City Springs Theatre Company puts a whole lot of heart on the stage with ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Elizabeth Hall stars as Dorothy in the City Springs Theatre Company s production of The Wizard of Oz Photo provided by City Springs Theatre Company The film The Wizard of Oz is nothing if not a tough act to follow Starring Judy Garland as Dorothy a young Kansas girl who wakes up after a tornado to find herself in the magical land of Oz the film s legacy spans generations It s beloved by moviegoers young and old It s filled with indelible performances and fantastic technical achievements It is to put it bluntly singular But while following in the footsteps of one of the best movies ever made seems like an impossible task the City Springs Theatre Company s production of The Wizard of Oz directed by Baayork Lee and running at the Byers Theatre through Dec is a worthy if not perfect successor The production features strong performances and while opening night featured a scant technical kinks that need to be worked out the amount of heart and talent up on that stage is sure to bring a smile to the audience s faces The design of the film is perhaps one of its signature calling cards and for the stage production the majority of laborious thing to emulate The movie opens in black and white before moving to glorious Technicolor when Dorothy first sets foot in Oz The show admirably attempts to create the same effect and while the City Springs set is incredible as consistently there are enough splashes of color in the Kansas set that the transition to Oz doesn t feel quite as awe-inspiring The show works best when it leans into its theatricality rather than attempting to stay as close as attainable to the film One of the bulk enthralling things about the show is how it uses dance to stand in for a few of the more technicology forward aspects of the film in particular the tornado that brings Dorothy to Oz Here instead of trying to recreate a technical effect that is far more suited to cinema over theater Lee instead makes the effect theatrical using the movement of the dancers to stand in for the wind and the rain While the musical does fall into chosen pacing issues in its second act While The Jitterbug plays better on stage than I believe it would on screen there is still a reason that song was cut from the movie entirely the first act is an absolute delight and so much of that can be chalked up the central four performances As Dorothy Elizabeth Hall is all gumption and smiles topped off with a strong clear voice that handles songs like Somewhere Over the Rainbow with care Stanley Martin Tyler Pirrung and Nick Morrett round out the main quartet as the Scarecrow the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion respectively In particular Pirrung brings the largest part difference to his character making his Tin Man far more manic and slapstick than his movie counterpart Jack Haley But while each actor and the show s vast ensemble bring such enjoyment to this beloved story there is one performer who stole the show the dog who played Toto seemed to have a little bit of stage fright upon his initial entrance scurrying back off stage when he saw the audience for the first time Don t worry though while I m not sure he really knew what was going on he seemed perfectly content to rest in different cast members arms for the rest of the time he was onstage If none of the other delights of this production of The Wizard of Oz are enough to sell you I m willing to bet that little dog can The post City Springs Theatre Company puts a whole lot of heart on the stage with The Wizard of Oz appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta