[Video] Audience Chaos at ‘Wizard of Oz’ Performance: Actors Pelted with Trash and Food Over “Atrocious” Show
A performance of Wicked Wizard of Oz: A Cirque Spectacular at Manchester’s AO Arena has sparked outrage from audiences, with hundreds reportedly walking out and many demanding refunds.
The show, billed as a “brand-new, breath-taking Cirque staging” of the classic story, left many attendees disappointed, describing it as amateurish and chaotic.
Michelle Radford, who attended the show with friends, told the Manchester Evening News, “It was atrocious. I have never seen anything so bad in my life… The tinman was in a Transformers costume. Toto was a sheepdog. It was laughable. It was such a disappointing night.”
She added that the production seemed unprofessional, with props being managed poorly and several acts feeling like an amateur performance. “There were a lot of people walking out before the break,” she noted.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: Wizard of Oz actors got flooded with trash, food and anything anyone watching could throw during their performance at Spectacular at Manchester's AO Arena.
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) December 26, 2025
One witness wrote: "I have never seen anything so bad in my life."
Several hundred customers are… pic.twitter.com/dGgcPPNFxK
Other attendees shared similar frustrations. One parent expressed concern over inappropriate jokes for children, saying, “They were making jokes about p****** about Donald Trump… It was not really what the Wizard of Oz was about.”
Liam Hopkins highlighted how the marketing of the show had suggested a Cirque du Soleil-style experience, but the reality fell far short. “Several elements felt closer to adult holiday entertainment than a family-friendly pantomime,” he explained, pointing out awkward choreography and cheap-looking costumes.
Tracie Ross, a theatre producer, was also critical. She described the opening of the show as underwhelming, with two performers merely handling boxes on stage instead of a proper opening number. “During the tornado, they came into the crowd and were shooting the crowd with water guns. After 15 minutes I left,” she said. Ross also reported that around 800 people had left the arena by intermission, highlighting the scale of audience dissatisfaction.
The backlash has been further amplified on social media, with a Facebook group titled The Woeful Wicked Wizard of Oz – A Not-So Cirque Spectacular forming, where attendees vented their frustrations. Comments ranged from disappointment over poor stunts and inappropriate humor to disbelief at how the show could be considered a “cirque spectacular.”
In response, the show’s producers defended the performance, noting its previous success in Blackpool and explaining that promotional material featured acts from rehearsals and past live shows.
A spokesperson emphasized that the show includes pantomime-style humor, which some audience members may not appreciate. They added, “Over 150,000 people attend our shows annually, and if maybe 0.1% do not appreciate one joke, it feels rather unbalanced reporting.”
The AO Arena stated that as a venue, it does not control show content and directed complaints to the production company.
It’s clear that the performance left many attendees feeling misled and frustrated. From a personal perspective, marketing sets expectations, and when a show promises a spectacle, audiences naturally expect something polished and family-friendly. The mismatch here seems to have caused significant disappointment.
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