‘The Wizard of Oz’ in song and dance

Children and parents enjoyed a lively reading, singing and dance performance of the classic book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by Frank L Baum, at the John Mackintosh Theatre on World Book Day.
Gibraltar Culture Services organised the many events of the day including this special show in the main theatre.

Staff at the John Mackintosh Hall all dressed up as characters from the book and had joined in the fun of the day as schoolchildren visited the hall. In the afternoon they joined the cast on stage.
Angela Jenkins as always was there to read the book!

The cast – all dressed appropriately – included the local choir group Tears of Joy,  who opened the performance with ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ and also sang other well-known songs from the musical adaption of the book, and the much loved film starring Judy Garland - ‘If I had only had a brain’ and of course ‘Follow the yellow brick road’ and ‘We’re off to see the wizard’.

And there was dancing as well with Transitions with young dancers from the academy all dressed in colourful costumes adding to the day – and presenting all our favourite characters. Everyone sang and danced along to the popular songs.
It was not just children who were attracted to the performance, but Government Ministers too.
Four ministers were in attendance as they took a break from their busy schedules -Steven Linares, Gilbert Licudi, Dr John Cortes and Neil Costa – all sitting in front row, together with either their children or grandchildren and enjoying the show.
Speaking about the performance, Mr Linares said: “It is great to see how many young people are here, the first year we had it in the library, second year it was in the Charles Hunt room and this third year we have had a full theatre.”
Considering the rapid growth of the event, when asked if it could possibly be held in Victoria stadium next year he said: “Well probably, probably get it bigger than the GMF (Gibraltar Music Festival).”