Storyhouse is going Over The Rainbow this Christmas and took to the skies to announce the show to the Chester public!

It’s only May and the city centre venue has only have just started its action-packed summer season but they already have the festive period on their minds after announcing family classic The Wizard of Oz as their Christmas show from December 7-January 6.

Chester Storyhouse took to the skies to announce The Wizard of Oz as they Christmas 2018 production
Chester Storyhouse took to the skies to announce The Wizard of Oz as their Christmas 2018 production

And they arranged for an aircraft to fly over Chester on Wednesday (May 23) trailing a banner declaring ‘Surrender Dorothy’ to unveil the news.

Based on the classic MGM motion picture starring Judy Garland, Storyhouse is staging the RSC’s version of L Frank Baum’s books, featuring the well- known songs Over the Rainbow and the title song featuring music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E Y Harburg and orchestration by Larry Wilcox.

The Wizard of Oz is coming to Storyhouse in Chester this Christmas
The Wizard of Oz is coming to Storyhouse in Chester this Christmas

Veteran Chester theatre-goers will also appreciate the venue’s nod to the past as The Wizard of Oz was the very last in-house production to be staged by the former Gateway Theatre.

The production will be directed by Storyhouse’s artistic director Alex Clifton (A Little Night Music, The Secret Seven, The Beggar’s Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

The Wizard of Oz is one of the best known and enduring children’s stories of all time, made famous by Judy Garland in 1939 with MGM’s technicolour film.

Alex Clifton said: “The Wizard of Oz is a wonderful, vibrant, fun and brilliantly familiar story to tell. Our version will feature all the favourite characters, songs and scenes from the movie but with lots of new things to discover as well.

“Building on the incredible success of The Secret Seven and the fantastic response it received from theatregoers we are confident The Wizard of Oz will be another gorgeous Christmas treat in Chester.”

Tickets are on sale now at storyhouse.com