The largest challenge about this show is its familiarity. Everyone knows the MGM motion picture. I decided to extend the yellow brick road from the stage and down all the aisles, so that every audience member could "follow the yellow brick road".

In the film, Kansas was presented in black and white photography. Since we were unable to have "black and white" costumes, I decided against trying to duplicate the effect. However, I did try to keep the house and its components at a minimum of color. I wanted there to be a dramatic difference between Kansas and Oz.

Of course, the other challenge is Toto. Working with animals is always an adventure. We got very lucky with this dog. He loved performing and all the action on stage. He was nothing short of wonderful.

Of course, this was one of the highlights of the show. Even Toto seems to enjoy the song.

The tornado scene was done with such a low light level that photos did not come out well enough to use. However, there were three tornadoes made from irrigation tubing and covered with blacklight reflective strips. Dancers inside each one made them spin. The house was on casters and took four revolutions to cross the stage.

In the film. Glinda the Good appeared in a bubble. This wagon was my answer to that effect. She rode it on and off stage. There are about 25 Munchkins in this scene. All are concealed behind flower and house units.

Suddenly, the stage is crawling with them. It seemed like they came out of nowhere.

Dorothy explains her trip to Munchkinland.

All is not rosey for long. The Wicked Witch of the West discovers her dead sister and the ruby slippers.

Libersl use of the smoke machine made effects like this one a snap.

Dorothy and Toto begin the long journey to the Emerald City on the yellow brick road. Toto always enjoys a road trip!

The first encounter is with the Scarecrow.
The corn stalks were pvc pipe with styrofoam ears of corn.

The crows heckle Scarecrow.

Next they find the Tin Woodman.

The Tin Woodman makes peace with the apple trees.

The Wicked Witch of the West threatens the Scarecrow with an artificial flame.

The Cowardly Lion looks on.

The Wicked Witch of the West sends a field of poppies to slow their progress.

Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion fall asleep in the poppy field.

Glinda comes to the rescue with snowflakes to wake them up. We used reversable capes for the roles.

Before he sees the Wizard, the Cowardly Lion gets some grooming attention from some nice looking Emerald City Betties.

Dorothy, and, of course, Toto gets attention, too.

The Tim Woodman could use a little polishing.

Scarecrow could use some restuffing.

The light level was much too low for this photo, but I wanted to include it to show our take on the "mythical" Wizard. We used a cutout of some ominous eyes that was lit from behind with a red gel through a piece of scrim. The smoke machine added to the effect. It was actually quite spooky.

Toto was not pleased to be captured by the Flying Monkeys!

The Jitterbugs menace the Scarecrow before scattering his stuffing all over the stage.

I was most pleased with this unit.

This was a challenge, especially since we do not have flying capabilty. I was able to drop these lines from a small pulley block rigged to superstructure beam above the stage. I think it was effective enough.

Our music department is always a highlight. They are awesome!

We used to ten students from a local elementary school to enhance the Munchkinland scenes. They were a great bunch of kids and a joy to work with.