Red Shoes Blues (Reprise) Lyrics
Red Shoes Blues (Reprise)
[WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST]I know I hold sway over all I survey
But I now need a much bigger?deal
The?shoes are the?key to the making of me
So?find her, and bring her to heel
So with Dorothy here
I hope I may clear
What you have to surrender and why
It's the end of the line
The slippers are mine
You're welcome my pretty
[SPOKEN]
Yes, you're welcome my pretty
To die
To die!
Song Overview
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Compact villain tag from the 2011 London Palladium staging - a 48-second threat scene that sharpens stakes before the rescue beat.
- Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice; performed on the album by Hannah Waddingham with production oversight by Nigel Wright and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
- Pairs with the earlier full song “Red Shoes Blues,” both written for this adaptation.
- Released on the original London cast album in 2011 on Polydor under license from The Really Useful Group.
- Low, prowling groove - more hiss than howl - that frames the Witch’s ultimatum.
Creation History
The 2011 musical threads several new numbers into the familiar score. “Red Shoes Blues” is the Witch’s showcase; this reprise is its quick, sharpened echo - a dramatic accelerant as Dorothy is cornered. Playbill spotlighted Waddingham premiering the new material during the Palladium run. The cast album arrived in May 2011 in the UK, with U.S. physical release following that June. Streaming listings and discographies fix the reprise at 0:48 and place it after “Bacchanalia.” According to NME-style trade coverage at the time, the production leaned into cinematic pacing - which this bite-sized reprise serves nicely.
Highlights
Everything is economy. A curt vamp, a snake-charmer contour, and a lyric that swaps swagger for menace. The rhyme play - “key/making of me,” “bring her to heel” - is pure Rice, cool and clipped. Waddingham colors the consonants like little blades; the payoff is a threat that lands without shouting.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Dorothy is in the Witch’s grasp. The Witch states the terms: surrender the slippers or face the consequence. The moment is transitional by design - a fuse between capture and the friends’ rescue - and the reprise functions like a grim calling card.
Song Meaning
The piece reduces grand villainy to a transactional hunger. It’s not philosophy; it’s leverage. The music stalks rather than struts, trading the earlier cabaret bite for a colder, slower threat. Mood: coiled, acquisitive, final.
Annotations
“The shoes are the key to the making of me”
Identity via artifact - a classic fairy-tale conceit. The Witch sees power as costume, not character, which makes the chase logical and relentless.
“So find her, and bring her to heel”
Predator language set to a slinky pulse. The idiom doubles as choreography cue - servants move, plot advances.
“It’s the end of the line - the slippers are mine”
Rhymed ultimatum. Rice compresses motive and method into a single couplet, a neat heel-click of intent.
Style and instrumentation
Dark shuffle at almost half-time feel, minimal pit colors, vocal front and center. The reprise trims the big-band sass of the main song down to a threatening whisper.
Context
Within the 2011 running order, the reprise hits after “Bacchanalia.” It telegraphs the Witch’s endgame and primes the story for the water-and-melting payoff. As stated in Playbill’s piece announcing the new number, the Witch’s material was designed to give the antagonist modern punch without breaking the film’s silhouette.
Key Facts
- Artist: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nigel Wright, Andrew Lloyd Webber (album credit line); featured vocal by Hannah Waddingham
- Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Lyricist: Tim Rice
- Producers: Nigel Wright; Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Release Date: May 9, 2011 (album - UK digital/CD rollout)
- Genre: Musical theatre
- Instruments: Pit orchestra - rhythm section with subdued reeds/low brass
- Label: Polydor - under license from The Really Useful Group
- Mood: Menacing, focused
- Length: 0:48
- Track #: 18 on the London Palladium cast album
- Language: English
- Album: The Wizard of Oz (2011 London Palladium Recording)
- Music style: Slow, theatrical blues-inflected vamp
- Poetic meter: Mixed - terse couplets with internal rhyme
Canonical Entities & Relations
| Andrew Lloyd Webber - composed - new Witch songs for the 2011 production |
| Tim Rice - wrote - lyrics for the new Witch songs |
| Hannah Waddingham - performed - the Witch on the original London cast album |
| Nigel Wright - produced - cast recording sessions with Lloyd Webber |
| London Palladium - hosted - 2011 West End run |
| Polydor - released - the cast album under license from The Really Useful Group |
Questions and Answers
- Where does the reprise sit in the show?
- Act II, after “Bacchanalia,” as the Witch tightens the noose before the rescue sequence.
- How is it different from the main Witch number?
- Shorter, slower, and deadlier in tone - less show, more shiver.
- Who sings it on the album?
- Hannah Waddingham, originating the Witch in the 2011 London cast.
- What narrative job does it do?
- It states the stakes and the terms - give up the slippers - and propels the heroes into action.
- Any official running time?
- Approximately forty-eight seconds on the original London cast release.
- Does it ever appear as a standalone single?
- No - it circulates as part of the full cast album.
- Is there filmed performance material?
- Yes - official and promotional videos of “Red Shoes Blues” exist; the reprise itself is also available in label-posted audio.
- Why the blues tint?
- The groove gives the Witch sly confidence while keeping the menace intimate - a character study in under a minute.
How to Sing Red Shoes Blues (Reprise)
Vocal range (Witch on album): approximately A3 to C5, spoken-sung with chesty bite. Tempo: around 59 BPM in a slow, stalking 4/4. Length: 0:48. Feel: hushed threat - diction as weapon.
- Tempo & pulse: Rehearse with a metronome at ~59 BPM. Think slow walk, not drag.
- Diction: Clip consonants on “key,” “heel,” “mine.” Let sibilants whisper without fizz.
- Breath: Use low, quiet inhales before each sentence; do not telegraph the breath.
- Flow & phrasing: Speak-sing on pitch; keep phrases unhurried so the threat lands.
- Accents: Lean into internal rhymes; drop volume slightly on the final “to die!” so the mic captures the chill.
- Character color: Smile through the lines - menace reads clearer when it sounds amused.
- Mic craft: Close mic; watch plosives. A slight turn on “p” and “b” avoids pops.
- Pitfalls: Over-belting the climax, smearing the lyric, and letting tempo sag.
- Practice set: 2x spoken text on click, 2x pitch-mapped whispers, 2x full-voice takes with recorded accompaniment.
Additional Info
Program notes for the 2011 production list the Witch material among the newly written songs. Playbill’s preview positioned “Red Shoes Blues” as the character’s signature - the reprise is its sharpened echo. Cast album documentation and streaming services align on sequence and timing. As stated in 2024 Rolling Stone’s study of villain songs in modern musicals, the trend is toward compact, high-impact statements of intent - this one fits the bill.
Sources: Wikipedia, Playbill, Discogs, CastAlbums.org, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.