| The Wizard of Oz |
I did many things over the weekend and they were all enjoyable. The one thing that sticks out however was the play I attended, the Wizard of Oz. It was put on by Downriver Youth Performing Arts Center (DYPAC). It is a youth group that caters to kids 5 to 18 that want to get into the performing arts. From the moment we were approaching Flat Rock High School (where the play is being performed) I knew something was up. There were a ton of lights in the parking lot. When we got into the lot I discovered it was big but not as big as I thought.
We got to the high school itself after trekking in from the south 40 and might I say what a nice high school. It is about 12 years old but it does not look that old at all. Upon walking in I noticed something I have never seen before. They had tables set up by the front door with a lot of Wizard the Oz merchandise available to purchase. The picture they had were all of the old familiar gang. Beyond that they had a bunch of double sided racks set up with fill size sheets of paper, one for each cast member. It was all done on a template so it all looked the same other than the persons name and description of what they were doing and what they had done acting wise. It was simple enough but impressive none the less.
We had assigned seats and were 4 rows back from the pit and I do mean pit. They had a 15 piece orchestra sunken down in about 10 foot or so. They were pretty darn good being much better than I expected.
I was looking around and I was already impressed. From what I could see they had a real nice auditorium with sound deadening where it was needed, lot of light flown that for the most part they could easily get to even during a performance, a decent sound system although this play either pushed the sound system or pushed the sound technicians. I will tell you more latter.
They had a big program filled with ads and they were also projecting the ads on the screen. When it was time to start the audience lights went down and the curtains closed. Then we got some instructions booming out over the sound system from none other than the Wizard of Oz himself. The movie screen retracted and someone entered stage right in front of the curtain. It turned out they were one of the co directors and he also mentioned that he play cowardly lion in this same production 10 years ago when DYPAC fist formed.
The play was odd. There were lots of scenes you would be familiar although there may have been slight alterations to things because some things were not that easy to recreate in a play surrounding. But there was also many little zingers tossed in to obviously liven things up a little or help people follow along even with the story changed a little. There were also whole musical numbers added in. Why would they do that? Well the cast must have been between 150 and 200 people. Basically if someone went out for the play they received at least some part. The extra scenes gave them something extra for the large cast. Here is an example. We all remember where the wicked witch of the west sent the flying monkeys after Dorothy and crew… right? Well in this one she sent the flying monkeys too but before the monkeys got there she sent the jitter bug to incapacitate them. So here was a whole dance number about the jitter bug distracting them and eventually causing them to go down. After that the flying monkeys came and did their bidding.
OK, now that I have written a book lets try and bring her down to a nice gentle landing.
What I loved about this play besides watching all the technical things happen, and besides all the tons of wireless microphones… well actually I loved all that stuff. I could have spent the entire play behind the scenes watching all that was going on. I would have thoroughly enjoyed that. But what wowed me was the flying, yes I said flying. They started out by flying Glenda onto stage inside of what looked look a pink hula-hoop. Of course it was much sturdier than that and it even had a nice seat for Glenda to sit upon as she was flown into the scene. Once the follow the yellow brick road was started they flew Glenda back off stage. All in all she was flown 4 times as part of the play and also when they brought the whole case out at the end. The also flew the witch once and again for the ending. They of course had to fly the monkeys. At first just one was flown but then they had three in the air all at once. They also had a monkey fly away with Dorothy. Also during the I do believe in spooks part they flew the Cowardly Lion. They flew the great and powerful oz off stage in his hot air balloon and one last thing happened I did not even realize until after the play was over. They used the same flying equipment to fly a tornado through the farm. I have rarely seen anyone flown in a play before and have never seen it done in an amateur play. They hired a company out of Las Vegas to help them with the flying so everyone would be safe in the play.
They had pyrotechnics in the production to. Many times when the wicked witch showed up they fired off a powerful powder charge. It felt like they lit an M80 off with the sound, light and huge concussion but I am sure it was some sort of flash pot. One went off what looked like inches from the scarecrow that looked like it was inches away. Now here is the truly amazing part. I would say 80 percent of the time Toto was on screen and this was a real dog. For the most part it cooperated so well. One time they pushed him in from stage right onto the set. Other than that it tolerated the explosion and the tons of people. At one point they left Toto go and Toto stayed more or less in the area as was appropriate. Later in the scene where Toto reveals who the Wizard of Oz was they let the dog go about mid stage and it went scrambling off. How did they do that?
Well walking out we say a few words with a couple people we knew in the performance. I wanted to say great job to the Witch and the scarecrow but I could not get over to them. The coroner did a wonderful job to as he hammed it up big time. Dorothy, well for being only about 13 she was incredible. If I hear of DYPAC putting on another play, especially a musical, you can bet I will be there. Who knows, maybe I can get lost behind the scenes?
