We're off to see 'The Wizard'
By Charles WhaleySpecial to The Courier-Journal
It's almost as if they had stepped down from the screen to cavort on Derby Dinner Playhouse's stage.
So it seems as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and other pop-culture icons from "The Wizard of Oz" come magically to life in this Royal Shakespeare Company version of the classic film.
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If you close your eyes, at times you could almost believe it's Judy Garland up there instead of diminutive Claire Longest singing "Over the Rainbow" and yearning to get back home to Kansas after a twister carries her off to Oz.
She's splendid, and so are her friends -- Jim Hesselman (Scarecrow), Brian Bowman (Tin Man) and J.R. Stuart (Cowardly Lion). Stuart, especially, perfectly captures Bert Lahr's mannerisms and false bravado.
Sandra Simpson is Dorothy's nemesis, the termagant Miss Almira Gultch, who is determined to destroy Dorothy's little dog, Toto (played by a miniature wire-haired dachshund named Whiskey).
Simpson then transmogrifies into the scary, cackling Wicked Witch of the West. Her meltdown after failing to seize Dorothy's ruby slippers is one of the play's many highlights.
It's all here -- Glinda the Good Witch (Friesia Schul, who also plays Auntie Em) descending from on high, the munchkins elaborately welcoming Dorothy to Oz after her house falls on the Wicked Witch's sister, the flying monkeys and the enslaved Winkies from the witch's castle, the field of sleep-inducing poppies on which a cleansing snow falls, the charlatan Wizard (David Myers) who hides behind a fierce gigantic talking head and utters pronouncements.
Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's enchanting score, including "If I Only Had a Brain (a Heart, the Nerve)," "Yellow Brick Road," "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead," is reproduced in all its glory under musical director Bill Corcoran in the show, which is produced and briskly directed by Bekki Jo Schneider.
An extra attraction is a well-mounted lobby display from the private "Oz" collection of Steve Brewster and Morgan Wiseman of Huntingburg, Ind.
It features some 250 of their 9,000 items, including dolls, plates, Judy Garland's 1953 Kentucky Colonel commission from then-Gov. Lawrence Wetherby, a replica of the ruby slippers and numerous tchotchkes. The two men plan to be at Derby Dinner most nights during the play's run to answer questions.
Three of the film's Munchkins offered to come sign autographs for $1,000 a night but the Playhouse politely declined their offer, Schneider said.
It's almost as if they had stepped down from the screen to cavort on Derby Dinner Playhouse's stage.
So it seems as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and other pop-culture icons from "The Wizard of Oz" come magically to life in this Royal Shakespeare Company version of the classic film.
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If you close your eyes, at times you could almost believe it's Judy Garland up there instead of diminutive Claire Longest singing "Over the Rainbow" and yearning to get back home to Kansas after a twister carries her off to Oz.
She's splendid, and so are her friends -- Jim Hesselman (Scarecrow), Brian Bowman (Tin Man) and J.R. Stuart (Cowardly Lion). Stuart, especially, perfectly captures Bert Lahr's mannerisms and false bravado.
Sandra Simpson is Dorothy's nemesis, the termagant Miss Almira Gultch, who is determined to destroy Dorothy's little dog, Toto (played by a miniature wire-haired dachshund named Whiskey).
Simpson then transmogrifies into the scary, cackling Wicked Witch of the West. Her meltdown after failing to seize Dorothy's ruby slippers is one of the play's many highlights.
It's all here -- Glinda the Good Witch (Friesia Schul, who also plays Auntie Em) descending from on high, the munchkins elaborately welcoming Dorothy to Oz after her house falls on the Wicked Witch's sister, the flying monkeys and the enslaved Winkies from the witch's castle, the field of sleep-inducing poppies on which a cleansing snow falls, the charlatan Wizard (David Myers) who hides behind a fierce gigantic talking head and utters pronouncements.
Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's enchanting score, including "If I Only Had a Brain (a Heart, the Nerve)," "Yellow Brick Road," "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead," is reproduced in all its glory under musical director Bill Corcoran in the show, which is produced and briskly directed by Bekki Jo Schneider.
An extra attraction is a well-mounted lobby display from the private "Oz" collection of Steve Brewster and Morgan Wiseman of Huntingburg, Ind.
It features some 250 of their 9,000 items, including dolls, plates, Judy Garland's 1953 Kentucky Colonel commission from then-Gov. Lawrence Wetherby, a replica of the ruby slippers and numerous tchotchkes. The two men plan to be at Derby Dinner most nights during the play's run to answer questions.
Three of the film's Munchkins offered to come sign autographs for $1,000 a night but the Playhouse politely declined their offer, Schneider said.
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