Age: 111.
Appearance: "Toto was not grey; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose."
Also known as: Terry, Topper, Razzle, Dazzle and Bobbie.
Never heard of any of them. Who they? They're dog actors, the most famous of the bunch being Terry, the cairn terrier who played Dorothy's four-legged companion in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.
And the others? They're the 16-legged rotating canine cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new West End show The Wizard of Oz, the multimillion-pound end product of BBC reality show Over The Rainbow.
And are the new dogs as good as the original? They're . . . different.
Different how? For one thing they're white. West Highland white, to be precise. Which is a little odd considering that in Frank Baum's original novel the first thing we learn about Toto is that he's black.
Outrageous. I haven't seen casting that bad since Bigfoot's Hamlet. Unfortunately for you, the critics disagree. While the show has garnered mostly lukewarm reviews, Razzle, Dazzle, Topper and Bobbie are being hailed as stars. One critic described the unidentified preview pooch as an "endlessly endearing" performer who "didn't put a paw wrong". Another complimented the dog for barking "bang on cue".
That is impressive. I take it back. White dogs all round. Which one was it? It was two. According to reality show winner Danielle Hope, who stars as Dorothy: "One dog needed a toilet break mid-show so we did a quick trade off-stage. We swapped him for a different dog but I don't think the audience noticed."
I see a long career ahead for these doggy doppelgangers. Perhaps, but it's Toto for now.
Do say: "Just to be clear, that Bigfoot as Hamlet thing never happened, did it?"
Don't say: "Tonight's performance features Razzle and Topper as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern."
