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 now on sale and pricing information, as well as information on advertising, boosters, and our upcoming season of summer camp, can be found here at our theater's website at www.northportcommunitytheater.com
ALSO IMPORTANT: Next Sunday, April 30th, the Northport-East Northport Community Theater will be hosting a fundraiser at the Barnes and Noble located in Huntington Square (or the Sears Mall if you prefer to call it that) at 4000 Jericho Turnpike, from 1pm to 5pm. Be sure to mention that you're there for the NCT fundraiser when you purchase something. Some of the cast will be onhand to sing songs from the show and it will be tons of fun (it always is)!
Written by: Justin Murphy
My sincerest apologies for the blog being late (and for the blog not being up at all last week). I was a very busy little bee during the vacation and the past week and I completely lost track of the blog. So to make it up to you all, I'm going to put both weeks of the blog here into this one blog. First up, the review on the Wizard of Oz book, and then the rehearsal from this past week!
Ok, did I seriously type busy little bee? Yeesh
The Wizard of Oz book is certainly very different in many ways from the movie and show. There's many things that are done much quicker and many things which take a longer time. For instance, Dorothy is already in Oz by page 5. The Wicked Witch shows up for the first time halfway through the book, and she's gone 12 pages later. However, the journey back to Oz from the Witch's castle takes a longer time, whereas the movie doesn't even show up. Then they have to travel to an entirely different section of Oz to meet up with Glinda, who isn't seen until about the last 5 pages, for she is the Witch of the South in the book (the earlier Witch of the North is unnamed and meets up with Dorothy when she first arrives in Oz, much like Glinda did in the movie). The main trio is also less goofy than they are in the movie, though never to the point where they feel like they have no character. The backstories for the trio are also gone into a bit more, kind of like they were for the stage production. Some things are explained a bit better in the book admittedly, such as why the Wicked Witch has dozens of opportunities to kill Dorothy but never actually does it, or Glinda never telling Dorothy that the slippers would take her home until the end (because as I said, in the book, they don't meet Glinda until the end). It's not a particularly long or hard book, but it is still a very good read, with a lot of message and morals to it, hidden beneath the moments of wonder and excitement, as well as some pretty dark moments (such as battling against the Witch's minions and the Tin Man's rather tragic backstory, which I mentioned in an earlier edition in the blog).
Is the book as iconic as the film? Honestly, probably not as the film is much more well known and celebrated than the book, but that does not mean that the book deserves to be overlooked. It's definitely a fascinating read and is very easy to find. I'd recommend buying it online, as it's very cheap, but I'm sure you could find it at your local bookstore as well (such as Barnes and Noble, where NCT will be hosting a fundraiser next Sunday, April 30th, from 1pm to 5pm!!). Give it a read and decide what you think of it yourself. As for me, I really enjoyed it.
The only rehearsal to go over that I was called for in the past two weeks is the one Full Cast rehearsal which took place on Monday April 17th. Tonight would be a very dance heavy night, as Holly was there to monitor choreography for the two big group numbers. First she worked on the Munchkins big scene bit by bit, with the sections for the Mayor, Coroner, Barrister, City Fathers, School Teachers, Lullaby League, and Lollipop Guild, as well as the sections where everyone would sing and dance at once. Both Dorothys were unavailable for the evening, so Avery Infranco and Kim Sultana took turns standing in for Dorothy while the other played Glinda. They would transition right into the following scene with the Wicked Witch and then from there, would go into the ending of the Munchkins scene where they told Dorothy to follow the Yellow Brick Road, which they didn't take too long to learn. Extra projection points must be given out to Jude Centamore, one of the Lollipop Kids, who was projecting (but not yelling) his singing for the songs so much that I genuinely thought he had a microphone on.
After this song number was over, Holly took the adults and older kids to work on the Merry Old Land of Oz song number, which was all finished and put together, but hadn't been worked on since it was first done 2 weeks prior. Quite a few of the adults remembered the dance and helped out some of the people that didn't remember right away, and the high school kids did awesomely as usual. In addition, the little singing sequences were rehearsed during this time, from the Guard, to the quartet, to the chorus parts, to the full cast parts.
All throughout the night, Jim would grab certain people to work on certain scenes. For about the last half hour, he worked on the final few scenes which hadn't been fully blocked, including when Dorothy sees the true Wizard, the balloon scene, and the final Kansas scene. The scene did not yet have any of the props such as the balloon or Dorothy's bed or anything, but it was still blocked out with the actors. I believe that during this time Holly grabbed the Jitterbugs for their dance as well, but didn't see it for myself. Also throughout the night, Courtney was available to check on people's costume progress, tell the actors what would be provided and what wouldn't be, and figuring out which people would be renting and which people would be providing their own costumes. In addition, forms for things such as the picture books for the shows, T-shirt forms, Boosters and Ads for the shows, were available to be picked up and filled out, though the boosters, and ads, are all due by tonight, April 24th, with no exceptions.
We're now approaching crunch time, and there will be very few days going forward without rehearsals attached to them, as the show is now just 11 days away!!! AAAAAH! Look forward for the next blog that will hopefully be up this Friday, and then I plan to release a special blog dedicated to our big all-day rehearsal on Saturday the 29th! See you then!
"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" -Wicked Witch of the West
CAST
NOTE: Maggie Fitzmaurice and Samantha Madden have withdrawn from the production. We wish them the best in all of their future endeavors.
