Over The Rainbow – The Wizard Of Oz – London Musical
Posts tagged west end
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.
The Wizard of Oz – in Cardiff
Jun 1st
The Wizard of Oz is such a classic musical for any theatre company to put on that is stands to reason there will be a production of some sort current at almost any time of year.
From June 1st Wales’ leading amateur theatre company, Orbit, celebrates its 41st year with the opening night of a week-long run of its own version of The Wizard of Oz at the New Theatre in Cardiff.
Dorothy is sung by Nicola Caldwell and the Wales Online reporter Dave Owens spoke to her about the role:
Nicola Caldwell:
I’m 22 years old, I come from Penarth and I’ve just qualified from university as a primary school teacher.
Probably the biggest role I’ve done is Les Miserables in London’s West End for the 20th anniversary, which was fantastic. They chose 3,000 kids under 18 to apply, I was 17 at the time, and had done a school edition of the show. Out of the 3,000 who auditioned and sent tapes off, 35 got in. And I was one of the lucky ones!It’s every little girl’s dream, to play Dorothy, isn’t it, to wear the red ruby slippers and sing Over The Rainbow? It’s such an honour. It’s the archetypal dream role.
On the runner-up, Welsh girl Sophie Evans, and the winner, Danielle Hope?
Nicola:
Actually I liked the girl who finished third, Lauren Samuels. She was my favourite. She was really bubbly and very magnanimous and gracious when she went out.
The Wizard of Oz is showing at the New Theatre in Cardiff from 1st 5th June
Wizard of Oz – Orbit Theatre Company
By L. FRANK BAUM
With Music and Lyrics of the MGM motion picture score
by HAROLD ARLEN and E.Y. HARBURG
Background Music by HERBERT STOTHART
Book Adaptation by JOHN KANE from the motion picture screenplay
Tuesday 1st to Saturday 5th June 2010
New Theatre
Park Place
Cardiff
Book Online via The New Theatre, Cardiff
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.
Over The Rainbow Contestants
Apr 2nd
I thought it was about time we had a rundown of the Over The Rainbow contestants who were reduced from 20 girls down to 10 last Weekend. They were split into 5 groups of 4 and each allocated a West End Leading Lady to help prepare a song from one of the current London shows. The groups each sang a pop song and then met with some of our favourite West End leading ladies to work on a show song. Here are some of the notes and opinion from Linda over at London Theatre Breaks.
Tamzin Outhwaite – Sweet Charity
If They Could See Me Now – some of the group worked really well. I think Dorothy might be in this group.
Andrew Lloyd Webber made Tamzin blush by saying how fabulous he thought she was in Sweet Charity.
Sheridan Smith – Legally Blonde
Good group but a bit static in their show song.
Kerry Ellis – We Will Rock You
Kerry Ellis is famous for being a popular witch Wicked and is going to replace Jodie Prenger in Oliver! soon.
Her group didn’t do very well. Found the rock number tricky.
Ruthie Henshall – Chicago
They sang All That Jazz and made quite a success of it. Her group were probably the best dancers.
Mel C – Blood Brothers
Told her group to keep their song ‘small’, they did and it was OK. One of them forgot what the song was about and kept grinning, not good.
The final 10 +1
The format is that the judges picked their 10 with the ‘help’ of ALW and then the other 10 sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow so the public could decide who they wanted to bring back.
So, the final 10 Dorothy Contestants from Over The Rainbow are as follows
Danielle Hope, 17, from Manchester
I quite like Danielle. I think she’ll do well but I’m not sure she’s right for Dorothy.
Jenny Douglas, 18, from Scotland
Not bad at all, she stood out in what was not that strong a group. I’m not sure what her dancing is like and we’re told they need a Dorothy that can dance as well as sing.
Lauren Samuels, 22, from London
Again, lovely and talented but not maybe not Dorothy. I might be wrong and I would like to see more of her.
Bronte Barbe, 18, from Cheshire
She’s definitely got some sort of charisma, nice voice but I’m just not sure. Need to see more of her.
Sophie Evans, 17, from Wales
As Andy said “She’s Welsh, of course she can sing” and I think she can act a bit too. I’m not sure about the dancing though…
Stephanie Davis, 17, from Merseyside
Very pretty, she’d make a charming Dorothy. I’d like to see more of her acting though.
Amy Diamond, 22, from Cheshire
Oh dear. I’m sure she’s got a great voice and is talented but er, she’s too grown up to be Dorothy. She’s a woman and she will have to be an amazing actress to make me believe she is a child.
Jessica Robinson, 18, from Middlesborough
Great face, something of the Liza Minnelli there. Little bit gawky and awkward in the pop song but she was totally at home in her show tune. She could be Dorothy.
Steph Fearon, 21, from London
Good voice, tended to be a little bit too R&B sometimes. She’s a possible I think.
Dani Rayner, 16, from Cheshire
Youngest in the competition Dani really could be Dorothy. AWL likes her, she’s got a great voice and she seems to be a good actress. I was impressed.
Over The Rainbow – The Search for Dorothy Continues
The competition continues over Easter with knockout editions of Over The Rainbow on Saturday and Easter Sunday.
Over The Rainbow Auditions for Wizard Of Oz Dorothy
Nov 26th
Over The Rainbow Auditions
Do you think you could be Andrew Lloyd Webber’s next leading lady? Would you give anything to become Dorothy in the new London West End production of The Wizard of Oz?
Follow in the footsteps of previous winners Connie Fisher, Lee Mead and Jodie Prenger by applying to be part of a TV show challenge to find Dorothy, this one called “Over The Rainbow” beginning in 2010.
Dorothy Wanted for Over The Rainbow
The BBC has just opened applications for their newest reality TV show ‘Over The Rainbow’ , to be judged by a team including Andrew Lloyd Webber and the voting public. Auditions are open to everyone, no matter how much or how little experience you have and nationwide auditions for Dorothy begin in January 2010. All applicants must have been aged 16 or over by 26 June 2009.
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