A NIGHTMARE journey from her LA home to Manchester this week was certainly helping international star Lorna Luft get into character as the Wicked Witch Of The West.

Lorna jetted in to promote her starring role in The Wizard Of Oz, the big Christmas musical at The Lowry Theatre at Salford Quays, which was, of course, the movie that made a star of Lorna's mother, Judy Garland.

But it sounds like it might well have been quicker for Lorna to get here on that broomstick.

She told The Diary: "They torture you to travel now. It has taken me two days to get here from Los Angeles because they cancelled every single flight I was on.

"I was stuck in an airport hotel and then they cancelled all the other flights, too."

She laughed: "When that second flight was cancelled I really started to identify with the Wicked Witch."

To add insult to injury, her luggage also went missing - although, thankfully, it has now been retrieved.

Despite her travel woes, Lorna was in buoyant mood as she launched the musical yesterday, and said she can't wait to return to Manchester for her five-week run.

For Lorna was a regular visitor to Manchester in the 1970s, when her then husband, Jake Hooker, a founding member of rock band The Arrows, would film Granada TV series The Arrows Show here.

She said: "Manchester has changed so much from when I came here in the seventies, when I used to come up here a lot with my first husband.

Amazing

"The city has had such an amazing facelift and it's a really cool place to be."

Lorna admits that for years she shied away from projects associated to her mum, but is now ready to embrace and celebrate her legacy. She says: "I ran away from all this for a really long time, because The Wizard of Oz is such an iconic, classic movie.

"But when they offered it to me - let's put it this way, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

"It's second generation Oz and I'm so excited about performing in the show for which my mother is so well known."

Lorna was particularly happy to take the part of the witch, as she knew the actress who played the film's original, Margaret Hamilton.

Lorna smiled: "She was a wonderful, fabulous lady, quite a hoot. I've never done anything like this before, playing someone so evil and wicked."

Although she assures The Diary she will be donning the green face paint of the film's scary witch.

She laughed: "It's not the most attractive colour, but my witch will be different than people are expecting."

The Wizard of Oz is at The Lowry, Nov 29-Jan 4. Tickets on 0870 787 5793.


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