Travel To The Land of Oz….By Way of the Narberth Community Theater!

Theater Group: Narberth Community Theater
Show Title: The Wizard of Oz
Opened: February 29, 2008
Closes: March 15, 2008
Attended: March 1, 2008

Reviewer: Tom Lamphere
Submitted: March 2, 2008

Frank L. Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” has been performed on stages around the world for many, many years for two reasons. First, the story is an instant classic. Second, in 1939 Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg set the story to music and wrote some of the most well known songs of all time. Even though I’ve seen the movie countless times and have attended several stage versions of the show over the years, I must admit I still looked forward to the production I attended at the Narberth Community Theater.

Any theater that wants to produce the “Wizard of Oz” must face several sobering facts before one audition is held, one note is played or one set piece assembled. The audience, for the most part, knows the story and comes in with certain expectations. They expect the characters to look, sound and act in a certain way! They expect the costumes to be colorful, the sets to look like a farm, Oz, or a witch’s castle. In short, the audience expects the show to be magical! All in all, this show is a nightmare to produce!

So how did the Narberth Community Theater do in meeting those expectations? Let’s look at them one at a time.

First, there’s the characters. Everyone knows Dorothy and 8th grader Maggie Familetti does a very good job in bringing her to life. She looks the part and handles her songs including “Over the Rainbow” very well. Right beside her throughout most of the show is her dog Toto, played by Julia Grugan a kindergarten student in her first role. I must say that not only is Julia cute as a button, but she has made the most of playing a dog and didn’t miss a single one of her many cues throughout the performance!

The other most well known characters include the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion played by Carl Heyde, Todd Kimmell and Steve Arcidiacono, respectively. Each of these actors have a lot of fun bringing their character to life on the stage and there are numerous occasions where the actors play homage to their film counterparts.

Of course, no production of the Wizard of Oz would be complete without witches! As Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, Kim Albright shines! She has a lovely voice which makes one wish there were more for her to sing than the few short selections in this production. Her evil counterpart, the Wicked Witch of the West, is played by Trudy Garboyes who also plays the role of evil Ms. Gulch. Ms. Garboyes has the witch’s laugh down to perfection and, like many others in this show, seems to be having a blast!

The Ensemble for this production is quite large and includes lots of children in the roles of munchkins, monkeys and other assorted characters. The kids as well as adults in the Ensemble do a great job in helping to fill out the scenes. Director Carol Robinson is to be commended on a fine job in preparing this large group for their scenes as everything seemed perfectly choreographed including entrances and exits.

The next expectation of the audience is that the costumes and sets are colorful and fun. This is especially true when the characters reach Oz. For this production, the Narberth’s production team opened their minds and created a revolving stage that allows the crew to set up the next scene behind the back wall of the current set that is viewed by the audience. When the current scene ends, the set is turned 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. This concept served the production well and I’m sure will be used for many more future productions at the Narberth.

A crew of eleven people lead by Christine Jackson obviously worked many months creating the costumes for the 30 or so actors that take the stage, many of whom require multiple costumes. I’m happy to say their efforts paid off as costumes added to the magic of the story and the attention to detail is quite evident.

The music for this production includes all of the well known songs from the movie including “Over the Rainbow”, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”, “If I Only Had A Brain”, “King of the Forrest” and more! Susan Taylor Bullock led the twelve piece orchestra through the light-hearted score as cast sang along with a lot of enthusiasm.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the special effects used in this production. Pyrotechnic/Special Effects Advisor Jay Efran pulled off the near impossible as he faithfully re-created most of the magic originally seen in the movie. Most community theaters that produce Oz simply take the short cuts on special effects or cut them out completely. The production team chose the other, more difficult path of trying to live up to the movie magic we all know and love. I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises so I’ll simply say that given the time, money and other constraints imposed by a community theater production, Mr. Efran and the production team should be VERY proud as they make the magic happen!

Whether you are young or old, you can’t help but enjoy the “Wizard of Oz” and the Narberth Community Theater has put together a faithful production that both my 4 and 7 year old children enjoyed (ok, my 4 year old didn’t like the Wicked Witch very much!). I have to say, I enjoyed it as much as they did!