Dorothy Follows Wootton Parkway To Find 'The Wizard of Oz'

Wootton Parkway may not be a yellow brick road, but it is the way to go to see the Wizard of Oz. 

Opening Friday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m., the Wootton Center for the Arts presents The Wizard Oz, starring junior Kayli Modell as Dorothy. 

Oz director Jessica Speck said she believes it’s Modell’s first lead role at but has high expectations for her performance.

“[Kayli] is tremendously hard-working and thoughtful, thinking about all aspects of the production, not just her own performance, but understands the show is in some respects on her shoulders,” Speck said. “I think the audience will love her because she’s just so sweet and adorable, everything you want Dorothy to be.”

The story, Speck said, is based on the 1987 musical performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London – a story that very closely follows the movie.

But Speck is anticipating parts of the audience to come prepared to see the performance through a different perspective.

Wicked, a play looking at the back-story of the Wicked Witch and Glinda (the good witch) and what they were like as teenagers, has been on Broadway for approximately eight years, Speck said.

“I think it’s sort of interesting for us to put on this show knowing that at least some of our audience is going to have the lens of Wicked to see it through,” Speck told Patch. “I think that’s in part of what makes it fun for us, but it's also just everyone’s seen the movie, everyone loves it, and you don’t have to work hard to sell this idea.”

Joining Modell’s Dorothy in lead roles are the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, Glinda, the professor/Wizard of Oz, Guard, and the Wicked Witch of the West. They will be played by Adam Uslan, Landon Fleishman, Corrieanne Stein, Christopher Walkup, Elgin Martin and Julia Wainger, respectively.

“It’s a really large scale production,” Speck said, adding there are about 55 kids in the cast, 50 in the orchestra, 40 on crew, and about 65 munchkins. Cast members come from all grades and range from first-time performers to Wootton theater veterans, she said.

The show has done extremely well in the box office, Speck said, having pre-sold more tickets than any show in Susan Thorpe’s 10 years of running the box office.

“Our pre-sale ticket orders have been very good,” Thorpe, Wootton’s arts resource teacher, told Patch in an email. “We are hopeful for huge audiences to enjoy this enchanting production.”

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Performance Dates: March 16, 17, 23, and 24 at 7:30 p.m. March 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. 

Ticket Info: Reserved Seats: $15, General Admission: $10 

Tickets can be ordered online or at the Wootton box office March 15-16 and March 21-23 from 3 to 6 p.m. or two hours before the show on performance days.