By Dale King
For most of us in the age-55-and-over bracket, a visit to “the merry old land of Oz” used to be a once-a-year excursion provided by one of the three sole TV networks that broadcast the classic 1939 film of author L. Frank Baum’s fanciful story, The Wizard of Oz, on our 12-channel, antenna-on-the-roof television sets.
Today, folks can find the same video narrative of a young girl from Kansas who visits an enchanted land “somewhere over the rainbow” via any cable or Dish connection that’s available 24/7.
Or you can take a seat in the Lake Worth Playhouse and allow a throng of performers, musical numbers, elegant stage settings and joyous fantasy whisk you off to a land of lollipop kids and charmed forests, where a magical yellow brick road leads to the mystical Emerald City, and where you don’t have to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts to find Munchkins.
The playhouse in downtown Lake Worth Beach brings The Wizard of Oz down to earth through April 10. Cathy Randazzo Olsen exquisitely directs this iconic and entertaining fable that requires an outpouring of assistance from stage folks, actors – many of them children – and a dog called Toto – to properly bring this out worldly saga to the stage.
Just how many people are needed to put this production together? The list of names takes up a single-spaced half page in the program book and jumps to an inserted page to complete the roster. Musical Director Roger Blankenship keeps the music noteworthy while choreographer Lara Williams and assistant choreographer Elizabeth D’Amico certify that performer’s steps are in sync.
A couple of dozen actors – some handling multiple roles – flesh out the Baum story as humans, flying monkeys, tiny people called Munchkins, jitterbugs, good and bad witches and creatures of uncertain ilk. Lead players arrive with acting and vocal talents that may not soar to Hollywood level but sing well and put on a good show.
The Wizard of Oz dates to the 1900 novel that ignited Oz-mania, a phenomenon found in books, on TV and the big screen and even in hit songs.
The story unfolds at a Kansas farm where Dorothy Gale (Emily Moreland) lives with her Aunt Em (Jill Williams) and Uncle Henry (Carl VanDyke). The farm folks are battening down for a tornado when Dorothy’s nasty teacher Almira Gultch (J.B. Peters) shows up with a sheriff’s order to take Toto away as a vicious dog.
The smart pup escapes and returns to the farm, but it’s too late for Dorothy and her canine to get to the storm cellar. They run into the house, which starts to shake and swirl. Dorothy falls on the bed, hitting her head and apparently drifts into a dream state.
Special effects and stagehands work together to make the storm scene pretty realistic. It includes the projection of a black-and-white tornado scene, shot by the folks at LWP and shown on a screen at the rear of the stage, adding lots of swirl to make the scene scarier.
Dorothy and the house land “somewhere over the rainbow.” The dropped dwelling kills the Wicked Witch of the East. This makes Dorothy the target of the Wicked Witch of the West (also portrayed by Peters), who vows to kill “you, my pretty – and your little dog, too.”
So, Dorothy must elude the bad witch and make her yellow brick trek with three companions, Scarecrow (Ryan Stender), Tin Man (Jy’ireze Bell-Bennett) and Cowardly Lion (Carl Barber-Steele), who are also the three farmhands she left behind in Kansas.
LWP’s Wizard of Oz pretty much follows the film’s lead. As in the movie, the show is interspersed with pleasing, well-known songs by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. Harburg. As Dorothy, Moreland gives her all to a fine rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Dorothy joins her companions for delightful versions of “If I only had” a heart, brain or the nerve, depending on who is vocalizing. And while each actor offers top-notch efforts, Barber-Steele adds a garnish of Bert Lahr oomph to his portrayal of the Cowardly Lion, particularly in the song, “If I were King of the Forest.”
(Also, listen for a nod to Disney’s Lion King in one of Barber-Steele’s monologues.)
Everyone in the cast helps to make this production work, The entertainment value is high, and opening night brought a near full house at the Lake Avenue venue to its feet. Plaudits for going above-and-beyond go to Peters as Gultch and the Wicked Witch; Gary Oppenheim as Professor Marvel and the Wizard himself’ and VanDyke as Uncle Henry and the Emerald City Guard. Jaxon Wooding excels among the kids as the Mayor of Munchkinland.
The Wizard of Oz plays through April 10 at the Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 561-586-6410 or visiting www.lakeworthplayhouse.org.