The Wizard of Oz was a lot of fun but it was definitely a bigger undertaking than we anticipated.  When we decided to take on this show we thought there would be tons of local set rental choices because it’s a show that’s produced so much. This was not the case as we found out quickly after auditions.
We ended up having to rent the set from the Madison Square Garden revival and with that company, the costumes are usually part of the package… which was awesome but definitely a huge hit to the budget.

The show came together beautifully and the kids had so much fun wearing the professional costumes. We even found some famous names on the tags sewn into the costumes… Mickey Rooney and Eartha Kitt being two of them.

I’ve heard from several of our frequent Spotlighters that this show was their favorite because their groups bonded so much – especially among the 4 friends: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion.  And it was definitely a cool experience for the kids to wear Broadway-caliber costumes which are thick, hot, cumbersome and very sturdy.  We even had three girls as trees and those costumes were intense with harnesses to hold thick metal rods for branches to attach to.

So cool, but I was constantly worrying about if the thirteen and fourteen year old girls playing the trees could last through their scene without passing out… they did, so it was all good. Phew! I will never forget the many nights backstage I spent figuring out how in the heck those trees pieced together.  As I’ve said before, our kids are the sweetest so the girls were good sports about it and helped each other during the show run when I couldn’t be backstage all the time.Anyway, watch the video below for  a taste of the show. On to the next!