BIG BOLD NOTE: The show dates are Fridays May 5th and 12th and Saturdays May 6th and 13th at 8pm, as well as Sundays May 7th and May 14th at 2pm Tickets are not on sale at the moment but pricing information, as well as information on advertising, boosters, and our upcoming season of summer camp, can be found here at our theatre's website.
Written by: Justin Murphy
Date of Rehearsals Listed: 3/13
Rehearsal Location: Northport-East Northport Community Theatre (henceforth known as NCT)
Well, it's been another four months since the last show ended, and now at long last, the NCT show blog returns! Let's see if I can manage to get more than 6 entries this time. We have about 7.5 weeks to go until the moment of truth, so let's enjoy the delicious 31st flavor as we prepare for the Northport-East Northport Community Theatre's 31st show, Cinderella*-I MEAN, The Wizard of Oz!
This edition of the returning blog covers the first (and thus far, only) rehearsal for Wizard of Oz. As is standard procedure, the show began with a breakdown on how things are done by Bette Silver, one of the founders and the producer of every show thus far. Due to the theater as always being non-profit, she went into a description of pricing of both the show and costumes, as the theater often depends on its actors for a lot of the income (as well as ticket sales). The lead costumer for our previous show, Courtney Hotis, is returning for this show, though considering how iconic this show's costumes are, quite a few more will be renting as opposed to providing costumes themselves. And speaking of a few more...yeah, a few more people tried out for this show, almost one hundred and fifty auditioned for this one! Returning crew members once again include longtime Stage Manager Alyson Graci, Tech and Lightning Director Rob Miller, and Assistant Lighting Director Theo Lau, all of whom have withstood the test of time and only gotten better at making the shows better. Also returning is two time NCT Choreographer Holly Maddock, who previously choreographed 2014's Fiddler on the Roof and 2015's Music Man.
Following Bette's set of announcements, she turned it over to our grand stupendous poobah director extraordinaire (I'm gonna see if I can top that description as the blogs go on), Jim Redding. Having not directed this show for 13 years at NCT, Jim had quite a lot to talk about. For the third time in a row, the show was based on a very popular movie classic, and more or less follows the same plot as the movie, but with a few additions and changes to suit musical theater properly. The stage show script was actually adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987. Jim told a story of how when the show premiered that year in London (and used costuming that was less Wizard of Oz and more based off Wizard of Oz spinoff, The Wiz), it was a massive success, but it was very poorly received in the United States. Interestingly, when it was done again in the US and the only real difference was that the costumes were closer to the movie, it was now seen as a massive success again.
Some things are very similar to the movie and some are different. One difference our show will have is that the farmhands will not also be playing the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow, as they do in the movie, in part because the costuming for the trio is very elaborate and in part because the cast is so huge. The same applies to Aunty Em, who is stated in the script to be the same actress who plays Glinda, and Uncle Henry, who is stated to be the Emerald City Guard (neither of which is true in our cast). The exception to this rule is that Professor Marvel will also be the Wizard and Miss Almira Gulch will still be the Wicked Witch. In addition, it was stated that Toto, who in the previous production was played by an actual dog, will be played by a human actor (a couple of very small ones), though which kids would be playing the part has not yet been decided. Also, while most songs will be familiar to fans of the movie, one of the songs which was cut from the movie is reinstated in the show, that being the Jitterbug number in Act 2 right before the Flying Monkeys attack. Some characters have a few additional scenes, like the Witch, who has a considerably larger amount of dialogue, both threatening and at times comedic, added to the show. He also explained how certain effects would work, such as the Witch appearing and disappearing, and how Glinda appears and disappears.
Jim also suggested that those of us who were "Google and YouTube peoples" to check out the 1910 film version of Wizard of Oz, and being that I, much like quite a few of the other cast members had a day off due to a Nor'easter that admittedly was a bit over hyped, did just that. It was honestly very fascinating. It was only 13 minutes long and had no voices, only a few title cards describing what was going on in the scene every now and then, as well as no sound effects aside from the soundtrack of the Nutcracker. Some of the sets, effects, and costumes looked incredible, especially coming from a film that was hundreds of years old, a time when going out to see a movie might just be about a minute of a train pulling into a station (which would send people running out of the theater in a panic due to thinking an actual train was approaching). Unfortunately the credits to the film are lost, so rumors and guesses are all we have to go on for the cast and crew. But it is still a very enjoyable watch and if you have 13 minutes of free time, it's very easy to find online and it's worth it for any Oz historian.
