Dubbed ‘Wicked Wizard of Oz – A Cirque Spectacular’, the show has been heavily criticised as it toured the UK this December, with punters complaining after performances in Brighton and Manchester.
After the show visited Glasgow on Saturday and Sunday, parents have spoken out in a Facebook group about their displeasure with the performance.
Some families paid hundreds of pounds for tickets to what they thought would include high-quality circus skills and special effects, only to be found wanting more.
Shaun Boyle told The Glasgow Times: “The performance was, in my view, significantly mis-sold, grossly overpriced, and poorly executed.
“The production bore no resemblance to a professional cirque show. Describing it as amateur would be unfair to genuine amateur productions I have seen, which were far better organised and executed.”
Posting to Facebook, Ashley McLean added: “Really disappointed at Glasgow tonight like so many others… how this show ended up in the Hydro I will never know!
“The worst live entertainment I’ve ever been to,” Gary McCandless added. “I was sleeping 20 mins in and we left at the interval.”
“Just walked out of the terrible performance in Glasgow,” Dawn Page said. “The show is currently still on but absolutely shocking.”
Complaints included poor sound and subpar costuming, as well as “amateur-level” circus stunts.
Alan Leslie said: “The Tin Man was a Transformer which I can look past because it’s in panto form, the lion was wearing a tiger costume, and the witch was riding round on top of a golf buggy.”
Tickets for the performance were priced between £35.20 and £86.85 on the Hydro’s website.
A listing for the show reads: “The Worlds Biggest Productions present a brand-new, breath-taking, Cirque staging… of the Wicked Wizard of Oz.
“With a cast of 40 and spectacular aerial stunts and amazing special effects this international class arena show is the event of the year, not to be missed.”
Read more:
Responding to criticism lodged at the show in Manchester last week, a spokesperson for the Worlds Biggest Productions 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.
They added: “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.”
