Jason Manford’s brilliant response to The Wizard Of Oz ‘criticism’
Jason Manford has brilliantly responded to bizarre criticisms of The Wizard Of Oz in the West End.
The Curve Leicester production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical transfers this summer to the London Palladium for a limited season.
Jason Manford stars as The Cowardly Lion with Ashley Banjo as The Tin Man, Gary Wilmot in the title role of the Wizard, Georgina Onuorah as Dorothy, Dianne Pilkington as Wicked Witch of the West, Louis Gaunt as The Scarecrow and Christina Bianco and Glinda The Good Witch.
Taking to Twitter this weekend, Manford reacted to a Daily Mail headline claiming the hit show had faced a “backlash for going ‘woke'”.
Manford tweeted: “Such a giggle this morning reading this baloney 😂 took two people to write it as well! Always feels like you’re doing something right when you get this snappy headline in the Mail written about your show 😂 ”
“will look forward to the protestors at stage door 😂”
He added: “Also a) we haven’t, it’s just a lovely fun show based on the book/film for all the family and b) if anyone politicised the Wizard of Oz it was original writer L Frank Baum”, before directing followers to an article exploring political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Fans of the new production also rallied around the show’s cast, with one writing on the social media website: “What a load of old rubbish! I loved the show and I’m a big oz fan! The cast the staging was excellent and brilliant for disabled people like myself! These pair must have forgot when they were children! Crikey lighten up not everything has an agenda!”
The Wizard of Oz continues to play at the London Palladium to 3 September 2023.
