When I attended Shakespeare By The Sea’s reimagined adaptation of The Wizard of Oz I was expecting a lot of silliness, some sweet tunes, and a lot of heart, and the company delivered in spades. What I was not expecting was that I would leave Point Pleasant Park thinking that the cast had improved on L. Frank Baum’s classic story; and yet, here we are!
The gist of the story is the same, a young girl named Dorothy (Jade Douris) is raised in Kansas by her overprotective Aunt Em (Kathryn MacCormack), she gets caught up in a Twister and ends up in Oz, accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East with her house. The Munchkins rejoice, the Wicked Witch of the West (Shanoa Phillips) promises to avenge her sister, Glinda the Good Witch (James MacLean) sends Dorothy to the Emerald City to see the Wizard, along the way she meets a Scarecrow with No Brain (Melissa MacGougan), a Tin Man with No Heart (James MacLean) and a Lion Without Courage (Nathan Simmons), and brings them along with her on the journey. We then become aware of a mysterious stranger, secrets are revealed, everything comes magically together, and Dorothy learns something unexpected about the power of home. The one immediate difference in this adaptation is Toto (Tom Gordon Smith), who is a Southern Gentleman Dog, with the ability to speak. His story arc converges with the rest of the plot nicely. He also steps in seamlessly at times to serve as the story’s narrator, which helps to keep the plot moving along clearly and briskly. It’s all delightful.
Although most of the story takes place in Oz, for reasons that become clear throughout the show, the ambiance of this Wizard of Oz captures the spirit of the Southern United States, especially in Garry Williams’ bluegrass score. The music, performed by the house band The Wheat Nuthins (Williams with Sophie Schade, Dylan Brentwood and Deivan Steele) boasts of a banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitars, which really brings a rollicking good time to the story. Williams’ lyrics are fun and silly, and the songs are hilariously adjacent to their Arlen and Harburg counterparts, just a little more contemporary and tongue in cheek. Jade Douris enhances this sense of silliness and fun with her choreography.
The cast all bring a great energy to their characters. I loved watching the different characterizations of each of the Munchkins, and the Flying Monkeys (Drew O’Hara and Adrian Choong) are the bumbling evil sidekicks straight out of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Douris makes a lovely Dorothy, and she has a beautiful singing voice. Her relationship with Smith’s Toto is sweet, and while Smith has a lot of comedic moments in this role, his heart really comes through as well. Melissa MacGougan shines brightly as Scarecrow, a truly guileless optimist, and MacLean’s perpetually irritated Tin Man is a fun counterpart for her. Simmons has especially great physicality as Lion. Phillips does a great job of capturing the spirit of Margaret Hamilton, while also grounding her Wicked Witch in a bit more humanity. Kathryn MacCormack plays several characters, some at the crux of the twist I won’t ruin, but she approaches each one with great comedic skill.
The Wizard of Oz, co-created and performed by the company at Shakespeare By the Sea and directed by Jesse MacLean, pays respectful homage to the original story, while also being very contemporary, fresh, creative, and silly. I was thoroughly delighted, I’m sure audiences of all ages this summer will be too.
The Wizard of Oz plays at the Cambridge Battery in Point Pleasant Park (5530 Point Pleasant Drive, Halifax) OR in the Park Place Theatre (5480 Point Pleasant Drive, Halifax) on select days from now through August 31, 2019. There are matinees at 1:00pm and evening performances at 7:00pm. Tickets are by donation (suggested price is $20.00) or you can book a “Sweet Seat” (a chair in the first few rows) in advance for $25.00. For more information, please visit this website.
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