After a full year, the Park Theater program has produced another hit musical. This year’s production was The Wizard of Oz, filled with a vibrant, exuberant cast. There was lots of unfamiliar creative input and exciting costumes and props that kept viewers curious and engaged.
According to the show’s director, Jodi Schifsky, The Wizard of Oz wasn’t the original show they intended to produce, but the story’s iconic storyline was the perfect way to display each cast member.
“(The Wizard of Oz) actually wasn’t our original show for this year, but we had some shifts at the last minute, and so we decided to do this show,” Schifsky said. “It’s a classic, but it has contemporary themes too. It’s a great way to showcase all of our talents because it’s a huge tech show. It’s got great music and a great way to showcase featured actors, but also a large ensemble.”
Senior Iris Flink, co-head of costume design, said the show had many different variables they had to navigate such as the set and costume. Flink said because the show had so many dynamic elements, they could bring lots of color to the stage.
“This show is super set and costume heavy, so we’ve been working every single three-hour practice we’ve had, all the way through,” Flink said. “We started with all the main characters and then just pulled anything green super colorful for both Munchkin Land and Emerald City. So lots of it is from thrift stores, ragtags or things from people’s houses but it all came together.”
According to senior Karen Dworsky, who portrays Glinda the Good Witch, did a lot of research to familiarize herself with the role.
“I like to watch a lot of video clips of different Glindas and I like to gain inspiration. I wanted to try to put my spin on my role and just wanted it to be as whimsical as possible,” Dworsky said.
Schifsky said while producing the show, they tried to be as creative with the production as possible. With the show being so recognizable, she said a main goal was to try and make it their own by modernizing it.
“We tried to be very creative, and we tried some new things and retried other things. We have a great tech crew who was able to take theoretical visions and bring them to life,” Schifsky said. “Many people know and love the movie, right? And because the words and the music are so similar to the actual film, we had to sort of challenge people’s expectations. We could just modernize the show and take it out in whatever direction we wanted to.”
According to Flink, dress rehearsals have helped the crew and cast fix all kinds of different errors. Flink said the different costumes brought new problems that led to new solutions.
“Glinda has a big hoop skirt, so she’s practiced for an entire month leading up to dress rehearsals. Declan (Scarecrow) falls around a lot, which is awesome, but in cowboy boots, that makes it a little harder, so just lots of practice,” Flink said. “We’ve been doing full costume runs since three weeks ago, so that helps us a lot. We just iron out different kicks and see what we need to steam and what we need to fully scrap.”
Dworsky said the cast of The Wizard of Oz is close and passionate about theater. Despite age gaps between cast members, Dworsky said the cast is truly spirited to perform.
“We’re all a part of the theater community, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or a senior. We’re all in the theater and we all love to perform together and that’s just beautiful,” Dworsky said.
According to Schifsky, a standout castmate ties the entire show together. Schifsky said she helped with both the set as well as played the key role of Toto.
“I want to give a shout-out to Aurora Pascal, who did the Toto puppet, but also did the lead artistry with the mushrooms and the wizard head,” Schifsky said. “We tried to play with the puppetry as well as other new things such as the witches that fly in and out, and even the wizard’s head is kind of a puppet in itself, too.”
The show ran on the weekends from Nov. 14 all the way until Nov. 23.
