Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

The Wizard of Ozby L. Frank Baum, adapted from the motion picture by John Kane
with Music & Lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg

Performance Dates & Tickets

About the Play

Toto... I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Director: Greta Rothman
Musical Director: John Krol
Choreographer: Pam LaForce

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Bring your own Munchkins to this perennial favorite, featuring all the beloved characters which have graced the cinema and stage since L. Frank Baum first conceived the story more than a century ago. Click the heels of your ruby slippers (if you happen to have a pair), steal the broomstick of the wicked Witch of the West (whom later versions of this deathless story consider merely misunderstood), and help Dorothy get back home. We may be in NE Ohio, but Emerald City - here we come!

The first Broadway stage version of The Wizard of Oz in 1902, starring Fred Stone and Dave Montgomery, was created as a result of the popularity of Baum's fairy tale, first published in 1900.  This first "Broadway spectacular" differed greatly from the original story on which it was based, including the startling omission of both the Wicked Witch of the West and Toto characters, and the addition of several non-Baum characters!  Even so, this version (and several others) enjoyed a long run on Broadway and some of its ideas were included in the 1939 MGM film classic starring Judy Garland.

CVLT will present the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) version adapted by John Kane in 1986, which uses as much of the aura of the film as is possible to create in a modern live theatre. The RSC version was a smash hit with British audiences, playing to record crowds at London’s Barbican Theatre in 1987 and sparking an immediate revival the following year, as well as a hugely popular cast recording.  The RSC is currently touring the show again.

At the helm of CVLT's production is director Greta Rothman, who has directed special event shows such as Murder By The Falls at CVLT in the past, and makes her main season debut with this show. Ms. Rothman is uniquely suited to the task, as a life-long Oz fanatic with a sizeable collection of memorabilia related to the film. Original author L. Frank Baum himself could not have chosen a more suitable hand to mount this surprisingly complicated work. Using her intimate knowledge of the movie, Ms. Rothman intends to remain as true as possible to the Oz film that we all know and love, with the occasional wink at modern audiences to keep things fresh. The orchestra will be led by musical director John Krol, and the cast will be choreographed by Pamela LaForce. Technical director Edmond Wolff's scenic and lighting design will be given a 21st century boost by digital video and audio effects from Andrew Rothman (the director's younger brother).

The cast is led by Alex Marzullo, a senior at Hudson High School, in the role of Kansas' most famous fictional resident, 'Dorothy Gale'. By her side on the yellow brick road are fellow Hudson senior Jace Craft as 'Scarecrow', Guy Custer as 'Tinman', and Mark DePompei as 'Lion'. Marzullo, Craft and DePompei all held leading roles in last year's hit holiday musical, Honk! Vying for her dead sister's ruby slippers will be Laurel Bryant as the 'Wicked Witch of the West', with Paula Pike waving the magic wand of 'Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.' An ensemble of twenty additional actors of all ages will serve as the various Munchkins, talking trees, Winkies, and flying monkeys that the quartet encounter on their way to see the Wizard, played by Don Bernardo. CVLT expects this production of The Wizard of Oz, which appeared twice to high attendance crowds in the late 1990s, to be its most ambitious and successful version yet.

Oz Facts and Trivia:

• The famous “Ruby Slippers” were originally silver in Baum’s book.
• Baum’s original illustrator, W.W. Denslow quarreled with Baum over royalty shares from the 1902 stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, for which Baum wrote the script and Denslow designed the sets and costumes.  The royalties from the print and stage versions of The Wizard of Oz were sufficient to allow Denslow to purchase an island off the coast of Bermuda, and crown himself King Denslow I. He drank his money away, and died in obscurity in 1915.
• The Wiz, a 1978 musical film based on the 1975 stage musical of the same name, was directed by Sidney Lumet and starred Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
• A 2007 television mini-series called Tin Man was presented by the Sci-Fi Channel, directed by Nick Willing and starring Zooey Deschanel and Richard Dreyfuss. This modern retelling of the Baum tale earned positive reviews.
• The hit stage musical Wicked is based loosely on Gregory Maguire's novel about the pre-Dorothy adventures of the Wicked Witch of the West. The musical borrows nearly as much from the MGM version of Wizard of Oz as it does from the Maguire novel, which is much darker and more dramatic than its Broadway counterpart.