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THE Wizard of Oz on stage and screen has captured the imagination of Bexhill audiences with matinee tickets almost sold out and tickets for the evening shows selling fast.

The creative minds of Popcorn Theatre have created a hugely entertaining version of the Christmas classic where audiences can expect live music, dancing, clowning, pyrotechnics and sing-a-longs set against the backdrop of the charm and wonder of the original 1939 film.

All the cast have been busy rehearsing in London but Kate McKenzie, co-founder of Popcorn, came to the Pavilion last week to rehearse with 11 young performers from Bexhill’s Diana Freidman Dance School and St Peter’s and St Paul Primary School’s dance and drama group.

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This talented bunch will play the roles of Munchkins and the Citizens of Emerald City.

Actress and performer Kate was a founder member of Denise Black and the Kray Sisters, a highly successful 1980s singing trio. Since then, Kate has appeared in numerous TV shows, cabarets and films as well as being the co-founder of Popcorn Theatre with Chris Lynam.

Chris Lynam is a dangerously inventive clown – wild, energetic with a large dose of craziness thrown in.

Time Out called him ‘irresistible’, The Times called him ‘a wild clown in a class of his own’, You Magazine said he had ‘a surreal unhinged quality that makes for comic greatness’.

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Musical director Kevin Sargent arranges the live music in the show.

Kevin is a British composer, best known to today’s audiences for composing the signature tune to the hit TV show The Hour and the most recent TV drama We’ll take Manhattan.

Jim Whiting is a British artist and inventor who has the wonderful title of Designer of Mechanical Inventions.

His sculptures and figurative illustrations have appeared in galleries internationally and he received international recognition in 1984 after his robot-like sculptures were featured dancing in the Herbie Hancock’s Rockit music video directed by duo Godley & Creme, winning the first MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction.

Book tickets on 01424 229111 or www.dlwp.com.

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