Good evening, and welcome to General Amherst High School’s production of The Wizard of Oz. This show is full of memories for many, and hopefully will make new ones for those in our audience experiencing it for the first time.
"The Wizard of Oz" is a challenging show to mount as a director. Do you stick to the novel's ideals and intentions? Do you fall back on the beloved film we all grew up on but changed some of those ideals? Or do you ignore it all and revise the story into something new? The levels and layers L.Frank Baum wrote into his wonderful text, which were then brought to life in varying degrees in the iconic 1939 film starring Judy Garland, are easy to lose once you begin to get into the theatrics. And upon my research, I found it difficult to turn my back to what Dorothy was intented to be. So, when faced with this challenge, I chose both. I took what Mr. Baum wanted from his heroine, took the RSC script which was true to the film, and merged the two into something hopefully new and different.
The Dorothy as we know her from the film was "meek" and "mild". That was in 1939. We are not in 1939. Today, that Dorothy would not translate; Dorothy needs to return to L. Frank Baum's intentions in 1900 of being proactive. And unlike most fairy tales, she's not waiting for her prince to come and save her as she is more than capable of doing it herself. And that stronger female spirit was not reserved for Dorothy. All the female characters were invisioned as strong and self reliant people who took control and didn't want to be saved or needing to be helped along. The women of Oz are fully present and in control, and that made the journey down the yellow brick road that more enjoyable. Baum wrote these women as role models for his readers, as he was a noted supporter of the feminist movement beginnig to take root, I hope you'll agree now is the perfect time to once again return to this vision.
Any production would be nothing without the support of many individuals outside the cast and their commitment of countless hours; a successful production involves more than what is just seen on the stage. I never would have gotten the show from Kansas without the cooperation, respect, and teamwork of the talented men and women whom I have had the pleasure to have been surrounded by over the duration of our show, and the young performers who gave it their all. It amazes me that when I asked, it appeared and was beyond my expectations.
I am thrilled that you are in the audience tonight. I hope that you enjoy the show, but more than anything, I hope you continue to sit in the audience and support the Arts in our school, and in our community.
Mr.S.Scott
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