Several hundred customers are understood to have walked out of the performanceAmy Walker Court reporter and Hannah Rees What’s On editor
13:00, 26 Dec 2025
The Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular at the AO Arena(Image: Michelle Radford)
Disgruntled theatregoers say they are now seeking refunds after condemning an ‘amateurish’ performance of the Wizard of Oz. Hundreds of customers are believed to have departed the ‘dreadful’ Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular at Manchester’s AO Arena on Tuesday evening (December 23). It had promised a ‘brand-new, breath-taking Cirque staging’ of Frank L. Baum’s iconic story, boasting ‘pantomime meets cirque – be amazed!
Yet the production has been bombarded with criticism from audiences who claim they were left ‘let down’ by the performance, reports Manchester Evening News. The Manchester Evening News has interviewed several attendees from the show.
Michelle Radford, from Bury, said: “It was atrocious. I have never seen anything so bad in my life. We presumed it would be themed around the Wizard of Oz, we were wrong. We thought it would be like Cirque de Soleil, it was presented as a fantastic show. I am speechless for how bad it was.”
Michelle said that crew members handling the props could be seen ‘running around like something was wrong’, describing the performances as ‘more like an amateur production’. “It wasn’t professional at all. It just wasn’t what I expected. There were a lot of people walking out before the break,” she added.
The Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular at the AO Arena(Image: Michelle Radford)
She mentioned that she typically attends a show annually around Christmas with two friends. One friend suggested they should leave during the interval, but Michelle was curious to see what happened.
“When it came back on there was a lion dressed as a tiger walking across a tightrope. It was very, very basic, not the ‘spectacular’ event it was supposed to be. It was dreadful,” she said.
“If we wanted to go and see a panto, we’d have gone to see Jason Manford! At least you know what you are going to get. The tinman was in a Transformers costume. Toto was a sheepdog. It was laughable. It was such a disappointing night. It was false advertising.
“I’m asking for a refund, but I haven’t had a response yet. It was an absolute shambles. The munchkins were on stilts. The wicked witch was on a bike on top of a golf buggy – in the trailer she was flying around. It was unbelievable.”
The organisers behind Wicked Wizard of Oz have stood by their production amid the complaints – highlighting that audiences in Blackpool had given ‘fantastic’ feedback to earlier performances. They also noted the show includes comedic elements typical of pantomime tradition that are intentionally daft, with “maybe 0.1% do not appreciate one joke in the show”.
However, another customer, who wished to stay unnamed, revealed she had taken her two youngsters aged 12 and 9 to the performance. They said: “We had a high expectation, it was not really what the Wizard of Oz was about. The jokes were not very good for the kids. They were making jokes about penises, about Donald Trump, the kids didn’t really understand them.
“We bought these tickets over six months ago because of what we saw advertised. It was not in the show. We have high expectations from shows at the AO Arena. They were putting on Indian accents and making jokes about illegal immigration.”
Another attendee, Liam Hopkins, shared his disappointment: “Like many people, my expectations were shaped by how the show was marketed, particularly the implication that it would be in the style of Cirque du Soleil. When something is sold that way, you expect to be blown away in a good sense, not sitting there with your head in your hands wondering what you’re watching. What we saw didn’t really align with that promise.
Customers were left ‘disappointed’ following the show at the AO Arena(Image: Michelle Radford)
“The show opened with large, branded storage boxes already on stage, which immediately set a very different tone to what had been advertised. From there, several elements felt closer to adult holiday entertainment than a family-friendly pantomime, and some moments were awkward or inappropriate for an audience with children. You could sense parents quietly reassessing whether this was actually the right show for them.
“While there was effort and enthusiasm from the performers, the overall staging, choreography and pacing lacked the scale and polish you’d associate with a cirque-style spectacle. The reaction in the room reflected that. I filmed a short clip simply to capture the atmosphere – the moment when it became clear that expectations and reality had parted ways. It wasn’t about singling out individual performers, but documenting the overall experience.”
Theatre producer Tracie Ross from Bolton, who attended with her grown-up daughter, expressed her disappointment. She explained: “I support local theatre and have been going to the theatre all my life. It started and there was no ‘welcome to the show’, no opening number, it was two men picking up a load of boxes on the stage and balancing them. It just didn’t hit. The dancers costumes looked cheap and tacky.
“During the tornado, they came into the crowd and were shooting the crowd with water guns. After 15 minutes I left.”
Tracie revealed that when she returned later to retrieve her vehicle, she encountered a steward operating a ‘clicker’ device, which he pressed each time someone departed. “He said 800 people had left through that door alone. It was just bad. I don’t understand how the arena didn’t vet the production before it came,” she said.
“At a time when venues are struggling to sell tickets and filling venues, you would think they would vet what’s coming in to the arena. I’m so disappointed. It is an insult to our industry. You go to see a Christmassy show and expect to come away feeling like you enjoyed it, and it just didn’t happen.”
A Facebook group named The Woeful Wicked Wizard of Oz – A Not-So Cirque Spectacular has since been set up, where disgruntled customers who attended the Manchester performance, as well as shows at other locations nationwide, have voiced their dissatisfaction.
Katie Sweet said: “Got to say, this was the point where I was in utter disbelief with what I was watching! A ‘cirque’ and yet the wicked witch of the west isn’t flying yet she is on the top of a golf buggy, not concealed to make it look like a cloud or blacked out just blatant rubbish!
The ‘wicked witch’ during the Wicked Wizard of Oz show at the AO Arena(Image: Michelle Radford)
“My 10-year-old, who was obviously going to compare this performance to the recently released movie Wicked, was completely lost, bored, asked to leave and never laughed once, maybe due to the wholly inappropriate jokes…the glory hole…I have never cringed so much, how can they think that is appropriate or remotely funny.”
Jorden Thompson said: “Went last night seven of us, what absolute c*** was that! Definitely not what was advertised, and we all left. So poor my children could have done better than that. Definitely not AO arena worthy or worth that money. Email of complaint sent!”
Karen Harvey said: “Complete falsely advertised show. Poor stunts, rubbish sounds, inappropriate content, no story line. Shocking.”
A representative from The World’s Biggest Productions, the company behind the performance, said: “Wicked Wizard Of Oz opened in Blackpool to a fantastic response in October.
“The promotional videos advertising the show featured the acts that appeared in the performance in Manchester either taken during our workshop rehearsals or at live performances in Blackpool.
“The show title ‘Wicked Wizard of Oz’ has a smaller typeface descriptor “cirque spectacular” and ‘panto meets cirque’ which reasonably identified that circus elements would be included in a panto style show. Six of our talented circus cast won silver medals at this year’s European circus festivals.
“It was never suggested this was a Cirque de Soleil production and their forthcoming UK tour has tickets from £66 – £372 and when compared to our prices of £29 – £70 it would be unrealistic to expect similar production values as Soleil.
“Our show, like all pantomimes, contains some jokes in the pantomime tradition of being silly. Over 150,000 people attend our shows annually and if maybe 0.1% do not appreciate one joke in the show, it feels rather unbalanced reporting against the mass who enjoy a form of humour that has survived two hundred years.”
A representative for the AO Arena stated: “As a venue, we have no control over the content of shows and therefore we were recommending people get in touch with the production company – tickets@worldsbiggestproductions.com.”