle Hope
Final Performance – Winner Danielle Over The Rainbow
May 23rd
Danielle Hope winner of the part of Dorothy in the forthcoming Wizard of Oz musical in London triumphantly sings “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” for the last time on the TV casting show, but not for the last time by any means in her new career as a West End Star – Yes you are Danielle!!
Danielle Hope Fans
Sierra Boggess From Love Never Dies
May 18th
Sierra Boggess From Love Never Dies spent some time with the Dorothys last week giving advice and answering questions, specifically related to maintaining the stamina needed to fulfil the requirements of performing up to 8 times a week on the West End stage in London. She explained that the winning Dorothy who gets to perform in The Wizard Of Oz can expect not just a wonderful job but also a complete lifestyle as a leading lady. Sierra was impressed that the amount of working being put in by all at the Dorothy house was already a good preparation for the real thing.
On Sunday night’s Over The Rainbow, Sierra Boggess performed the title song from the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies
Sierra Boggess
Four Superstars, One Dorothy
May 16th
Four Dorothy contenders remain for just a few hours more, and then they will be reduced to three. All four girls who remain in the competition have star quality in many ways, each different, but only three can go through to the Over The Rainbow final next week with a chance to star in The Wizard of Oz in London’s West End starting in April 2011.
Danielle Hope
Danielle’s Performance on Saturday
Steph Fearon
Steph’s performance of Rule The World
Sophie Evans
Sophie’s Performance of Reflection
Lauren Samuels
Lauren’s performance of Heaven.
Dorothy Duets
Ins the first duet duel of the night, Sophie and Steph sang I’m Gonna Was That Man Right Out of My Hair, and then
Lauren and Danielle performed a duet version of Popular from the hit Oz musical, Wicked.
The Wizard Of Oz has been done before
May 14th
I thought it would be interesting to go back over something Andrew Lloyd Webber said about The Wizard of Oz and Over The Rainbow way back during one of the early audition sessions, in fact in Scotland. Andrew Lloyd Webber talked about Over The Rainbow and the Wizard Of Oz production as one of his most ambitious projects yet but said he wanted to steer clear of the classic 1939 movie.
He said:
This is the most difficult show I’ve had to cast. Joseph, Oliver and Maria all came from established theatre productions which are huge hits.
The Wizard Of Oz has been done before, but it’s never worked properly because they’ve tried to recreate the movie too closely.
I’m essentially writing a whole new musical with some of the greatest songs ever written and composing completely new music for it.
There’s at least half a dozen new songs.
So that’s a tantalising insight into what the forthcoming London production at The Palladium promisies. A new musical with half a dozen new songs, a fantastic Dorothy (no matter who wins) all based on but not recreating the original American story.
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