The spring musical for Osbourn has been officially chosen! Mr. Scofield, Osbourn’s theatre teacher and director, has chosen The Wizard of Oz. The show days are April 3, 4, and 5 at 7:00 p.m.
The Wizard of Oz is a classic movie from 1939. The movie features four main characters: Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. Osbourn’s specific musical is based on the movie rather than the original book.
“So, the version of the play that we are doing is almost exactly like the movie, the Judy Garland movie, but I had purposely not gone back and rewatched the movie since I started working on the play. I kind of had my own ideas and my own memories of how the characters are and interact, and I really wanted to see what cast actors could fit the vision in my head. We also wanted to make sure that we had the core ground of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. I wanted to have four actors who could really play off of each other. So, that went into it and also, having them interact and do stage tests together to see how their individual personalities interacted, that was super important,” said theatre teacher, Mr. Scofield.
Scofield has chosen this play and has given us an insight on why he has chosen this as our spring play. He is basing his choice on the fact that he didn’t want to make another horror like Dracula, he wanted to differentiate the two and give more variety.
“Well, I didn’t want it to just be a creepy, scary musical. I didn’t want to do two shows that were both dark and mysterious. So, Wizard of Oz, it’s a much brighter, happier, and lighter story. It’s well known; everyone knows it, or at least should. While there is magic and darkness and it has a witch in it, it is nowhere near as dark and as moody as the Dracula ones. So, totally different tones; more fun, more lighthearted with The Wizard of Oz as our spring musical,” said Scofield.
“So, kind of similar to what I just said. I wanted to do a musical that had a different tone and different flavor than the fall play. So, I was purposefully looking for a more upbeat and exciting one. I like the fantasy element of it, that’s sort of my wheelhouse. I like working in that genre, and The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies. It has a lot of my favorite songs in it. I think it is a lot of fun, and there’s some interesting social commentary that’s built into The Wizard of Oz that we don’t go over the head with, but it’s there,” Scofield continued.
Osbourn’s cast was chosen by the director, Mr. Scofield, assistant director, Victoria Ingram, and stage manager, Emilia Ingram. People have different opinions about the cast chosen, like how they were really nicely chosen and how the actor acts the opposite of their character. The cast opinions are pretty positive since everyone believes it is nicely chosen. Here are their opinions.
“The different personalities of the cast definitely add to all the energy of the show. We have Liam Sutphin, who is playing the scarecrow. He is a very funny person, he’s putting so much physicality and humor into this, and seeing his energy on stage as a scarecrow is so much fun. We have Ash Stoner as the lion. not a very cowardly person in real life, but they are putting their all into making this nervous, frightened little lion, and it is so entertaining to work with. Lastly, we got Noah Nicoletti as the Tinman, who is also putting his all into his comedic timing, which he is great at, and his energy as a Tinman. Everyone is so great to work with, and I’m so grateful to be a part of the cast,” said sophomore Brynna Thaxter.
“I really think they go well because I think everyone was perfectly cast, and what I mean by that is that every character that has been assigned kind of matches their energy. So, I definitely think that they were right for this show, and they can incorporate some of their own personality into their character because they’re very like them,” said freshman Jackson Doll.
Osbourn has two shows every year to give everyone at least one chance. If you would like to come and try out for the crew or cast, you always should! If you are worried about being stressed and not being able to balance school and the play or you need advice on trying out, here is some advice from a few people in the play about these topics.
“I would tell them to just try, don’t quit. If you don’t get it right away, that’s okay. Try again at Osbourn; We do at least two shows a year, so if you don’t get into the fall play, try again for the musical. You won’t know until you audition for something, but don’t take rejection as a stop. Keep going,” said Thaxter.
“It’s difficult to balance a play and your outside life, but personally, academics come first. Above all, that’s academics for me at least. But school is important, and if you find yourself struggling, let your teachers know. Let them know if you have any deadlines you need to be extended; just inform them of your commitments before everything piles on top of each other,” Thaxter added.
“You just have to find time for stuff. Maybe rehearse one day and do homework after it, or if you have rehearsal one day, you can do homework the next day. It’s just figuring out what days you have rehearsal or performances and then how you can figure out what to do outside of those days,” said Doll.
“I would tell them to go for it because the people who work in theatre are a community, and we work well together, like a machine, and just not to be afraid to try something new,” said freshman Emilia Ingram.
Osbourn’s show is women-centric because of the many main characters showing women, like in Dracula as well. Scofield really enjoys the aspect of women being the strong characters, and he also shows the interesting character journey of Dorothy. He also shows what he takes away from the character development in The Wizard of Oz. More women had tried out, so some roles are gender-changing, and some male roles are played by women actors, like the Cowardly Lion.
“So, it is women-centric with Dorothy, the good witch, and the wicked witch. I like strong female characters; that’s why I chose Dracula because you have Mina as that strong female character in that. I think it is an interesting, timeless story. The Wizard of Oz is the first truly American fantasy story that was ever written, and I like exploring those kinds of firsts in milestones. So, having the original American fantasy mixed with strong female characters is just super appealing to me. I think it is exciting to see, a lot of fun, and kind of timeless,” said Scofield.
“Dorothy has an interesting character journey, her whole art. She starts off feeling kind of sorry for herself, lonely, and feeling like she and Toto are a bit oppressed. Then, she ends up traveling to Oz and has to undergo a real adventure with other characters who each have their own individual personal problems. From a scarecrow not having a brain, to a Tin Man not having a heart, to the Cowardly Lion being cowardly and not having courage. At the end of the story, they all come to realize that those things that they thought were external are really inside of them the whole time. They had them, and they just had to work on making them more present and more prominent. I think that speaks for everybody. We all have things that we feel like we are lacking and we have got to find our strengths within ourselves and help them emerge. We don’t need outside things, we’ve got it within us from the beginning,” Scofield added.
The musical, unlike the fall play, is well-planned and is not rushed. The fall play was very rushed since there was not much time to prepare, unlike the musical, where they had a lot of time to prepare.
“For the most part, the whole show is pre-planned before we actually perform because we want everything to look perfect on stage, but very little is at the moment if we do make mistakes and need to fix it,” said Emilia Ingram.
Here is the cast list:
Dorothy Gale- Brynna Thaxter
Aunt Em/Glinda- Savannah Fitzgerald
Uncle Henry/Emerald City Guard- Jackson Doll
Zeke/Cowardly Lion- Ash Stoner
Hickory/Tinman- Noah Nicoletti
Hunk/Scarecrow- Liam Sutphin
Miss Almira Gulch/The Wicked Witch- Susannah Bailey
Professor Marvel/The Wizard of Oz- Marshall Bassam
Come and see Osbourn’s play at 7 pm on April 3,4, and 5!
