After working tirelessly since January, the Fine Arts Department raised the curtain for The Wiz to the audience on the weekend of March 18th, 19th, and 20th.
Tryouts took place after winter break, which was unusual compared to last year when they were practicing through the break. Students who made the cast included Andie Krug, as Dorothy, Taylor Dalton as Evilene, Andrew Brondos as the Tinman, Kyle Perfect as the Scarecrow, and Allison Hornug as Addaperle. Other notable characters were The Wiz who was played by Jacob Palka and the Lion played by Andrew Payton.
“It was very elongated. There were a lot of call backs throughout tryouts,” said senior Taylor Dalton. After that, the new cast began reading scripts, blocking action, and rehearsing the play.
For two months, the cast worked every day after school, sometimes thirteen hours a week to prepare for the show. Practice varied by each member depending on the scene they were practicing on a given day. Each member of the group became more excited as the show time neared.
The show, The Wiz, is an urbanized telling of the story The Wizard of Oz. It was the first time casting an all African American cast of a show, and the actual story is varied a little bit by its characters and the plot.
As the show began, the first thing that caught the eye was the costumes. All characters including the Scarecrow, Dorothy, and everyone had unique costumes that really brought out their personalities. Each of the main characters had their own songs in the play and Krug, as Dorothy, played a large role in every part of the play.
The play was a very long play and went over the two hour mark. There was so much that was put into the play that it did seem like it dragged on at some parts. Overall it was a very good play, and one of the better ones that was at RB.
“I thought it was fantastic, every performance was better than the last,” said Dalton.
A few mishaps did occur in a few scenes, such as when Perfect’s shoe on the scarecrow fell off and he was shoeless for a whole scene. However, the show went on and did well.
For some of the cast members, it was their final show in their high school career. “I was sad that it was over, there was a lot of hard work put into it, I miss all of them,” said Dalton.
Sponsor’s Note:
The earlier version of this story was posted and pulled to make corrections. Andie Krug’s name has been added as well as additional information regarding play rehearsal.
