Senior Tali has dreamed of playing Dorothy since she was a little girl. Now that her high school is producing “The Wizard of Oz,” she has the opportunity to live that dream.

“It is a musical that I grew up with and now I get to be [Dorothy],” Tali said. “I used to have the dress and ruby slippers when I was little.”
Tali isn’t the only member of the cast who grew up with “The Wizard of Oz.” The 1939 movie adaptation is deeply embedded in the American psyche: the image of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man skipping with linked arms along the yellow brick road; the melody of the iconic song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the Wicked Witches ghastly, green face. We grew up watching the movie and hearing, “There’s no place like home,” and “Follow the yellow brick road.”

The cast knows that its audience is familiar with certain aspects of “The Wizard of Oz.” However, they hope to differentiate their production from past adaptations.

“I think it’s always good not to copy other people’s works and really make it your own because that’s what makes it interesting,” said junior Allison, who plays the Munchkin Lawyer. “Probably everybody who comes to see the show [has] already seen the movie and they [wants] to see our take on it.”

Audiences will still see There are fewer songs in this production than there were in last year’s musical, “Once on This Island,” This shortens the part of the ensemble and lengthens the scenes of the major roles.

However even in this cast that emphasizes its synergy, the weight on the four main characters: Dorothy, Lion, Tin man and Scarecrow played by, respectively, Tali, Joel, Nikai, and Jacob.

Three weeks before opening, Tali said, “there are 27 scenes in the show, and I’m in 25. It’s a lot of work and I’m still working on my lines and it’s kind of stressful.”

Because the story is centered around the adventures of four main characters, the rest of the cast got smaller roles. However, according to Allison, it is the efforts of the people who have the smaller roles that distinguishes the difference between an average show to a spectacular one. “We have a lot to do even as smaller roles, because it really shows when everybody is putting their full effort in versus if only a few people are trying and the rest of them are putting in half the amount of effort,” she said.

To put on this more challenging musical, an enormous amount of commitment is required from the general cast. For three and a half months the cast participates in nearly four hours of class rehearsals and daily rehearsals everyday after school. The burden has come down even harder on Junior Jacob.

“It is a large commitment. You have to give up time after school that you might otherwise have been using for homework or sports or just relaxing,” Jacob said.

However, the time spent together creates a tight-knit community among the cast. If you venture backstage during play rehearsals, you’ll find a dozen chattering crew members crowded around the snack table: bags of stale bagels, open bags of tortilla chips and an infinite supply of lemonade. Chit-chat about that difficult biology test, the infinitely long English book and the cutest boys in school can be overheard. Immediately, the sense of family is palpable.

A lot of the cast value the process of bonding, the sense of community and the feeling of family more than the product itself. It is a place where they can be themselves, where they are accepted for who they are and share the passion of theater.

“Honestly, I just love the people in theater because they are all crazy and weird like me. It’s a place where people praise you for making a fool of yourself,” said freshman, Hannah.