Hey everyone!
Welcome back to the “We’re Off to See the Wizard” blog series! We have gone through Week 3 of rehearsals and it was packed full of dancing and singing!
We are getting closer and closer to having the entire Munchkinland scene blocked and choreographed! Our 11 little munchkins are working so hard and it is A LOT of fun to watch them have fun up on that stage. Our youngest munchkin is only 5 years old and she waves at everyone when you look at her during rehearsal and it is just super adorable. I learned that one of our munchkins has never done any theatre at all up to this point in her life, but she joined just because her best friend, Leah, did it and had so much fun, and Ragan is having a BLAST! This scene is always so cute because it is just a bunch of cute kids up there singing and dancing, but this production’s munchkins are more than just cute, they are really REALLY talented!
We got a jump on choreographing If I Only Had a Brainand If I Only Had a Heartthis week. I remember fondly when I was the Tinman and loving working together with the choreographer on a fun routine for the big dance break, and it has been fun watching Mark work with Alex and Jacob work on this one. There’s so much talent between Mark (the Tinman), Alexa, Jacob, our trees (Mia, Charlene, and Emma-Leigh), Scarecrow (Dillon), and Dorothy (Faith). And of course there are those rowdy crows (Jan, Jared, and Shane) that our Scarecrow can’t scare away. That has been a thrill to watch get put together as well. It is so much fun watching everyone pool their talents together to create wonderful art, that I actually went to two rehearsals I wasn’t called for this week just so I can watch them all work!
Sarah has been working the hard parts of the music with everyone this week and I enjoy watching them all work on that too. The ways that Sarah can teach music to people is amazing and I learn so much from her, even when I’m just standing around and watching her with the munchkins, or the trees, or the chorus.
This week ended with us learning the beginning of the Jitterbug where the 4 Friends of Oz have found themselves in the depths of the forest and they get spooked! This will be one of my favorite parts of the show to perform every night, I can just feel it in my bones!
This week I sat down with the other three of the 4 Friends of Oz to get to know them a little better. It was fun stealing a few minutes of their time away from rehearsal to just chat about their theatre lives in the past and what gets them excited about this production. Three of us have already performed in a show together. Mark, Dillon, and I were in ACT’s production of Footlooseearlier this year and we actually sat next to each other in the dressing room where we laughed a lot and were able to bond a bit. Bringing Faith into our little crew has been easy so far. She has had her share of big roles in the past, including when I saw her in The Diary of Anne Frankas the title character and she did amazing, so I knew this role wasn’t too big for her, and she would be able to keep up with the three of us and our shenanigans. I’m really excited to continue to bond with them over the next few weeks and create a really great group that shows our love for each other on the stage as we stumble through the obstacles thrown our way along the yellow brick road and beyond.
These past 3 weeks have been so fun and fulfilling of the theatre soul for me. As I have said in the past, this show is a favorite of mine, and this role is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it is really a pleasure for me to step into the paws of this character and start to mold it. I’ve got the basics down, now it is time to sculpt my character, and the way that my character lives in this world with the other people in it. THIS is the time that rehearsals get really fun, really tedious, but really fun. Stay tuned for the ride!
Next week we start to get to know the other folks in Oz. We will meet those who play the other known characters in this show, as well as some of the munchkins and ensemble members that really make this cast special!
If you have any questions for me or anyone else with the show, comment on the blog, YouTube video, Facebook, or if you’re on Instagram or Twitter, send questions to me @theonejohno #AskTheWizard.
Until next time…