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By Aliss Higham
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Hundreds of theatergoers in the UK walked out of a Wizard of Oz performance this week, claiming it was "atrocious" and falsely advertised.
A December 23 performance of "Wicked Wizard of Oz—A Cirque Spectacular"—billed as being "breathtaking"—at the AO Arena in the northern English city of Manchester has drawn sharp criticism from viewers who were expecting a Cirque du Soleil style performance.
'Speechless'
Michelle Radford told the local news outlet Manchester Evening News: "It was atrocious. I have never seen anything so bad in my life. We presumed it would be themed around the Wizard of Oz, we were wrong. We thought it would be like Cirque du Soleil, it was presented as a fantastic show. I am speechless for how bad it was."
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"I'm asking for a refund, but I haven't had a response yet. It was an absolute shambles. The munchkins were on stilts. The wicked witch was on a bike on top of a golf buggy—in the trailer she was flying around. It was unbelievable."
According to reports, hundreds of watchers left throughout the performance, lamenting the "cheap and tacky" production.
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Tracie Ross, a theater producer from the nearby town of Bolton, said: "I support local theater and have been going to the theater all my life. It started and there was no 'welcome to the show', no opening number, it was two men picking up a load of boxes on the stage and balancing them. It just didn't hit. The dancers' costumes looked cheap and tacky. During the tornado, they came into the crowd and were shooting the crowd with water guns. After 15 minutes I left."
Liam Hopkins, another attendee, said: "Like many people, my expectations were shaped by how the show was marketed, particularly the implication that it would be in the style of Cirque du Soleil. When something is sold that way, you expect to be blown away in a good sense, not sitting there with your head in your hands wondering what you’re watching. What we saw didn’t really align with that promise."
The reaction has been so bad that disappointed resellers even started a Facebook group about the show, which has been performed in several British cities. One person who attended a show said they successfully issued a chargeback on their credit card "on the basis that the show was miss-sold as significantly not as advertised and had inappropriate content for children."
'Talented Cast'
A spokesperson for The World's Biggest Productions, who produced the show, said: "Wicked Wizard Of Oz opened in Blackpool to a fantastic response in October.
"The promotional videos advertising the show featured the acts that appeared in the performance in Manchester either taken during our workshop rehearsals or at live performances in Blackpool.
"The show title ‘Wicked Wizard of Oz’ has a smaller typeface descriptor 'cirque spectacular' and ‘panto meets cirque’ which reasonably identified that circus elements would be included in a panto-style show. Six of our talented circus cast won silver medals at this year’s European circus festivals.
"It was never suggested this was a Cirque du Soleil production and their forthcoming UK tour has tickets from £66-£372 [$90-$500] and when compared to our prices of £29-£70 it would be unrealistic to expect similar production values as Soleil.
"Our show, like all pantomimes, contains some jokes in the pantomime tradition of being silly. Over 150,000 people attend our shows annually and if maybe 0.1% do not appreciate one joke in the show, it feels rather unbalanced reporting against the mass who enjoy a form of humor that has survived 200 years."
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