Wranglers Children's Theatre Group, Performances until February 18.

A PROVERB says that travelling to a destination can be better than arriving there, and sometimes we do find our anticipation on the journey is the more enjoyable. That’s how I feel about this show.

Early on we are whisked away from their Texas farmhouse home with Dorothy and her dog Toto by a tornado that deposits us in the Land of Oz. Unfortunately the house has landed on the Wicked Witch of the East and killer her, and her sister the Wicked Witch of the West vows vengeance on Dorothy.

Then begins Dorothy’s struggle to get home, via the Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City, along with new friends Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. But before they reach their destination there’s another clash with the Wicked Witch.

There’s a lot more wicked witchery after the interval, but somehow the narrative seems to lose focus and the ending, which rather thumps home the moral of the tale, doesn’t have the impact of the earlier scenes. Blame the writers, not the show’s director and choreographer Wendy Holmes, who uses every stage trick in the book, and then some, to keep the magic going.

Nor is it the fault of musical director Gavin Martin, or the back stage workers with their filmed inserts, imaginative settings and costumes. And certainly not of the cast, who all make the most of their material.

That cast is led by Molly Phillips as Dorothy in an assured, multi-faceted, well sung performance. Her command of the stage provides a centre around which the rest of the players weave their individual talents. Especially entertaining are her idiosyncratic companions Scarecrow, Tin Man and cowardly Lion, characterised memorably by Tom Davis, Lewis Peek and Ben Davis.

Maddy Allsop cackles villainously as the Wicked Witch of the West, opposed by the glittering Anna Salisbury as Glinda. Homely Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are in the safe hands of Becky Cheetham and Josh Cook, and Ryan Wilce doubles as Professor Marvel and the Wizard, a fraud but a wise man, too. And there are hoards of Munchkins, Jitterbugs, Crows, Winged Monkeys and citizens.

I still think this is a show of two unequal halves, but this happy production almost convinced me otherwise.

eview by Bill Stone.