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A gay musical for all the family

(December 2001 - January 2002, Rosemary Branch Theatre, London, N1)

Dorothy's Travels is a contemporary British reworking of the Wizard of Oz, by Eric Presland (book and lyrics) and Dave Harrod (music).

Two schoolgirls, Dorothy and Toto, accidentally kill their headmistress Miss East and have to go on the run. They are pursued by Mrs Mary Westhouse (a Busybody) and aided and abetted by three gay men: Dizzy, a teenage window dresser who'd be fine if he had a brain; Butch, a hulking leather man who'd be fine if he had a heart; and Closet, a cowardly policeman who needs courage to come out as gay.

They seek the help of Mars Propps (a Columnist) and thwart the witch with the aid of a copy of the Gay Times listings! In the course of this journey they discover their true feelings for each other, as "puppy love" turns into real love.

Mary Whitehouse

The show comes as a back-handed tribute to the late Mary Whitehouse as the Wicked Witch. "Whenever she condemned a show of mine, it always meant we had a full house," says director/writer Eric Pesland. "And she united the gay community single-handedly when she prosecuted the old Gay News. They don't make bigots like that nowadays."

Section 28

"The show was also a comment on Section 28 when it first came out," explained writer/director Eric Presland. "The issue of gay contact with teenagers is still fraught to some people." But though the show has a point, it's put over in the gentlest, wittiest way, with 21 tuneful original songs and bags of energy and colour.