This 3-hour production is a joint venture between Stray Cats Theatre Company and the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. It is wonderful to see a local shire giving the children of the town a chance to see live theatre.

The musical came to Mandurah on the wettest and wildest weekend in years. After a wonderful first night, the Saturday matinee suffered a power failure – twenty minutes from the end. Five hours later the power had still not been restored, and most of Mandurah’s houses and streets were in pitch darkness. However, having seen ’Mary Poppins’ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ the audience was not going to be put off, the crowds still turned up, and the Arts Centre was packed. The cast gathered in the gloom and, unaccompanied, sang their hearts out, giving their loyal audience a few numbers from the show. I had made a 120 kms return journey to see the show, and it was this singing that decided me to return a further 120 kms next morning, for the full show – well worth it.

It was decided to cancel the performance and have an extra at 10.00 the next morning. The three-hour performance went flawlessly, finishing at 1.00 leaving only an hour before this energy packed show hit the stage again.

The proscenium arch and the railings around the orchestra pit were covered in gold painted bicycle wheels of varying sizes. On the ceiling of the theatre, a massive dragon flapped its wings as smoke belched forth. A map of Munchkin Land (Alan White) is projected onto the safety curtain.

       The citizens of Oz are in the streets, celebrating the death of the uncaring, Elphaba (Kimberley Harris), when, from the sky, a bubble descends carrying the much-loved, blonde, giggling Galinda (Lisa Taylor) who just loves to tell everyone how good she is. Even the monkeys (Hayley Pilcher, Terina Henry, Tracy Harrington) are excited, as they do their aerial tricks.

       Glinda tells the Ozians how Elphaba’s mother (Malia Bennett) gave birth to a green-skinned baby. Her father, the Governor of Munchkinland (Scott Hansen) loathed her and gave all of his affection to her disabled sister, Nessarose (Cassandra Power). The girls are sent to Shiz University where the nasty Principal, Madame Morrible (Alyssa Burton) rules with a stern hand and a little sorcery.

       Elphaba’s favourite lecturer is the history teacher, Dr. Dillamond (Erik Bunch), a goat-like animal professor who is discriminated against and sacked by Madame Morrible. When the unscrupulous Prince, Fiyero (Joshua Towns) arrives, Galinda is immediately in love with him. Unfortunately, when a poor Munchkin Boq (Braeden Geuer) declares his love for Galinda, she suggests that he should love Nessarose instead. Boq ends up guiding Nessarose’s wheelchair (creators Jo Bickford, Peter Sydney-Smith) whilst still yearning after Galinda.

       Having no friends, Elphaba is taught by Galinda how to attract men, and Fiyero then shows interest. The two help rescue and free a caged lion cub. Soon, the famous Wizard (Peter Sydney-Smith) asks Elphaba to visit him at the Emerald City. Madame Morrible, who now works as the Wizard’s Press Secretary, gives Elphaba the ‘Grimmerie’ – a priceless spell book.

       When the Wizard’s acrobatic, monkey servant, Chistery (Bailey Bridge-man-Peters) sprouts wings, Elphaba realises it is the Wizard who has been cruelly controlling the Animals’ freedom. Not only that, the Wizard cannot read the special codes in the Grimmerie, he is in fact a fraud. Elphaba, now known as ‘The Wicked Witch of the West’ grabs a broomstick and flies off to sanity (Mechanical crew Stephen Carr, Jamie Murray). Meanwhile, ‘Glinda the Good’ starts working for the Wizard and Morrible, against Elphaba.

     On hearing Elphaba is to be ‘melted down’, Fiyero ignores Glinda’s approaches and goes to Elphaba’s rescue. On the death of her father, Nessarose becomes the Governor of Munchkinland, but still she cannot capture Boq’s heart. Elphaba tries to help Nessarose by giving her sister special, magical shoes and the power to walk. When Boq still shows no interest, Nessarose tries the Book of Spells, accidentally shrinking Boq’s heart; he turns into the ‘Tin Man’.

       Whom will Fiyero finally fall in love with? Will Elphaba remain cursed?

Other major players included Malia Bennett, Matthew Walford, Elizabeth Willow, Cat Perez, Corinna Gosby, Nicholas Gaynor and Jared Pettit.

The scenery crew, under the supervision of head builder, David Hartly, produced lively, intricate and amazing pieces. The quality of every piece of scenery was top-class, from the crashed witch’s house to the massive talking head of the Wizard. There were the retractable wings on the monkeys (Peter Francis) and the magical Hour Glass (Paul Fieldwick). At no stage was there the impression of ‘that will have to do’, the finish was always immaculate – great work by Peter Francis, Duncan Anderson, Mal Thompson, Alan White, Wayne Gale, Daniel Corbishley, Steven Sallur, Vanessa Thompson, and Alex Paolino. There were also several impressive backdrops and sets designed by Bronwyn White. Sheryl Gale supplied the numerous props, such as spears and oil lamps.

