Dorothy (Rebecca Browand), second from left, rehearses with from left, the Scarecrow (Brian Boyce), the Tin Woodsman (Nick Johnson), Cowardly Lion (Austin Quillen).
Just follow the Yellow Brick Road to Whitehall’s all-school production of the popular musical “The Wizard of Oz” this coming weekend.
Performances will be Thursday through Sunday, Jan. 28-31, in the Whitehall High School auditorium. Curtain times are 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets for the musical are on sale this week during the lunch hours at the high school, and 6-8 p.m. in the commons area. Tickets will also be sold before the performances.
While audience members will not be taking the Yellow Brick Road to the performance, Directors Vince Browand and Greg Boughton want to emphasize there will be changes in the parking and ticket booth locations for the event.
The parking and patron entrance will be on the west side of the high school at the bus/teacher parking area, and not at the front entrance of the school as in the past.
The box office will be at the west end of the school commons.
”We are moving the parking and entrance location to help accommodate better parking, easier access to tickets and better traffic flow,” Browand said.
Boughton, a retired teacher and veteran of the theater productions at Whitehall High School, said this is the fourth time the school has performed “The Wizard of Oz,” but the first time in the new high school’s auditorium. The musical has been performed in 1974, 1985 and 1995.
The famous musical was written by L. Frank Baum, and is a story about little Dorothy Gale of Kansas who dreams of what lies over the rainbow. In her dream one day a twister hits her home town and carries her away over the rainbow.
At the other end of the rainbow, Dorothy finds herself in the colorful Munchkinland and meets her first fairyland figure, Glinda, the kind witch of the north.
The Munchkins call Dorothy a heroine because her home landed on the Wicked Witch of the East who had tormented the Munchkins.
But, Dorothy just wants to go back to Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.
The only way to return, she is told, is to see the Wizard of Oz. She has an enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West, the sister of the Wicked Witch of the East.
So Dorothy follows the Yellow Brick Road to find the wizard, and on the way finds three friends, the Scarecrow who wants a brain, the Tin Woodsman who wants a heart and the Cowardly Lion who wants courage. They all seek their desires from the Wizard.
The trip to the Emerald City and Oz is filled with adventure and attempts by the Witch to stop the journey.
The lead character, Dorothy, is played by Rebecca Browand. Aunt Em is played by Julia Krohn and Uncle Henry is played by Andrew Moulds.
The Scarecrow, Tim Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion area played by Brian Boyce, Nick Johnson and Austin Quillen.
The other main characters are the Wizard of Oz (Zack Mark), Miss Gulch (Emily Keller), Professor Marvel (Casey Reagan), Glinda (Allie Ogden), West Witch (Alana Klco), Emerald City Guard (Scott Dorsett), the Mayor of the Munchkin City (Vanessa DeCouto), Nikko-Commander of the Monkeys (Josh Horning), Jitterbug Captain (Ryan Shields), Flying Monkeys (Nate Johnson, Casey Reagan, Josh Keller) and the coroner (Rhiannan Spicklemire).
The Munchkins will be played by Ealy Elementary School students.
The cast also includes: flying monkeys, trees, poppies, winkies and citizens of the Emerald City.
Browand will also be directing the pit orchestra. Julie Browand is in charge of costumes, Amy Browand and Inga Carey are working with choreography and Tasha Brandel and Mike Snell are working with special effects, lighting and sound. Scott Keller, Troy Brandel and Vince Browand are working on the sets.
