'The Wizard of Oz' by Middlebury Elementary School [UPDATED]

“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” - Wizard in ‘The Wizard of Oz'

Middlebury, CT - One hundred sixty students that attend Middlebury Elementary School are clearly loved a lot by others. With great joy, they presented a lovely production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ on the stage of Memorial Middle School on Thursday evening with the help of many parents and staff members of their school. Only one performance remains on Friday evening at 7pm and admission is one item for the Middlebury Food Bank.

Director MaryLou Torre, the interim principal of Middlebury Elementary School, understands the importance of theatre in our schools. “The project was all about process. The rehearsals and practices were as much as a part of the experience as the performance you will see tonight. Fun and freedom of expression for the students and the directors were key goals along this journey.”

This version of the classic book by L. Frank Baum is a play adapted by Kathryn Schultz Miller. It included a huge chorus of “vivacious” students in a rainbow of t-shirts that narrated the story with choral reading from the bleachers house left. The cast included six different girls in the role of Dorothy, four different Scarecrows, two Tin Man characters, two Lions, two Gatekeepers and many, many others. Everyone had their own wonderful costume; kudos to Amy Raefski on her adorable design work and to the large costume crew.

Corinna Flanagan and Kathy Miller served as the Art Director/Set Design team. The panels of the set were painted by a large group of students (shout out to Nick Salvucci) that got to wear cool painted t-shirts on opening night. Michael Kaulins served as AD and Lydia McCarthy did the choreography. Chris Turecek was the Music Director/Tech Director. Community theatre actor/dad Ian Diedrich did the prop construction, including the head of the wizard painted on a white curtain; shout out to Kalman Zold who played Oz. Michaela Turecek did the pretty impressive make-up for the actors that needed an unnatural face color. I had a great reserved seat in the front row, but the sound with microphones on stands was really very good throughout the gym.

A bunch of young male actors was the pretty adorable Flying Monkeys with Luke Humphrey as Chimp, Emma Taglialatella as Scamp and Kyleigh Favale as Rascal. Eva Guerrera rocked the role of the “they don’t call me wicked for nothing” Witch and melted impressively. Addison Mitchell and Owen Lattanzio did well with the shared role of the Gatekeepers. Ryan Dawes and Madison Ferguson were both good Lions and Cole Hughes and Luke Jackson in full silver were effective Tin Man, I mean Men. Scarecrows were Matteo DelBuono, Caitlin Flaherty, Peter Skabardonis, and Kiera Daweese.

Glinda in the classic pink dress and crown was played well by Rachel Anderson, accompanied by bubbles. Featured Munchkins included Ryan Murray (Joe,) Emily Raefski (Curly,) and Hunter Diedrich returned to the stage to play Burly. Leah Wasserstein was Auntie Em and Jack Sedensky was Uncle Henry. Joey Bernardi barked well in the role of Toto because there was no stuffed dog in a basket in this play. The poppy scene gave new meaning to “pulling my leg” in a cute way.

The gaggle of girls in the blue and white gingham included Emma Kulla, Faith Graziano, Lauren Anderson, Grace Jackson, Elizabeth Raefski and Aubrey Guiditta. The most adorable Munchkins specialized in stealing hearts in their floral hats and technicolor outfits. Best featured ensemble was billed as “The Forest” and included Brailee Batista, Evan Deschaine, Lilyana Reed and Shaelyn Walsh as the apple-throwing trees with lots of attitude.

Photos by Nancy Sasso Janis
The curtain closed between the scenes and if the transitions were a bit long, what the audience saw when they reopened was worth the wait. The students could never be heard backstage and that can be hard for the very young. The director shared during her curtain speech that the young thespians, some as young as six, had been practicing since January, during which time their “little school play” grew into a full 55-minute production. The students all knew their lines and if they hadn’t expected to perform in front of people sitting in the 600 seats, it did not show.

Thank you to this elementary school staff for giving most of these young performers their first theatrical experience in a safe setting. Congratulations on a job well done.