Best of Broadway presents ‘The Wizard of Oz’
For more than two decades Susanville’s Best of Broadway has shared song and dance numbers from Broadway’s biggest hits at its annual shows.
Now Best of Broadway turns a news leaf and presents a show based on just one musical — “The Wizard of Oz.” Performance are at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, and 2 and 7 p.m. p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6 at the Veterans Memorial Hall. Tickets, available at Margie’s Book Nook, Zaengles Floor and Home, the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce and at the door, are $15.
Best of Broadway also presents a special dinner theatre production at 6 p.m. Aug. 3. Tickets for the dinner show are $35.
“The Wizard of Oz,” based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” became the popular 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz” starring Judy Garland. The movie won Academy awards for Best Original Song (“Over the Rainbow”) and Best original score.
“The Wizard of Oz” features some of America’s most beloved characters — Dorothy, of course, but don’t forget the Munchkins, the Wicked Witch of the West and Dorothy’s companions in Oz, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and, of course, Toto.
“The Wizard of Oz” also features some fantastic music audience members are sure to be humming all the way home — if not actually bursting out in joyous song. Those songs include “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” and “Follow the Yellow Brick Road/You’re Off to See The Wizard.”
The movie was adapted for the Broadway stage in 2011 with a book by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Jeremy Sams.
According to the Best of Broadway website, “The Wizard of Oz” cast members include:
Act 1 Scene 1-5 /Act 2 Scene 14
Kansas Dorothy: Annica Scrogin; Understudy: Audrey Edholm.
Act 1 Scene 6- Act 2 Scene 13
Oz Dorothy: Adelin McClure; Aunt Em: Jessica Scrogin; Glinda: Hannah Johnson; Understudy: Meranda Devor; Wicked Witch/Miss Gulch: Shannon Hollaway; Understudy: Stephanie Moore; Professor: Elliot Hollaway; Wizard of Oz: Isaiah Williams; Lion/Zeke:Brigit Cruce; Scarecrow/Hunk: Hannah Antonucci; Tinman/Hickory: Manny LaPorte; Oz Guard: Whitley Perkins; Uncle Henry: Shawn Anderson; Munchkinland Mayor: Jameson Wagner; Coroner: Clara Hoffman; Barrister: Bethany Johnson; Braggart: Audrey Edholm; City Fathers: Mattilynn Gibbs, Jaide Gibbs and Rylee Bowen; Tough Guys: Sylas Bock, Maverick Perkins and Knox Kessler; Tots: Aurora Merchant, Eleanor Merchant and Emerson Perkins; Munchkinland Citizens: Phoebe Kessler, Lincoln Tidwell, Meranda Devor, Abigael Downing, Jaylee Bowen-Stout and Stephanie Moore; Poppies: Phoebe Kessler, Paisley Bode, Emerson Perkins, Aurora Merchant, Jaylee Bowen-Stout and Eleanor Merchant; Trees: Whitley Perkins, Ethan Williams and Rylee Bowen; Crows: Allyannah Bock, Heather Manning and Madilyn Born; Ozian Beauticians: Mattilynn Gibbs, Jaide Gibbs and Stephanie Moore; Ozian Polishers:Thomas Herrera and Cory Bill; Ozian Manicurists: Amira Hill, and Jamison Herrera; Oz Men: Lincoln Tidwell, Shawn Anderson and Mikalah Gray; Oz Women: Meranda Devor, Eleanor Merchant, Savannah Merchant and Abigael Downing; Winkie General: Shawna Elder; Winkies:Ethan Williams, Clara Hoffman, Allyannah Bock and Elliot Hollaway; Flying Monkeys: Jameson Wagner, Knox Kessler and Sylas Bock; and Jitterbugs: Mattilynn Gibbs, Jaide Gibbs, Rylee Bowen, Phoebe Kessler, Paisley Bode, Emerson Perkins, Eleanor Merchant, Bethany Johnson, Maverick Perkins, Annica Scrogin and Audrey Edholm.
