Emerald Dreams

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-A scene cut from the film adaptation of Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz is one of John Briggs, Jr.’s favorites. So when the Off Square Theatre Company artistic director scheduled the play for the company’s annual youth musical, he knew that he would include “The Jitterbug.”

The scene involves a majority of the cast (55 local students, divided into two casts), ranging in age from 8 to 16. Along with the munchkin land scene, Briggs said, The Jitterbug demonstrates how hard the kids have worked. 

Briggs and assistant director Judy Townsend emphasized that the production level is equal to that of a professional theater performance, with John Wayne Cook doing the set design and ZFX providing the flying.

Wait, what?

Yes, local kids will be strapped into harnesses and flying around the stage on bikes, as monkeys and of course as witches from various poles.

Parents, perhaps accustomed to their kids flying through the air as a part of day-to-day life in Jackson, have attended some of the rehearsals, Townsend said, and they are as ecstatic about the flying itself as they are impressed by the in-flight choreography.

The Wizard of Oz is the story of Dorothy Gale, a daydreaming farm girl from Kansas who runs away from home to protect her dog, Toto, from a nasty neighbor who wants to put him down.

Dorothy and Toto get caught in a tornado that takes them to the land of OZ, where her adventures with The Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion oddly mimic her experiences in Kansas, but rather than run away, she must face the evil neighbor … er, ah … witch.

The Wizard of Oz, plays 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, with matinees, 2 p.m., Saturday and 3 p.m., Sunday. www.offsquare.org. 733-4900.

photo by MARY GROSSMAN
Taralee Larsen as Dorothy.

PERMALINK:
Emerald Dreams | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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