More to come about the weekend soon.
We got to the high school itself after trekking in from the south 40 and might I say what a nice high school. It is about 12 years old but it does not look that old at all. Upon walking in I noticed something I have never seen before. They had tables set up by the front door with a lot of Wizard the Oz merchandise available to purchase. The picture they had were all of the old familiar gang. Beyond that they had a bunch of double sided racks set up with fill size sheets of paper, one for each cast member. It was all done on a template so it all looked the same other than the persons name and description of what they were doing and what they had done acting wise. It was simple enough but impressive none the less.
We had assigned seats and were 4 rows back from the pit and I do mean pit. They had a 15 piece orchestra sunken down in about 10 foot or so. They were pretty darn good being much better than I expected.
I was looking around and I was already impressed. From what I could see they had a real nice auditorium with sound deadening where it was needed, lot of light flown that for the most part they could easily get to even during a performance, a decent sound system although this play either pushed the sound system or pushed the sound technicians. I will tell you more latter.
They had a big program filled with ads and they were also projecting the ads on the screen. When it was time to start the audience lights went down and the curtains closed. Then we got some instructions booming out over the sound system from none other than the Wizard of Oz himself. The movie screen retracted and someone entered stage right in front of the curtain. It turned out they were one of the co directors and he also mentioned that he play cowardly lion in this same production 10 years ago when DYPAC fist formed.
The play was odd. There were lots of scenes you would be familiar although there may have been slight alterations to things because some things were not that easy to recreate in a play surrounding. But there was also many little zingers tossed in to obviously liven things up a little or help people follow along even with the story changed a little. There were also whole musical numbers added in. Why would they do that? Well the cast must have been between 150 and 200 people. Basically if someone went out for the play they received at least some part. The extra scenes gave them something extra for the large cast. Here is an example. We all remember where the wicked witch of the west sent the flying monkeys after Dorothy and crew… right? Well in this one she sent the flying monkeys too but before the monkeys got there she sent the jitter bug to incapacitate them. So here was a whole dance number about the jitter bug distracting them and eventually causing them to go down. After that the flying monkeys came and did their bidding.
OK, now that I have written a book lets try and bring her down to a nice gentle landing.
What I loved about this play besides watching all the technical things happen, and besides all the tons of wireless microphones… well actually I loved all that stuff. I could have spent the entire play behind the scenes watching all that was going on. I would have thoroughly enjoyed that. But what wowed me was the flying, yes I said flying. They started out by flying Glenda onto stage inside of what looked look a pink hula-hoop. Of course it was much sturdier than that and it even had a nice seat for Glenda to sit upon as she was flown into the scene. Once the follow the yellow brick road was started they flew Glenda back off stage. All in all she was flown 4 times as part of the play and also when they brought the whole case out at the end. The also flew the witch once and again for the ending. They of course had to fly the monkeys. At first just one was flown but then they had three in the air all at once. They also had a monkey fly away with Dorothy. Also during the I do believe in spooks part they flew the Cowardly Lion. They flew the great and powerful oz off stage in his hot air balloon and one last thing happened I did not even realize until after the play was over. They used the same flying equipment to fly a tornado through the farm. I have rarely seen anyone flown in a play before and have never seen it done in an amateur play. They hired a company out of Las Vegas to help them with the flying so everyone would be safe in the play.
They had pyrotechnics in the production to. Many times when the wicked witch showed up they fired off a powerful powder charge. It felt like they lit an M80 off with the sound, light and huge concussion but I am sure it was some sort of flash pot. One went off what looked like inches from the scarecrow that looked like it was inches away. Now here is the truly amazing part. I would say 80 percent of the time Toto was on screen and this was a real dog. For the most part it cooperated so well. One time they pushed him in from stage right onto the set. Other than that it tolerated the explosion and the tons of people. At one point they left Toto go and Toto stayed more or less in the area as was appropriate. Later in the scene where Toto reveals who the Wizard of Oz was they let the dog go about mid stage and it went scrambling off. How did they do that?
Well walking out we say a few words with a couple people we knew in the performance. I wanted to say great job to the Witch and the scarecrow but I could not get over to them. The coroner did a wonderful job to as he hammed it up big time. Dorothy, well for being only about 13 she was incredible. If I hear of DYPAC putting on another play, especially a musical, you can bet I will be there. Who knows, maybe I can get lost behind the scenes?
More to come about the weekend soon.
Posted by barman at 3:58 PM::
sounds like it was really a tremendous production. thanks for sharing.
The Wizard of Oz was on TBS this weekend.
That's all I got
I love the Wizard of Oz. It's one of my all time favorite movies.
I've yet to see Wicked. I've heard that is an amazing play.
Have a great week Bryan!!
;o)
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