http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/tags.php?tag=wizard-of-oz The NewsBiscuit Community en-US Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:19:22 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/search.php http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=11722#post-32111 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:16:41 +0000 Oxbridge 32111@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>When a troupe of professional actors pulled out of doing performance of The Wizard of Oz at Robert E. Lee High School in Vicksburg, Georgia, with only two weeks notice, the perky, can-do senior kids were not dismayed – they vowed to step in and do the show themselves. Unfortunately, the results were dreadful beyond words.</p> <p>First the shoddily constructed set fell down three times, causing the performance to over-run by two hours. Then dopey jock Troy Wilson, who played the Lion, stumbled over his tail and injured two teachers in the front row, while Jessica Brooks, a sweet girl from the wrong side of the tracks, was a teeth-grindingly abysmal Dorothy.</p> <p>‘I volunteered because I hoped David Walsh, the handsome quarterback who stepped in as director, would fall for me,’ sobbed Brooks. ‘But he spent the whole show groping his bitchy blonde girlfriend Amanda in the wings and not even looking at the show. I guess I have to accept that ordinary girls like me never will get the hottest guys. Even if we do swallow.’</p> <p>Parents, who had driven in from all over the county to see the performance, were also mortified to hear the Tin Man, played by computer geek Jason Graham, mutter a racial epithet after the only black cast member, Antwan Jefferson playing the Scarecrow, accidentally charged into him on the Yellow Brick Road. Graham is currently in a stable condition in hospital in Atlanta.</p> <p>‘The whole thing was just excruciating,’ said school principal Randy Cutler. ‘I’d like to give them full marks for trying but I just can’t. Holy crap, I’d rather have another vasectomy than sit through that again. When will these naïve, bright-eyed kids learn that enthusiasm is no substitute for professionalism and months of rehearsals?’ </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4189#post-11794 Mon, 10 May 2010 15:55:24 +0000 Oxbridge 11794@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Media analysts have commended BBC presenter Graham Norton for not demeaning himself with undignified attempts at humour while presenting ‘Over the Rainbow’, a show in which young hopefuls compete for the role of Dorothy in a West End production of The Wizard of Oz. However, the BBC has come in for criticism for putting the 46-year-old bachelor in a potentially embarrassing position.</p> <p>‘I understand that men who are a bit like that are known in some circles as ‘friends of Dorothy’ because of their apparently universal admiration for the late Judy Garland,’ thundered Daily Express television critic Ross Benson. </p> <p>‘One hears certain rumours about Norton’s private life and if they are true I don’t condone it, but what an appalling situation for him to be put in. How he manages not to use the term at every opportunity is beyond me. His iron self-control is an example to us all.’</p> <p>Norton, who is unmarried, is known for his flamboyant dress sense and sometimes arch witticisms. He has admitted that his close involvement in the sometimes emotionally charged serial has brought him into close friendships with some of the pretty teenage girls competing for a stab at stardom. </p> <p>However, there has never been a hint of scandalous behaviour on his part from the young contestants. Nor has Norton, who has never been romantically linked with any of his female colleagues, made any comments on air that might inflame the situation.</p> <p>‘You really would have hoped that those charged with our licence fees would have put a bit more thought into this,’ said Sir Gerald Bryant, Conservative MP for Shropshire North-West, who is calling on David Cameron to review BBC funding as soon as the new government is in place. </p> <p>‘I mean, suppose he really is a bit, ahem, you know, what are the BBC going to have him do next? Front a show to find the best Nancy for a production of Oliver?’ </p>