Review: ‘Wizard of Oz’ a magical musical

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Although there’s no place like home, local residents should definitely plan on a trip to the Land of Oz (formerly Niswonger Performing Arts Center) tonight or Saturday for the final two performances of the Van Wert High School Drama Club’s production of The Wizard of Oz.

Directors Chad Kraner and Matt Alessandrini have done a wonderful job of transforming the NPAC stage into a magical world where Munchkins, witches (both good and wicked), Winkies and Flying Monkeys cavort as young Dorothy Gale tries to find her way back home.

The VWHS play more closely follows the classic 1939 MGM movie version of L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s novel than the book itself (ruby slippers, rather than Baum’s silver ones, for example), and includes the movie’s songs, including “Over the Rainbow,” “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead”, “If I Were King of the Forest,” “The Merry Old Land of Oz” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

The play begins, as in the movie, in a drab and colorless Kansas countryside where Dorothy (Harley Danylchuk) lives with her Uncle Henry (Levi McCarter) and Auntie Em (Corrie Smith), as well as farm hands Hunk (Tin Man), Hickory (Scarecrow) and Zeke (Cowardly Lion), but gets much more colorful when Dorothy gets to the Land of Oz.

Danylchuk does a very nice job of reprising Judy Garland’s movie role. Her singing is tuneful and she does a bang-up job of infusing Dorothy with a combination of spunk and charm.

Ashlee Dowdy is great as both the evil Miss Gulch, who tries to steal Dorothy’s little dog, Toto, and the spinster’s alter ego, the Wicked Witch of the West. Her cackling threats are realistic reminders of Margaret Hamilton’s classic portrayal.

After running away from home with Toto, who escapes from Miss Gulch, Dorothy then meets Professor Marvel (Jacob Hoverman), a traveling huckster and humbug. Hoverman, who is tasked with playing a number of parts in the movie, including Professor Marvel and the Wizard of Oz, as well as the doorman and guard in Oz, does a good job of making each character distinct, not an easy task, while playing the bumbling professor and wizard to a “T”. His singing is also among the best in the cast.

Once Dorothy is whisked over the rainbow to the Land of Oz, she meets a variety of characters, including Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Morella Mills), the Wicked Witch of the West (the aforementioned Ashlee Dowdy), the Munchkins (played by Van Wert Elementary School students), talking trees, Flying Monkeys and Winkies, the Wicked Witch’s enchanted guards.

But most important of those she meets are the Scarecrow (Drew Hoffman), Tin Man (Jesse Daniels), and the Cowardly Lion (Hunter Munroe). All three do a wonderful job of breathing life into their characters, while also performing the music and dance to perfection.

In fact, all the student actors involved in the play do a masterful job of evoking the magic and wonder of the 1939 movie on stage at the NPAC. Of special merit were Robbie Trittschuh, who plays the captain of the Winkies and had the presence of mind to come up with an adlib when one of his Winkies’ spear broke during Thursday’s performance, and Tyler Nygren, the human equivalent of the Yellow Brick Road in this production.

Also magnificent is the costuming, set design and construction by Josh Schumm and Hugh Saunier and lighting, choreography of Melissa Bloomfield and Kim Pollock, as well as the live orchestra (Eric Clay on electric piano, Rod Sroufe on bass, Kathryn Bell on flute/recorder, Jennifer Slusher on clarinet, Tonia Gamble on saxophone, James Zanker and Eric Durre on trumpet, Tony Alessandrini on trombone, Dave Bradford on drums and Tina Decker on other percussion instruments). All help the student effort nearly attain the status of a professional production.

Thursday night’s audience gave the production a well-deserved standing ovation and those who don’t get and purchase a ticket at the NPAC box office are missing out on the wonder of an excellent student performance in the superb venue of the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. Performances begin at 7 p.m. today and Saturday.