Royal New Zealand Ballet dancers William Fitzgerald (The Wizard) and Lucy Green (Dorothy) pull off a difficult manoeuvre during rehearsals yesterday for their sold-out performance of The Wizard of Oz at the Regent Theatre tonight.
The two-act production, based on Frank Baum's story of love, friendship and growing up, was created by Royal New Zealand Ballet artistic director Francesco Ventriglia in 2010 but was never performed.
The world premiere of the ballet was in Wellington earlier this month, and Mr Ventriglia was excited yesterday that performances had sold out everywhere in New Zealand except Auckland.
The ballet has all the familiar characters brought to life in a beautiful design by Gianluca Falaschi, and music by Francis Poulenc sets the scene for a colourful staging that has enchanted audiences of all ages.
