The Wizards of Somerville

Follow the yellow brick road to Somerville, pull the curtain and what will you see? You'll see 84 of Somerville's best 4th and 5th grade talent on display , a new spin on a familiar story by writer/director Rosie McCooe.

It may be McCooe's seventh year directing the long-standing theater production at Somerville, but the 2011 show marks a first–it's the first Somerville show she's both directed and written.

"Working with kids is tricky," she explained. "The hardest part is finding material. It's hard to do a romance with them or a love story with 4th and 5th graders."

No problem this year. The 2011 show will be an updated synthesis of a classic tale–"The Wizard of Oz", along with "Wicked" and "The Wiz".

"It's been brewing in my brain for years," McCooe said of "WWW DOT".

"When I approached this year's producers I said, 'I'm kind of out of material but this is something that's been in the back of my brain for years. What do you think?' and they loved it."

"It's a wonderful, long-standing production. Our production value is great, our set is great, the costumes are great," she said.

A familiar cast will be on hand. Dorothy will be there along with her merry band of misfits, although it's not exactly the lore of the original movie.

"T-Man," for example,  is kind of a hip hop version of the silver man of hearts while Dorothy has a more updated skirt, McCooe said. "They're an updated version of those old characters. The costumes suggest those iconic characters but don't explicitly say it."

The basic story structure remains, with some more contemporary points. Dorothy and the 'Seekers' wind down the yellow brick road on their way to the Emerald City and confront 'The Populars' and the good witch, "Glee".

The music, done by musical director Barbara Donatacci, will feature 25 songs from the three shows, many of which are "fun, funky and kid-friend," McCooe said. "We have a live band, which is pretty remarkable for a children's group," she added.

The kids have had a special interest this year, and it partly came out of sheer coincidence. The 5th graders saw Wicked last week, which helped keep enthusiasm at high levels and aided in familiarity with the process.

"I think it's always cool when you go into a show knowing the songs and it's familiar. They've all been exposed to those shows. They get all the references," McCooe said.

With 84 kids split between two grades, you won't find a star vehicle in the double-cast performance and that's the way McCooe prefers it. One cast will have a boy scarecrow and the other a girl scarecrow.

Just as the casting is a bit different with gender roles, "each cast take on their own personality and they each kind of do things a bit different from the other cast," McCooe said.

"It’s been so exciting to collaborate with the kids and to watch them have so much fun with the material," she said.

"For some of these kids they'll never be in another play. They'll have wonderful memories of doing children's theater. It's really part of the fabric that is part of Somerville school. The show is a going to be a blast!”

The play premiers Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Somerville and has a showing at 12 p.m., 4:00 pm. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $10.