The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical - Theatre Review

By: Angela Guardiani

Confession time; I love Christmas. I love the lights and the carols and the shiny wrapping paper, I love the cookies and the pine boughs, and I even love the inevitable crowds and the self-indulgence of sky-high prices for a mug of mulled wine at one of the many Christmas markets around the city.

When I talk about the Christmas miracle that is the revived Ross Petty / Canadian Stage holiday pantomime, The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical, the festive spirit will very much be in the room with us. After all, we don’t go to those Christmas markets to eat the mediocre food or shop for tchotchkes. We go for the experience of being swept away in a tide of good cheer with a host of other lovely strangers brimming with good will, and right now, warm and fuzzy is a metric I’m ready to consider.

Let’s start with the miracle. Two years ago, I wrote an elegiac review of what was meant to be the last Ross Petty pantomime after twenty-five years of campy extravagance at the Elgin Theatre. In a beautiful twist of fate, Canadian Stage was looking for a winter event to balance the Dream In High Park, and gave Petty a call. The result is slimmed down from the panto’s most over-the-top pre-Covid productions - a cast of ten rather than dozens, songs judiciously chosen from back catalogues mixed with current top 40 - but it’s as glittery as it ever was, and it fits nicely into the smaller, more intimate Winter Garden Theatre. The audience interaction feels easy and unforced, and the breezy running time of two hours (including an intermission) gets everyone home before they turn into a pumpkin.

While the cast is smaller, it’s still full of heavy hitters. Some highlights include Julia Pulo as a sweet and centred Dorothy. Pulo has a background in children’s entertainment and it really shows here - she’s somehow both ethereal and approachable, and definitely a favourite with the kids in the audience.

Every hero must be matched by an equally powerful villain, and Vanessa Sears camps it up as a surprisingly deep Wicked Witch. Sears also has some of the best comic delivery in the show, and her unexpected asides to the likes of Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith had me cackling.

Dan Chameroy’s Plumbum is inevitable and eternal. I really hope he’s training the next generation of pantomime dames, because without his unhinged gleeful energy of a drag queen turning everything upside down, the panto becomes just another fairy tale.

To be a Grinch for a moment, there are some points in the production that could use a spit and polish. The first half is bogged down by some Toronto hipster stereotypes that frankly feel more 2014 than 2024 (yes, we all know we pay too much for baked goods on Queen Street West). Not everything needs to be an Oz pun (“Am-OZ-on delivery”? Come on now.) But all the missteps in the top-heavy first act are forgiven in the fast-paced and surprisingly tender second.

You will leave the theatre wreathed in smiles and ready to do it all again next year. Tradition is potent, and holiday tradition most of all. We’re just lucky in this city that our panto tradition is as consistently good as it is.

The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical plays until January 5, 2025 at The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre (189 Yonge Street). For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical