When Maria Fuller, the Shawano Community High School student playing Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” sings about waking up where the clouds are far behind her, she’ll be very close to the truth.
For this year’s winter musical, which opens Wednesday, a number of students will be flying across the stage as SCHS presents the classic tale of a Kansas farm girl whisked to a magical land. Audiences will see the wizard literally take off in his balloon, the wicked witch flying on her broomstick, Glinda descending from the sky to Munchkin land, and even Miss Gulch and her cursed bicycle going airborne during the cyclone.
This is the first time in the 15 years of music teacher Jonathon Kent’s directing tenure at SCHS that the school has even attempted something so daring and elaborate, and it is a rare sight to see in Northeast Wisconsin theatrical productions, he said.
Kent said he had the option of going with a nonflying version of the musical.
“We’re doing the Royal Shakespeare Comedy version … which came out in 1988,” Kent said. “It’s a big challenge for us. This is being professionally done.”
The high school’s auditorium does not have the equipment to simulate flying on the stage, so the school had to call in Hall Associates Flying Effects from DeKalb, Illinois, to install the harnesses and other gear needed to put Dorothy and company into the air.
For the last three days, the students who have flying scenes have been training with Hall officials.
“This show is a lot more expensive to produce, and I attribute that to the popularity of ‘Wicked,’” Kent said. “It led to a revival of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’”
The equipment and training cost the district about $7,000, according to Kent, but a number of community donations have helped to defray the expense.
Although a new sight for local audiences, the flying scenes are only a minor part of the show. The musical remains faithful to the 1939 film starring Judy Garland and includes all of the familiar songs.
The musical even restores a scene cut from the original MGM movie that features a song called “The Jitterbug.” The song was to be performed by Dorothy and her friends while they were on their way to steal the Wicked Witch of the West’s broom.
The Skylight Theater in Milwaukee, which recently closed its own run of “Oz,” provided the costumes for the main characters. Kent said the school district is paying less than it would have if the costumes were rented from a costume company.
There are almost 60 students involved on the stage, another 25 in the orchestra pit and 10 more working behind the scenes.
“This show was very well suited to the student body that we have, to the student talent,” Kent said.
The show will also feature a number of students from Olga Brener Intermediate School and Shawano Community Middle School. They will play the Munchkins.
Although it’s a high school event, Kent said the show has received significant support from outside the school, through funding and volunteer assistance.
“We’ve had a lot of additional participation from the community,” Kent said. “We’ve had many more parents involved in this show.”
The normal four-performance run of SCHS musicals has been expanded to five to help pay for the show.
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