Dorothy Gale: Bella Donneruno (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Meaghan Maher (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Scarecrow: Justin Autz (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Sam Schoeps (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Tin Man: Barri Feuer (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Tess Robinson (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Cowardly Lion: John Walsh (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Lawrence Palevsky (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Wicked Witch of the West/Miss Almira Gulch: Stephanie Sultana (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Casey Savin (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Wizard of Oz: Rich Lau
Glinda: Kim Sultana (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Avery Infranco (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Emerald City Guard: John Morale (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Justin Murphy (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Aunty Em: Teresa Morale (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Barbara Schulman (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Uncle Henry: Joel Ackerman (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Joe Centamore (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Hickory: James Roche
Hunk: Gerald Quigley/John Morale*
Zeke: Justin Murphy
Crows: Taryn Feuer (5/5, 5/6, and 5/7), Quincy Jackson, and Suzie Walsh (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Amelia Lau (5/12, 5/13, and 5/14), Dana Schoeps, and Jake Kalinowski (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Trees: Judy Avena, Elise Autz (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13), and Patsy VanDyke (5/5, 5/7, and 5/14)/Noel Dillon, Cynthia Piacentini (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14), and Kathy Lau (5/6, 5/12, and 5/13)
Winkie General: Gerald Quigley (5/5, 5/12, and 5/14)/Kathy Lau (5/6 and 5/13)/Vinny Dillon (5/7)
Toto: Ella Smith (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Michael Deaner (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Mayor of Munchkin City: Luke Frisoli (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Luca Bergin (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Coroner: Luca Bergin (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Luke Frisoli (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Barrister: Andrew Geres
City Fathers: Anthony Shah and Nathan Zarko
Teachers: Carlie Rees and Alexandra Curatolo (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Annabelle Deaner and Lacey Zaharis (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)
Lullaby League: Amelia Eisenberg, Lily Rankin, and Cami Rees (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Goldie Centamore (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)/Emma Morale, Ayla-Schulman Hughes, and Vivian Sultana (Unsure if all shows or "B" Days)
Lollipop Guild: Carter Eisenberg (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13)/Kieran Brown (5/7, 5/13, and 5/14), Ryan Brown, Ryan Dean, and Jacob Karp (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14)/Jude Centamore (All Shows)
Ozians: Joel Ackerman, Elise Autz, Judy Avena, Joe Centamore, Michelle Centamore, Noel Dillon, Vinny Dillon, Barri Feuer, Jillian Graci, Honey Hecht, Kimberly Lapidus, Patricia McCarthy, John Morale, Theresa Morale, Justin Murphy, Lawrence Palevsky, Cynthia Piacentini, Mia Femia Pizzo, Gerald Quigley, Kellsey Roy, Casey Savin, Barbara Schulman, Shira Schweitzer, Kim Sultana, Stephanie Sultana, Angie Tomala, Patsy VanDyke, John Walsh, and Corrie Ann Young
Jitterbugs: Justin Autz, Sarah Caulfield, Bella Donneruno, Taryn Feuer, Avery Infranco, Quincy Jackson, Arianna Keating, Grace Keating, Meaghan Maher, Sarah Meade, Tess Robinson, James Roche, Maggie Saum, Liana Scala, Dana Schoeps, Samantha Schoeps, and Celia Spero
Middle School Chorus: Julie Barbier, Luca Bergin, Juliette Bonchonsky, Bridget Caulfield, Natalie Ceonzo, Kailin Donnelly, Luke Frisoli, Riley Gayer, Andrew Geres, Jennifer Golder, Alyssa Infranco, Amelia Lau, Ava Mackey, Kyra Perles, Caitlin Rees, Nikki Scala, Nina Scala, Amelia Semple, Leeva Slevin, Emily Starin, Clare Vogt, and Suzie Walsh
"A" Flying Monkeys (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13): Sydney Aguirri, Kylie Balezos, Gabrielle Blum, Isabell Colaccio, Michael Donatelli, Lily Eagen, Julia Eisenberg, Markus Fehrenbacher, Rayna Feuer, Ava Olsen, Elliote Salisbury, Olivia Scannapieco, Grace Sewell, Tara Weiss, Gabrielle Weissman, and Fallon Young
"B" Flying Monkeys (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14): Sienna Boden, Lily Brown, Maya Burget, Mairead Camas, Elizabeth Ceonzo, Katie Conway, Julia Dean, Rayna Feuer, Lindsay Grabowski, Ethan Hoerning, Sofia Kabacinski, Katie Karp, Liam McLaughlin, Lily Majewski, Kelly Ricciardi, and Luc Wagner
"A" Poppies (5/5, 5/7, and 5/13): Goldie Centamore, Alexandra Colacicco, Quinn Fehrenbacher, Juliet Morale, Joey Pizzo, Reilly Salisbury, and Juliet Scannapieco
"B" Poppies (5/6, 5/12, and 5/14): Juliette Bergin, Casey Bernson, Liam Caulfield, Hannah Feinstein, Chloe Gucciardo, Brody Mackey (5/12, 5/13, and 5/14), Trixie Moran, Cate Ricciardi, Ella Smith, and Chloe Wagner
Munchkin Wranglers: Jillian Graci and Mia Femia Pizzo
* = Gerald Quigley will not be available for the shows on 5/6 and 5/7. It is unknown at this point if John Morale will only be portraying his role of Hunk on those days or another so the part is split evenly.
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