edit: It replaced the source with the image URL- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9x4r8nr0o
spoiler
Members of the audience at a Christmas show in Brighton have criticised it as “worst production they have seen in a long time”, with many walking out.
The performance of Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular Christmas show at the Brighton Centre, which is running for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, is promoted on the World’s Biggest Productions website as “combining the magic of cirque with the charm of a classic tale”.
However, David Parker from Crawley, who watched the performance with his partner and daughter told BBC Radio Sussex the show was “so bad it was laughable. One performer did six tumbles and got five wrong”.
World’s Biggest Productions has been approached for comment.
‘Awful and amateurish’
Mr Parker said they left in the first 10 minutes of the second half when his nine-year-old daughter insisted they leave.
The show was advertised as “Panto meets Cirque” on the Brighton Centre website. “We were expecting it to have Cirque du Soleil levels of performance,” he said. "It was very awful and amateurish.
“There was a five-minute gap and no one knew what was going on,” Mr Parker said.
Mr Parker, who paid £143 for the show, said they had been looking forward to seeing the performance. "There was a guy eating a cucumber and spitting it on another performer.
“There was another performer using a cucumber in a very provocative manner,” he said. “It was just poor.” ‘Half the audience left’[.]
Keely Beecroft, from Seaford, watched the show with her partner, having paid £122 for tickets. She said the show was “awful” and a “misrepresentation” of what was advertised. Ms Keely said the lighting was not working and one of the acrobats injured themselves. She added she left during the interval, and then went back to check if any audiences had stayed.
“More than half of the audiences had left,” she said.
Both Mr Parker and Ms Beecroft have told the BBC they would be seeking a refund. Other viewers have taken their frustrations online.
One person wrote on the Ticketmaster website: "This must be the worst production I’ve seen in a long time. “As I’m writing this, it is only halfway through and so many people have walked out.” Another wrote: “Childish. The ‘acrobats’ were very basic. Lots of people left early and we didn’t even make it to half time. We feel conned.”
One person wrote on the Ticketmaster website: "This must be the worst production I’ve seen in a long time. “As I’m writing this, it is only halfway through and so many people have walked out.” Another wrote: “Childish. The ‘acrobats’ were very basic. Lots of people left early and we didn’t even make it to half time. We feel conned.”
I’ve been to some bad shows. I’ve had some terrible ticketmaster experiences and some of those have been at bad shows. I have never hated any show so much that I write a negative review on ticketmaster halfway into a live performance. It’s 2026 and I just learned from that sentence that ticketmaster even has reviews. This is such a beautiful parallel to the AI Willy Wonka Experience with people consoling the actors and children crying in disappointment. Good job, anyone who arbitrarily mixes IPs they don’t own into slop. It is a consistently funny bit.
I immediately thought of the Willy Wonka thing. I just wish it had footage or more pictures like we had for the Willy Wonka experience. Those made it so funny. Wasn’t that also in the UK? Or that in the States?
Everything is a gift now.
Willy Wonky was in Glasgow. I’m hoping it continues and only gets more absurd with time. It’s Stupid Springtime for Hitler and one of them is bound to become a cult classic.
This is such a beautiful parallel to the AI Willy Wonka Experience
That’s exactly what this reminded me of. I guess this is just what “Culture” in the UK is now?
The defunct voltron / transformer and ball cap tinman
I’m like 85% sure this whole project started by working backwards from renting that costume
What gets me is the juxtaposition between $5000+ Transformer Tin Man and the named lead character Scarecrow that had to make do with two dashes of clown makeup. No scarecrow hat, no rope tie, no wooden nose, no straw coming out of his ears, the wrong colour of shirt and style of poncho thing. He looks so much worse than the 1930s version:
It’s kind of telling when you advertise your adaptation of a 120 year old story as a new adventure. I can imagine somewhere there is a chatgpt log that’s like:
“You’re creating something special here. It’s not just another adaptation – it’s a new adventure.”
"There was a guy eating a cucumber and spitting it on another performer.
funniest shit I ever sawI love how it even has the same comedic dynamic as the pickle rick reveal.
[Transition to Morty entering the Brighton Centre. There are two performers holding cucumbers.]
Pickle Rick: Come on, pay £143 for a ticket to the Cirque du Soleil/Wicked fusion show of a lifetime , Morty. You’re not gonna regret it. The payoff is huge.
[Morty hesitantly pays £143. The first performer bites their cucumber and spits it on the second. The second holds theirs like a penis.] I spit on my coworker, Morty! Boom! Big reveal: I spit a cucumber at my coworker. What do you think about that? I spit a cucumber all over someone! W-what are you just staring at me for, bro? I spit a cucumber in their face and theirs is a penis, Morty!
Morty: And?
Pickle Rick: “And”? What more do you want tacked on to this? I spit a cucumber all over someone and 9/11 was an inside job?
Morty: Was it?
Pickle Rick: Who cares, Morty? Global acts of terrorism happen every day. Uh, here’s something that’s never happened before: I chewed up a cucumber and spit it on the guy next to me and his cucumber is a penis. I SPIT ON HIS PENIS!!
Morty: Are you going to, I mean, you know, is this the first part of some magic trick?
Any footage? Sounds hilarious.
The trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xgtufG-JZI
I can’t find any performance videos on youtube, but at least one person was using their phone to write a negative review of it during the show so it might be out there.
edit: I like the part at 12 seconds in. The Spirit Halloween version of the witch from Wicked is unsteadily riding a bicycle across a stage floor that may as well be ice. Behind her is a blonde Dorothy who doesn’t look like Dorothy wearing white shoes that aren’t covered in rubies, a hillbilly in tennis shoes, the shittiest dog fursuit you’ve ever seen which does not have the same colours or even ears as Toto, and a Village People disco cowboy. People paid almost $200 per ticket to see that.
I hate how EPIC music is now everywhere.
:happy-family:
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Somehow I knew this was Br*tish before I clicked the spoiler
I can’t image how many euthanasia jokes that Kev Orkian guy gets. What an unfortunate name.
Casting a guy named Kev Orkian as a wholesome munchkin is
edit: And Conway as the only other named actor in your scam circus.
