Down the Yellow Brick Road, Again
By Will Liegel, Director (reprinted from Fall Signet)
Wait… didn’t Phil-Mont do that show before? Yes, for those alumni who were around in the ’90s, this title might seem a “blast from the past.” It is—The Wiz is coming back for another run on the Hamel Auditorium stage. The winner of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, and a show turned into a movie favorite and a recent live TV version, why wouldn’t a school do this one twice?
It has been nearly twenty-five years since our last production when Dorothy walked that Yellow Brick Road and vanquished the Evil Queen of Oz with a simple bucket of water. It was 1995 to be exact, and Chanea Davis (Dorothy), Evie Cook (Scarecrow), Jon Yonan (Wizard) and all the rest clicked their heels together and journeyed off to new careers and ministries. However, Tracey Williams- Riles Trice, the Wicked Evilene herself, is back at Phil-Mont, this time as the mom to Academy kindergartner Caleb — though she assures us she only uses her powers for good now as a resident family practitioner at Jefferson Hospital. The show is long gone, but the sweet memories live on.
The new production? Well, the reason we are doing it is that it seemed a perfect vehicle for the students God has placed with us this year. Auditions brought forth everyone’s best work and now Kristin Olinger, Marianne in last year’s Sense and Sensibility, is the Scarecrow. The wacky workers from Hello Dolly!, Jackson Rennix, and Ben Ruby are the Tin Man and Lion, and Elana Kline, the Little Mermaid of two years back is our new Evilene. Perhaps Dr. Trice can give her some pointers…
Our Dorothy is senior Sarah Hamilton, a Hamel Auditorium trouper. Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, and Dolly in Hello Dolly!, we are all delighted that we’ll be able to hear her lovely voice one more time, this time as a young girl after those three “mature” roles. But new folks have found their places as well. Chinese student Rebecca Zhang is Glinda, middle-schooler Sam Shaw won the role of the Gatekeeper, senior Hosanna Hsi just entered Phil-Mont and is the Munchkin guardian Addaperle, and her brother Josiah is the Lord High Underling.
Theatre continues to be a big deal at Phil-Mont with thirty-six in our Wiz cast and twenty-plus in the crew. Some 150 costumes are being fitted, elaborate sets and props are being designed and created, and songs and dances are being polished. Lifelong friendships are also being established, and this last part is the most important. It’s why we are here. The songs will fade, just as the lecture stories in a class might dim and the soccer scores be forgotten. But the relationships that are made everywhere here at the Academy are what are valuable, what are worth the time, and what will last into the future.
It’s not a coincidence that our main characters are traditionally called the “four friends.” Dorothy is frightened and lost and needs to go home and is helped by a brilliant scarecrow who thinks he’s dumb, a loving tin man who believes he has no heart, and a brave lion who is convinced he’s a coward. But they care and help each other to find their path and their true selves and to express the gifts each one possesses. That is pretty much what we faculty want for our students: to connect with each other and with us, to find their way and go forth to serve God with their talents.
No, The Wiz is no theological treatise. Far from it! But it is full of helpful metaphors that point us toward friendship and courage and perseverance and away from evil thoughts and actions. It is a wild, rockin’, soulful explosion, but it also has some solid lessons to teach and some great examples to give. You’ll see some amazing performances… and perhaps some former Hamel stars might return to see the next generation “ease on down the road.”
