Michael Crawford is to extend his stay playing the eponymous Wizard Of Oz at the London Palladium to 5 February 2012.
The star, who has been playing the role since the show began performances in February, was enticed back to the stage from his home in New Zealand by producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he last worked on The Woman In White in 2004. Crawford is best known for originating the role of the Phantom in Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera in 1986, while the two-times Olivier Award winner’s other work includes musical Barnum and popular 1970s sitcom Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.
In The Wizard Of Oz, Crawford stars alongside Danielle Hope, who won the part of Dorothy through BBC television contest Over The Rainbow, as well as Hannah Waddingham as the Wicked Witch of the West and Edward Baker-Duly, David Ganly and Paul Keating as Dorothy’s three unusual friends.
The production features new musical numbers by Lloyd Webber and his long-time collaborator Tim Rice, along with the familiar songs from the famous 1939 film including Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Follow The Yellow Brick Road.
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