The sound was magnificent, with a great soundscape from Peter Lovell. Ruby Liddelow flawlessly operated the dozens of dreaded microphone headsets, often famed for their unreliability.

Karen Francis’s complex lighting design was outstanding, completely capturing the mood. The bio-box operator, Clint Gerard was impeccable, and the two spotlight operators (Thea Clarke, Khaijun Pearce) were smooth and accurate, even on the narrowest of beams. Visually exciting work from the team.

Then comes the result of months of sewing. Head seamstress Cathy Wainwright had to design several changes of costumes for the cast, a total of more than 300 costumes. She was helped by Linda Lowry, Jordan Hopkins, Kerry Tarbuck, Rebeka Thomas, Rhiannon Thomas, Michelle Thompson, Bronwyn White, Erin Thomson, Geraldine Harris and Pat Francis. Again, all of the costumes were trimmed with extras, many actors wore hats and fancy tights; the result was a visual feast. Then in combination with the makeup team of Jodie Mars, Rhiannon Francis and Monique Kinnest, the characters of Madame Morrible, Dillamond, the monkeys and Chistery came alive. Superb work.

The director, Karen Francis, was the major driving force, being intensely involved in almost every aspect of the production; she gave the cast drive, enthusiasm and confidence. The vocal director was Kristie Gray, who luckily had several trained vocalists – a special mention for Kimberley and Lisa who were magnificent, strongly backed by Alyssa and Cassandra. Even Joshua, who has performed in numerous quality dramas, sang admirably in this his first major musical. The powerful backing singers, who were positioned in the orchestra pit, were Kristie Gray, Kim Moore, Daniel R. Nixon, Jason Arrow, Sean Williams, Andrew Coshan and Alexandra Cornish.

Choreographer, Megan Doohan bravely faced around 60 extras to train and direct, and yet each performer gave routines packed with every ounce of strength and enthusiasm. They smiled, danced, sang in perfect harmony.

Musical director and conductor, David Hicks, had at the end of his baton, on reed Jennifer Currenti, David Lawrence, Blake Howieson and Liam House. On Brass, Aishah Chadwick-Stumpf, Jack Sirett, Harry Josland and Ned Holland. On percussion and keyboard, Mark Beasy, Sam Bradbury, Bronwen Herholdt, Vanitha Hart, Brendan Talty and Sarah Palmer. On string Stuart Robertson, Darsha Kumar, Liza Kotze, Josh Dunne and William Christensen. The orchestra, playing first thing on Sunday morning after a late night on Saturday, were still impeccable. A three-hour show is a marathon for a musician, to have an hours rest and then another marathon, was mind boggling. well done.

Holding the whole show together were Production Managers Bronwyn White and Ashleigh Riley, aided by Anita Telkamp and Rach Hayter, and with a cast of over 70, this was no easy task. However, at the end of every scene, the packed stage would empty silently and without any pandemonium in a couple of seconds. I have seen shows where even two or three actors have struggled to leave the stage without crowding.

Kristie Hennessey took the cast’s headshots. Jon Lambert’s excellent 16-sided, full colour gloss programme was being sold for only $5 – too cheap. Some patrons were apprehensive of buying one, thinking that, like the Burswood, the price would be around $25.

This production was the ULTIMATE in community theatre, very many congratulations. I just hope it was entered for the Finleys Awards.

Breath-taking, amazing, spectacular with 400 giving a standing ovation – what more can one say?

Duncan Anderson, Wayne Gale, Peter Francis, Alan White, Daniel Corbishley built the spectacular sets, from sweet machines to a dunny – complete with massive, superbly painted backcloths (supervised by Bronwyn White). Sheryl Gale collected the numerous antique props required.
The stage managers, Corina Herbert, Rach Hayter and Angus Young had their exceptionally busy teams working efficiently, quickly and silently. Poor stage management would have meant the pace dropping off and a subsequent loss of the ‘magic’. The advanced and inventive lighting design was by Karen Francis, with the spotlights operated by Suzy Wiseman, Ruby Liddlelow, and Fiona Kennedy.