Once again, when Jim announced the roles that were cast, he added a bit of comedic flair to it, cracking several jokes about some of the characters and actors, with his traditional quick-witted sense of humor. He had a chat about the casting of the Tin Man, who would be played by two women, and why he believes that the character should always be played by a woman, as he feels it adds something to the role. He also got a laugh regarding the Scarecrow's casting, first by claiming he would play the Scarecrow himself, and then by stating that the Scarecrow's actual two actors (Justin Autz and Sam Schoeps) will probably be the only double cast people who can wear the same costume due to their similar body shape and height, whereas the other double cast roles are considerably different looking from each other. He also stated when he cast the trees, for the cast to look at the actresses playing the parts, "give them a hug, because in a few weeks, their tree designs are going to give you nightmares". It was also stated that because so many people auditioned for the show and were so good, every single member of the main cast of characters had been double-cast, including but not limited to, Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man, the Lion, the Witch, Glinda, the Emerald City Guard, Aunty Em, Uncle Henry, Toto, and even some smaller roles like the Winkie General and possibly the trees. The lone exception to this among the main cast was the Wizard of Oz himself, played by multi-time leading man at NCT, Rich Lau. We have such a vast cast that the ensemble will most likely be split as well. It's also interesting to note how different our cast is in terms of age. Even some people who are split in the same part are vastly different in terms of acting style and age both. The youngest member of our cast is 2 and a half, and our oldest cast member is...well...older than that. It's also worth noting how long some cast members have been at NCT and how some have had long periods of absence. For instance, it's been 8 years since Casey Savin (who is playing the Witch along with Stephanie Sultana) has performed at NCT (and we're super special awesome glad she's back), whereas this is Samantha Schoeps's 24th show in a row here!
Shortly following cast announcements, Jim turned it over to our returning Musical Director, Donna Gorelick. Since she didn't have the most time with the whole cast (after 8:00, the main cast was dismissed and only the main quartet of characters remained to stick around, so whatever happened during that time, I don't know), she decided to work on the one song that everyone in the cast would be singing, The Merry Old Land of Oz. Due to not having had time yet to work on the individual parts of the songs with the main quartet, Donna skipped to the chorale parts of the song that the entire cast would sing. Thankfully, the actors and actresses picked up on the song very quickly, probably due in no small part to how iconic a lot of the show's songs are. The only thing she needed to correct us on was the "Ah-ha-ha" at one part, which we at first kept singing as "Ha-Ha-Ha", but it was easily fixed. Being that a lot of people know the songs, the audience would naturally notice if a word was changed or unintelligible.
I don't know how it went after I left with the main quartet, nor will I know about tomorrow's rehearsal with the Munchkins and Glinda, but knowing this show, it's not going to take very long for the cast to get the hang of it, which is good because we open in about 7 and a half weeks (AAAAH! That's more time than we had for Miracle, but still, AAAAH!). Other things to note include that once again, there is an acting workshop that Jim will be teaching for the duration of the show prior to Tuesday and Thursday rehearsals, for any cast member that wants to learn and get better onstage (and you're never too old to learn, after all). Join us next week where I'll breakdown the upcoming Thursday rehearsal, as well as the two rehearsals next week that I'll be attending! And once again, I will leave you with a quote, quite possibly the most famous quote from the show.
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." -Dorothy Gale
*: The original plan for this NCT show was for it to be the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella. Due to it being on tour, we were unable to get the license for it.
