Off to see the Wizard
Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, The Cowardly Lion and even Toto, too, will be off to the search for a great and powerful wizard in February and March.
But they won’t have to travel to the land of Oz to find him.
The great and powerful Oz, Wicked Witch of the West, flying monkeys, the Munchkins and Dorothy and her friends will all be on stage in Lakeshore Catholic High School’s theatre auditorium as the Port Colborne Operatic Society puts on a performance of The Wizard of Oz.
“The Wizard of Oz is a perennial favourite. It’s the kind of show that virtually everyone knows and it is very popular. I am told that ticket sales are going very well, so that tells you that the public loves it,” said second-year director Iraina Neufeld.
Neufeld said it has a lot of great elements and a very nice message of home is where the heart is.
“That’s not a bad message. It has good family values and that appeals to our regular audience.”
It also appeals to the people putting on the production, said Neufeld.
“It’s fun from a visual perspective because, of course, it’s magical and not all shows have that. We have this whole magical land … from a production point of view it’s really fun to light, you can put some really interesting lights on it.”
She said the costumes are very interesting as well.
“So you have all these options which you don’t necessarily have in a musical.”
This musical does present a bit of a challenge for both Neufeld and the cast because almost everyone knows the Wizard of Oz.
“As director, I think my challenge is to put our stamp on it. We’re not trying to recreate the Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) production, but we are being faithful to the script. Our characters are our characters.”
Neufeld, who has been a director for 26 years, said the performers taking part in the production — there are about 55 — are from across Niagara and are a mix of seasoned musical veterans and rookie actors.
“We have a tremendous age range in the show, from about seven years old to, and I wasn’t going to ask her age, a woman in her 80s. That’s cool.”
She said audience members will recognize a number of the actors on stage, such as longtime operatic society actor Jamie Mowat (playing the Tin Man), but added there are a lot of new people this year, too.
“The woman playing Dorothy (Emily Cortolezzis) moved down here from up north recently and our Scarecrow (Bradley Doyle) is new to the operatic society. Our Cowardly Lion (Joffre Mercier) is a professor from Brock University, he was new last year. We have a terrific range of people.”
Neufeld, a recently retired teacher who directed a production of My Fair Lady last year, said all of the actors have been great to work with and she’s having fun.
“They are keen to do their best and keen to get it right. I can’t say enough about them.”
The production marks the operatic society’s 74th show since 1945, making it the oldest amateur theatre company in Niagara.
Neufeld said there are eight performances — seven public and one preview show — of the musical in February and March in the Lakeshore Catholic auditorium at 150 Janet St., Port Colborne. The dates are: Saturday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m.; Friday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m; and Sunday, March 4, at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the Roselawn Box Office at 905-834-7572.