Breslau P.S. wants to take you over the rainbow and down the yellow brick road. The school is staging the Wizard of Oz for their spring musical and with less than two weeks til showtime, rehearsals are ramping up.
Auditions were held before Christmas break, and the cast has been rehearsing almost every day since the new year began.
Music teacher and director Kennah McMillan always wanted to do Wizard of Oz and the play allowed them to have a really large cast. The entire school is involved in the performance; there are 70 students in the cast, the junior and intermediate students are making sets and props, and the primary grades are making bricks for the yellow brick road.
With such a large cast, rehearsals can get a bit chaotic, but McMillan said the students are quick learners.
It’s a full musical, with songs and dances, solos and group numbers. This is only the second musical Breslau has staged; two years ago they put on a performance of Annie Junior. The school does a musical every other year because of the amount of work involved.
This year, “it all just seemed to fall into place,” McMillan said.
There were a few tense moments trying to find costumes, but they appealed to other schools and creative teachers and parents helped create what they couldn’t scrounge.
Justin Atkins, the Grade 7 student playing the Cowardly Lion, originally wanted the part of the Tin Man, but the lion’s costume sold him on the role. Not that the costume doesn’t have its challenges.
“Sometimes when I do my dance or walk backwards I step on my tail,” he said. “One time I was running and it got between my legs and tripped me.”
Atkins has some acting experience under his belt, with the K-W Children’s Drama Workshop and Annie Junior, so he’s excited about being on stage again.
“I think acting just lets you let loose and be a different person.”
Show times for the Wizard of Oz are Apr. 22, 1 and 7 p.m.; and Apr. 23 and 24, 7 p.m.
