The Wicked Wizard of Oz: Cirque Spectacular has been called “inappropriate, overpriced and falsely advertised” by parents.
A Scots pantomime has been dubbed the “Willy Wonka Experience 2.0” by furious families who walked out mid-show. The Wicked Wizard of Oz: Cirque Spectacular at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow has left theatre-goers disappointed and calling for a refund.
Production company, the World’s Biggest Productions, promised a “brand-new, breath-taking, Cirque staging” of Frank L. Baum’s iconic story. However, some families walked out of Saturday’s performance, December 27, calling it “inappropriate, overpriced and falsely advertised”.
Speaking with our sister title Glasgow Live, a number of parents have complained that the show, billed as “Panto meets Cirque”, didn’t live up to the promise, saying they’ve seen “better school shows”.
A raft of complaints were made after the show and many attendees have subsequently joined a Facebook page titled ‘The Woeful Wicked Wizard of Oz – A Not-So Cirque Spectacular’, which now has 1,200 members. The Hydro opened its doors again today, December 28, for a second showing at 12pm.
Mum-of-two Carol-Ann Henderson described the show as a “shambles”. She said: “It has been completely mis-sold and advertised as a cirque spectacular. If I said it was an amateur production that would be a lie, I’ve seen better school shows.”
A dad told how he paid £297 for his family-of-five to attend. He added, “This blows the Willy Wonka Experience right out of the water. Embarrassing performance from a high-profile production company.”
A third attendee, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had “never seen the Hydro empty so fast”. She also claimed the sound quality was “awful”, as well as the props and production, with a witch on a bike strapped to a golf cart, munchkins on stilts and “no real storyline”.
The Facebook page was created by an audience member who had attended the Brighton Centre show on December 16. It includes angry posts from hundreds of spectators from all over the UK, all with a similar view.
Fiona Hanton wrote on the page: “Left after the first half, absolutely disgusting”.
Dawn Page added: “Just walked out of the terrible performance in Glasgow. The show is currently still on but absolutely shocking.”
In response to a similar report from or sister title, the Manchester Evening News, a spokesperson for The World’s Biggest Productions defended the show. They 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 de Soleil production and their forthcoming UK tour has tickets from £66 – £372 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 humour that has survived two hundred years.”