Under the supervision of their teacher, Miss Phillips (Kristie Hennessy), the eight-year-old twins, Jeremy (Sebastian Cruse) and Jemima Potts (Marissa Pereira) are looking around Mr Coggins’ (Jayden Lyon) garage backyard when they find the wreck of a British Grand Prix winner. As they play on it, the local scrap metal man (Oliver Clare) offers Mr Coggins 30/- for it. The children are sure that they can get either their widower father, an eccentric inventor and Naval Commander, Caractacus Potts (Jon Lambert) or their Grandpa Potts (Peter Sydney-Smith) to buy it and restore it.
Lurking in the background is a Laurel and Hardy-like couple of incompetent spies, Boris (Daniel R. Nixon) and Goran (Nicholas Gaynor). They have been sent to England to buy or steal this car, by their Bulgarian boss Baron Bomburst (Joshua Towns), and his miserable wife, Baroness Bomburst (Kim Moore).
However, the Potts family are poor and cannot afford the 30 shillings. A lady passes the group on her three-wheeled motor bike (thanks to Mandurah Scooters) and as it is out-of-tune, Professor Caractacus repairs it for her. The beautiful woman is Truly Scrumptious (Kristie Gray), who on hearing of Caractacus’ financial plight, suggests he should invent a new type of lolly to show Violet (Jo Bickford) and then sell the idea to the local sweet factory that belongs to her wealthy father, Lord Scrumptious (actor ?).
Eventually Caractacus raises the money from a local turkey farmer (Bailey Bridgman-Peters) and the family go to the beach in Chitty to celebrate, but fly much further. After a long flight in Chitty, the Potts family arrive in Bulgaria. When the Baroness, who hates children, hears of their arrival, she employs a Child Catcher (Scott Hansen) to kidnap Jeremy and Jemima. The Baron, who is still a child at heart, has special toys made for him by the royal Toymaker (Rory Ellis). This toymaker confides in Grandpa Potts that there are hundreds of children hiding in the sewers below the city. The children have Toby (Angus Thomson), Greta (Maren Gosby) and Susan (Nicole Cook) looking after them and fighting for their welfare.
Can the Potts family save the day? Is there romance in the air?

Under Musical director David Hicks, assisted by conductor, Vanitha Hart, the orchestra were obviously in their element with such well-known songs as ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, ‘Toot Sweets’ and ‘Truly Scrumptious’. With the help of Rhiannon Francis, the orchestra also created an exciting array of sound effects. The musicians were:- Woodwind players Bec Moroney, Luis Santos, Blake Howieson; Brass – Sascha Todhunter, Harry Josland, Ben Lim, Ned Holland; Double bass – Joshua Cusack; Percussion – Mark Beasy, Sam Bradbury and Keyboard – David Hicks and Mia Brine. The balance of the orchestra was perfect, without any individual instrument overpowering the others.
The dance sequences, choreographed by Ashleigh Riley and Megan Doohan, covered simple styles such as Grandpa Potts swaggering up and down as he sings ‘Posh’, through to the sedate Bulgarian Ball scene and the frenzied Rumba. In every routine the whole ensemble were perfectly in step. The footwork in ‘Me ‘Ol Bam-Boo’ and the arm movements for every song were complex and demanding, and yet I can honestly say that not a single person was out of step or daydreaming. Great work by the choreographers and the whole cast.
Vocal director Kristie Gray has a beautiful and powerful voice, but getting 60 raw recruits to perform well must have been a real challenge for her. The chorus performed magnificently. The Potts family and Truly were in perfect tune and pitch; the final song of the first Act was performed in Chitty as it rose up and tilted, and yet the singers still managed to belt out the number without a single nervous flicker. True professionalism.
The 20-sided, full colour, A4-sized programme, was only $5 and so the audience bought a few copies each for those proud relatives that could not make the show. Well done Kristie Hennessy, Jon Lambert, Rhiannon Francis and Jayden Lyon for the artistic creation.
With 60 performers on stage at a time, the costumiers (Gaynor Cook, Catherine O’Brien, Pat Francis, Kerry Tarbuck, Lisa Clubley, Lisa Hubbard, Karen Chivers, Linda Lowry, Cathy Wainwright, Michaelia Bertram-Hulme and Ashleigh Riley) certainly had their work cut out. The factory workers uniforms, the rumba skirts, the exotic ‘Me ‘Ol Bam-Boo’, the filthy street kids in the sewers, every scene had immaculate design and costume production. Not a single outfit was basic, the trimmings and creative thought was first class.
The car is obviously the centrepiece of the whole tale, and so it was essential that it should be special, stunning and of quality – poor Peter Sydney-Smith (Grandpa Potts) was given the task of designing and building the machine. This was not going to be a cheap project for the producers, but with the generous help of Mandurah Canvas, Battery World and Mandurah Auto Performance, all of the parts from the old-fashioned lamps to the Dickie Seat, the hydraulic hoses and the numerous trims, the car took shape. In the end the car could drive onto the stage, rise from the floor carrying four people, the tyres tilt at 90 degrees, spread its wings, tilt and tip at incredible angles. With the smoke effect under the chassis, the car was well above the clouds. The massive cheer from the audience showed their appreciation for all of the work.
A community show that could leave the professionals embarrassed. Absolute quality.
Do not miss this latest fantastic, magical, family fun show from multi-talented director Karen Francis.