Jonathan Cullen, Saphire Demitro, Julia Pulo, Dan Chameroy, and Eddie Glen in “The Wizard of Oz” Photo by Dahlia Katz
I was pretty bummed that the Ross Petty pantomime was closing up shop just as I was properly discovering it. For years I quietly scoffed at those cheesy posters on the TTC. Then I saw my first back in 2019 and fell pretty hard for it. Caught only two more before they called it quits and have been lamenting the end of an era I barely experienced. The loss to the city must have sat heavy with Canadian Stage too, for they have picked up the baton and are now gracing us with The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical at the Winter Garden Theatre this season.
In this zany re-imagining, Dorothy (Julia Pulo) is an eager yet conflicted high school grad who has a big decision to make: explore other horizons or get settled in Guelph, on the family eggplant farm. Popularized by the lewdly suggestive emoji, eggplants are the first of many risqué adult references here designed to fly over kids heads without shattering this romp’s family friendly facade. Just as she connects with her beloved stuffed-doggy Toto and innuendo-spewing, perennial panto fav, Plumbum (Dan Chameroy), the three are whisked away by a tornado…
And dropped right in the downtown core of the land of TorOzto, where Dorothy inherits a pair of glittering ruby Blundstones from a recently crushed witch. Their adventure begins and we are bombarded with puns—as per the formula, familiar streets, brands and shops are Oz-ified (Ozzington, Zo Frills, Shozzers Drug Mart…) It’s too overwhelming to even cringe at, you’re better off yielding to the garish tidal wave.
Cameron Fraser’s colourful projected backdrops are goofy yet persuasive (a hot pink farmhouse, an emerald CN Tower!), filling in the vast empty space—framed here as a comic book panel by set designer Michael Gianfrancesco’s use of Ben-Day dot-laden wing flats. Minimal scenic elements are pushed on and off to help ground each environment, but it’s the actors’ buoyant energy that really sells it.
Ever the stalwart campy sidekick, Chameroy’s Plumbum always tickles me. Her bawdy asides, her kvetching, the insinuations of a wildly spicy life just beyond the fringes of the story—I love her whole deal. Her pep talk rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is also my favourite number. Pulo’s Dorothy is a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed lead. Her sincere cover of Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” is a sufficiently stirring, emotive moment in the show. Vanessa Sears enthusiastically embraces the brash, self-aware mugging of panto villainy. Her Wicked Witch of the West-End, Nastina, is a fashion-conscious failed politician, sporting one of Ming Wong’s most extravagant costumes—a glam rock business suit and magic steel briefcase.
With the help of the Tin Man (Jonathan Cullen), Lion (Saphire Demitro) and Scarecrow (panto-regular Eddie Glen)—all with ties to Nastina’s failed bid to be Wizard of TorOzto and subsequently cursed by her—Dorothy must prevent Nastina from usurping the current Wizard (insert cameo from a prominent Torontonian). After a lot of shenanigans that riff on the classic story—teeming with topical nods at Doug Ford, Pierre Poilievre and the postal strike—all the ominous foreshadowing about Dorothy’s ties to TorOzto are payed off with a surprising family reunion—“there’s no place like home.”
Matt Murray’s script is light on plot and characterization to make room for pop culture references, persistent buffoonery and to keep the whole jaunty affair moving playfully along at a brisk clip. Honing the broad comedy and hokum, director Ted Dykstra maintains the easily trackable antics, colourful spectacle and solid momentum that will keep us all—especially kids—fully engaged for two acts.
The usual on-stage inclusion of children from the audience to help our trapped heroes at the top of the second act seemed a little clunkier than in shows past. This element, though, greatly relies on whatever energy and enthusiasm the kids can offer up on the spot. Not everybody is ready to be on stage in front of hundreds of strangers, y’know? So the gimmick doesn’t always yield the most entertaining results.
This satisfies in all the ways I needed it too. Canadian Stage has honoured the tradition admirably and my heart is glad for it.
The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical
running December 6, 2024 to January 5, 2025
Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre (189 Yonge St.)
running time: 2 hours (including intermission)
Julia Pulo and Dan Chameroy in “The Wizard of Oz”, Photo by Dahlia Katz