Follow the Yellow Brick Road to find a place of cruelty and abuse, where a little girl’s dreams are shattered and an old woman is labeled an invalid and alienated from society.
WAS, a new musical based on the Geoff Ryman novel of the same name, presents the fictional and sometimes gruesome story behind Victor Fleming’s beloved children’s film The Wizard of Oz. Set in three separate time periods – the 1870s, the 1950s and the 1980s – the play takes its audience through the emotional phases of Dorothy’s life and death, in order to discover the “truth” behind her mythical persona.
The show is presented by Northwestern’s Theatre & Interpretation Center in collaboration with The American Musical Theater Project. The AMTP program is designed to establish and legitimate a new generation of musical theater in America. Barry Kleinbort and Joseph Thalken, who wrote and composed WAS, are New York-based artists associated with the AMTP. Friday’s performance will mark the show’s world mainstage debut.
The show follows Dorothy as a small child raised in Kansas by her Uncle Henry and Auntie Em. Cruel and neglectful characters, Henry and Em encourage Dorothy’s emotional isolation through mental and physical abuse. Dorothy’s only recourses in life are her friend Wilbur, a “scarecrow-esque man from the frontier,” and L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, who appears as a roving wanderer and later becomes a substitute teacher at Dorothy’s elementary school.
According to Communication junior Brad Weinstock, who plays both Bill Davison and L. Frank Baum, several of the show’s characters are double cast in order to create a bridge between Dorothy’s past and present.
“The roles are double cast for thematic reasons in that they are the two figures who show Dorothy appreciation, care and interest,” Weinstock says.
Director Tina Landau’s commitment to collaboration and spontaneity is supported by Kleinbort and Thalken, says assistant director Jonathan Berry. They have participated in all script revisions with the cast and crew since the rehearsal process began.
“The actors were cast in February, and they did a two-week workshop in May,” Berry says. “The writers did some re-writes, and we started rehearsal in September. The actors were able to be at the early workshops, so they have grown with the story as it keeps changing.”
Although the plot is based only loosely on Baum and Fleming’s Oz, the show’s set preserves a few whimsical touches, such as dark tornado clouds and the Yellow Brick Road. Some references to the original story also are included.
“Tina has incorporated a great deal of mini-moments from The Wizard of Oz,” Weinstock says. “These moments are often very subtle, taking place in the background or as a silhouette, but their presence serves to unlock a sense of nostalgia, memory and magic that is so central to both WAS and the Land of Oz.”
Berry says this subtlety and precision reflect the long hours of planning and preparation that have been invested in the show.
“The AMTP has brought a level of professionalism and real-world expectation for our actors,” Berry says. “This show has a heightened sense of anticipation and a larger amount of work than some other shows at Northwestern. There have been several small workshop performances of WAS, but this is the first time that it has been done on a large stage and that the writers feel the show really fits their vision of what they want it to be.”
WAS is playing at the Barber Theater for three weekends, beginning Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $10 for children and students. For more information, call (847) 491-7282.4
Communication junior Mackenzie Horras is a PLAY writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
