It’s been dubbed ‘Willy Wonka Experience 2.0.’
17:52, 28 Dec 2025Updated 17:55, 28 Dec 2025
The show has been dubbed the ‘Willy Wonka Experience 2.0’ (Image: Supplied)
Furious families stormed out of a pantomime performed at the weekend, dubbing it ‘Willy Wonka Experience 2.0.’
Disappointed theatre-goers are now demanding refunds, with attendees saying they’ve seen “better school shows”.
Production company, the World’s Biggest Productions, promised a “brand-new, breath-taking, Cirque staging” of Frank L. Baum’s iconic story. The Wicked Wizard of Oz: Cirque Spectacular was set to be “Panto meets Cirque”, however, speaking with Glasgow Live, parents have labelled the production “inappropriate, overpriced and falsely advertised”, dubbing it “Willy Wonka Experience 2.0”.
After Saturday’s show at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, on December 27, a raft of complaints were made, with many attendees subsequently joining a Facebook page titled ‘The Woeful Wicked Wizard of Oz – A Not-So Cirque Spectacular’, which now has 1,200 members. The Hydro opened its doors again today, December 28, for a second showing at 12pm.
Glasgow Live has since spoken to a number of people who were at Saturday’s show. Mum-of-two Carol-Ann Henderson said it was a “shambles”, “it has been completely mis-sold and advertised as a cirque spectacular. If I said it was an amateur production that would be a lie, I’ve seen better school shows”, she said.
A dad told how he paid £297 for his family-of-five to attend. He added, “This blows the Willy Wonka Experience right out of the water. Embarrassing performance from a high-profile production company.”
A third attendee, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she has “never seen the Hydro empty so fast”. She also claims the sound quality was “awful”, as well as the props and production, with a witch on a bike strapped to a golf cart, munchkins on stilts and “no real storyline”.
The Facebook page – created by an audience member who had attended the Brighton Centre show on December 16 – includes angry posts from hundreds spectators from all over the UK, all with a similar view. Just one hour ago, Fiona Hanton wrote: “Left after the first half, absolutely disgusting”. And yesterday, Dawn Page added: “Just walked out of the terrible performance in Glasgow. The show is currently still on but absolutely shocking.”
In response to a similar report from Manchester Evening News, a spokesperson for The World’s Biggest Productions defended the show, they 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.”
GlasgowLive has approached World’s Biggest Productions and the OVO Hydro for comment.
