During the past month, more than 10,000 London theatre goers have been busy nominating their favourite productions. The shortlist was announced on Friday 2nd December today at the Cafe de Paris in London, and voting is now open for theatre fans to choose their winners at the Whatsonstage.com website. Voting closes on 31st January 2012, and the winners will be announced at a special ceremony on 19th February.

The Wizard of Oz’s four nominations are:

• Best Musical Revival – The Wizard of Oz
• London Newcomer of the Year – Danielle Hope
• Best Supporting Actress in a Musical – Hannah Waddingham
• Best Set Designer – Robert Jones

CLICK HERE to cast your vote!

Whatsonstage.com Awards – Theatregoers Choice Awards

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

Search Amazon for Wizard of Oz London

The Wizard of Oz London Palladium

A great photo of the Wizard of Oz sign outside the London Palladium taken by Fizikal Rex / Dave Bond used here with permission.

My mistake one show is Friday guys!!! Filming it today sorry

Danielle Hope is on The One Show on, Friday January 28th at 7.00pm. Danielle is of course in the middle of rehearsals playing Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical The Wizard of Oz, which starts previews in just over a week’s time now! The first Wizard of Oz performance should be at the London Palladium on 7th February 2011.

The One Show visits Danielle Hope with Toto in her dressing room at the London Palladium. The One Show is on on BBC1 at 7:00 pm

There’s a very strong rumour that Paul Keating has been cast as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. It’s leant total credibility by tweets from Paul Keating himself:

So Who is Paul Keating?

Well, Paul Keating has a distinguished stage career already.  He was Tommy in the West End production of Pete Townshend’s musical in 1996 gaining an Olivier award nomination.

Paul has also appeared in

* Lost in Yonkers (1992/3) at the Novello Theatre

* Assassins at the New End Theatre.

* Escape from Pterodactyl Island at the Pleasance Theatre

* La Cava (2000) at the Piccadilly Theatre and Victoria Palace Theatre .

* Closer to Heaven, a musical by the Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan Harvey, receiving a second Olivier award.

* The Rose and the Ring at the Hen and Chickens Theatre (2001/2)

* Full Monty at the Prince of Wales Theatre .

* Don Carlos by Frederick Schiller at The Crucible Theatre Sheffield and Gielgud Theatre, London.

* Gladiator Games by Tanika Gupta at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

* Little Shop of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory and  the Duke of York’s Theatre and Ambassadors Theatre.

* Blowing Whistles, alongside Stuart Laing and newcomer Daniel Finn.

* Tick… tick… BOOM!  at the Duchess Theatre.

Here’s a trailer video from the little Shop of Horrors in which Paul Keating starred opposite Sheridan Smith who is currently in Legally Blonde

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

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.

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.