CAST
Dorothy Gale: Meaghan Maher/Bella Donneruno
Scarecrow: Sam Schoeps/Justin Autz
Tin Man: Tess Robinson/Barri Feuer
Cowardly Lion: John Walsh/Larry Palevsky
Wicked Witch of the West/Miss Almira Gulch: Casey Savin**/Stephanie Sultana
Wizard of Oz: Rich Lau
Glinda: Avery Infranco/Kim Sultana
Emerald City Guard: John Morale/Justin Murphy
Aunty Em: Teresa Morale/Barbara Schulman**
Uncle Henry: Joel Ackerman/Joe Centamore
Farmhands: Gerald Quigley, James Roche, ???? (The last one is at the moment undecided)
Crows: Dana Schoeps, Jake Kalinowski, and ???? (The last one is at the moment undecided)
Trees: Kathy Lau, Judy Avena**, Patsy VanDyke, Noel Dillon, Elise Autz, and Cynthia Piacentini
Winkie General: Gerald Quigley/Kathy Lau
**: These people were in the original 2004 NCT production of the Wizard of Oz.
Although the Elementary School children will be Munchkins, the specific Munchkin roles including The Mayor, The Coroner, The Barrister, The 3 City Fathers, The 2 School Teachers, The Fiddler, The Braggart, The Lullaby League, and The Lollipop Guild have yet to be officially cast.
The Poppies and The Snowmen have yet to be officially announced for an age group.
The Jitterbugs will be High School Students, though the Lead Jitterbug dancer has yet to be cast.
The Adults will play Ozians and the Adult Males will play Winkies.
Nikko, the commander of the Flying Monkeys, and Toto, have yet to be cast.
Other Adults
Michelle Centamore
Vincent Dillon
Jillian Graci
Kimberly Lapidus
Patricia McCarthy
Mia Femia Pizzo
Kellsey Roy
Daniel Schweitzer
Shira Schweitzer
Angie Tomalo
Corrie Ann Young
Other Boys
Luca Bergin
Kieran Brown
Liam Caulfield
Jude Centamore
Ryan Dean
Michael Deaner
Michael Donatelli
Carter Eisenburg
Markus Fehrenbacher
Quinn Fehrenbacher
Luke Frisoli
Andrew Geres
Ethan Hoerning
Jacob Karp
Nicholas Lemza
Brody Mackey
Liam McLaughlin
Joey Pizzo
Anthony Shah
Luc Wagner
Nathan Zarko
11 and Older Girls
Julie Barbier
Juliette Bonchonsky
Maya Burget
Bridget Caulfield
Sarah Caulfield
Natalie Ceonzo
Alexandra Curatolo
Kailin Donnelly
Jillian Fehrenbacher
Taryn Feuer
Riley Gayer
Jennifer Golder
Alyssa Infranco
Quincy Jackson
Arianna Keating
Grace Keating
Amelia Lau
Amanda Lemza
Ava Mackey
Samantha Madden
Sarah Meade
Ava Olson
Kyra Perles
Caitlin Rees
Maggie Saum
Liana Scully
Nikki Scully
Nina Scully
Amelia Semple
Leeva Slevin
Celia Spero
Emily Starin
Clare Vogt
Suzie Walsh
10 and under Girls
Sydney Aguirri
Kylie Balezos
Juliette Bergin
Casey Bernson
Gabrielle Blum
Sienna Boden
Lily Brown
Mairead Camas
Goldie Centamore
Elizabeth Ceonzo
Alexandra Colacchio
Isabella Colacchio
Katie Conway
Julia Dean
Annabelle Deaner
Lily Eagen
Amelia Eisenburg
Julia Eisenburg
Hannah Feinstein
Rayna Feuer
Maggie Fitzmaurice
Lindsay Grabowski
Sofia Kabacinski
Katie Karp
Lily Majewski
Emma Morale
Juliet Morale
Trixie Moran
Lily Rankin
Cami Rees
Carlie Rees
Cate Ricciardi
Kelly Ricciardi
Elliotte Salisbury
Reilly Salisbury
Juliet Scannapieco
Olivia Scannapieco
Ayla Schulman-Hughes
Grace Sewell
Ella Smith
Vivian Sultana
Chloe Wagner
Tara Weiss
Gabrielle Weissman
Fallon Young
Lacey Zaharis
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