REVIEW: Wizard of Oz, Blackpool Opera House - it will leave you spellbound!

With no difficulty whatsoever, producers Selladoor Family have brought to life the well-known story, in their own beautifully crafted way.

It’s such a colourful production, most definitely a musical, but with a slight hint of pantomime thrown in to grab that festive feel.

The vast stage of the Winter Gardens Opera House is transformed for the seasonal spectacular, with clever use of stunning scenery which takes the story on the familiar journey from the dusty cornfields of Kansas to the Emerald Land of Oz.

Making her musical theatre debut in the leading role is Holly Tandy, who gives a sterling and flawless performance as Dorothy. In the opening scenes she bursts into song with a goose-bumping rendition of Over the Rainbow, given with enough depth and feeling to stir the emotions.

The gripping scene of the tornado, which whisks Dorothy to the Land of Oz, is created with clever use of strobe lights, extremely loud claps of thunder and lighting effects. Much thought has gone into a scene which would be tricky to bring to life on stage, but convincingly does so.

Glinda the good witch, played beautifully by Charlotte Scott, who also doubles up as Aunt Em, graces the stage to meet Dorothy and the ever-so-cute Munchkins from up in the rafters, harnessed in a glittering gold sphere.

Sarah Tullamore plays a blinding role as the Wicked Witch of the West, her cackles are brilliant, she’s grizzly and evil but the actress embraces the role with a couple of lighter lines, which is a favourite for a family show.

Kieran McGinn stars in his role as the floppy and loyal Scarecrow alongside a superb performance from former Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher as the jittery Tin Man. Radio Wave’s Scott Gallagher, convincingly plays the lovable Cowardly Lion, complete with the lion ‘voice’ you would expect from the Wizard of Oz.

You can’t help but love the three characters, they are played with such warmth and humour and draw the audience in throughout the near three hour performance.

Firm favourites for the audience though were the two delightful dogs, Teddy and Pascha, who playToto - they were gorgeous and so well trained!

All the magic is there with the help of puffs of smoke, pyrotechnics and lighting which had my 11-year-old questioning ‘how did they do that?’ Only one draw back was the amplified voice of the Wizard which was so loud and purposely broken-up it was tricky to work out what was being said.

Interspersed with all the musical favourites, We’re Off to See the Wizard, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead and If I Only Had a Brain, it really is a show to catch before it finishes on December 30.

It’s a perfect in-between taster from panto to theatre and it is clear the whole team and the actors have worked extremely hard to make it one to remember. It will leave you spellbound throughout.