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Friday, August 19, 2011 Editor Dave Vachon • 962-9171 ext 229 • dvachon@intelligencer.ca

C

THE INTELLIGENCER

Ti sow’ a izTi sow’ a iz JACK EVANS

For The Intelligencer

 Wizards, it seems, have the power to cast spells.hat goes in solid gold or the current Empire

Teatre production o Te Wizard o Oz, pre-sented by Caroline Smith and MoonpathProductions.

  Adapted rom the evergreen clas-sic motion picture, with the origi-nal music and lyrics, the show,  which opened this week, hasliterally been enchantingenthusiastic audiences withits predominantly youthulcast solidly backed by sea-soned proessionals.

It’s the same old story,  written more than 100  years ago, the same char-

acters, the same songs,the same laugh lines – andthey all still work – likemagic.

One prominent, matureresident admitted, with somedegree o chagrin, that whenthe young star o this show,11-year-old Emma Good, sangSomewhere Over the Rainbow, “Istarted to cr y.”

Precocious in her singing and actingtalents, Emma was described by director Car-oline Smith as “a real trouper,” even at her youngage, having already taken part in other stage shows.

Converting such a visually stunning movie to the livestage is obviously a huge challenge, even with the techni-cal resources available at Te Empire. Te tornado sceneis particularly dif cult. A unnel cloud projection in onecorner, with stage helpers dressed in black moving “yingthings” was a case o making the best o a bad situation.

But so strong was the singing and acting that no one cared.Set changes are also handled ef ciently with a minimumo blackout time between scenes.

Ryan Allen displayed his powerul tenor voice on previ-

ous occasions in Te Empire, and really let it ringin his role as the Cowardly Lion.

  Also making return visits are Andrew McGil-livray as Scarecrow and Adam White as in Man.

Strong ensemble singing by thesethree plus Dorothy are showcased

in Over the Rainbow. Alsoadding to delightul choral

singing are the children  who play munchkins

and monkeys, andteenagers who add

harmony to the mix.  Andrea Wing-

ela a r pla ys th em e a n - s p i r i t e dMiss Gultch ande s p e c i a l l y t h e Wicked Witch withgusto and class.

C h o r e o g r a -phy is a colourulpart o this show.

Outstanding is theadded number, he

Jitterbug, which begsa special nod to talented

 Young Company memberEthan Bucholtz.  Also deserving a nod is a

hard-working pit band behindthe scenes led by Robert Graham.

  With adults weeping and childrenlaughing and cheering, you can tell when a

show is making an impact.Some stinting in the production aspect is apparent,

specically black shoes with the all-white snowake cos-tumes. And Dorothy could try to make a bit more varia-tion in her “lions and tigers and bears” line, “Oh My.”Tese remarks pale in comparison with the astoundingtalent on display in this show.

Te Wizard o Oz continues with several evening andmatinee perormances through Aug. 27.For tickets or more inormation, call Te Empire Box 

Of ce, (613) 969-0099.

Review by

Jack Evans

Photos by

Aaron Bell/quintelive.ca

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