Arts

The Yellowbrick Road Meets the Minneapolis Childrens Theatre

By Rohan Preston The Statesman
Maeve Moynihan, a young stage phenom who had a featured role in the premiere of A Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie a few years ago, made her professional acting debut playing a cute munchkin in The Wizard of Oz at the Childrens Theatre. Ten years later, she is skipping down the yellow brick road as Dorothy, the precocious center of the storm in the musical based on the classic 1939 MGM film. Not only is this a perfect holiday show with themes of home and finding what youre looking for in yourself, said Moynihan. This theater has been home for me and Im going off to college next. Its a gratifying bookend. For the Edina-based actor, her cast mates and the creative team, putting on this big musical means navigating a tricky line between homage and hagiography. They have to find original voices and depictions that nod to history but are also their own. In a recent prerehearsal roundtable, the cast reflected on their histories with Oz as well as the magic of recreating a film classic in live theater. There are certain shows, like [Laurence] Oliviers Hamlet, where you can say, Were not going to watch the tape, said director Peter Rothstein. This is one where you cant just say were gonna do our own Wizard of Oz. Its such an enormous part of the culture. The 1939 feature film was a landmark for many reasons, including the fact that it was shot in Technicolor, a big technological breakthrough in those days. All of its principal actors were or became stars, including Judy Garland as Dorothy, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion and Jack Haley as the Tin Man. The shows iconic status actually provides a kind of freedom, said Jennifer Blagen, who is playing the Wicked Witch and whos having a return moment herself. She made her stage debut at the Childrens Theatre in The Empty Space in 1976. That Oz is so well-known is something ... we can hang our hats on, she said. But then we can move away from that in a way that makes sense for our characters. Max Wojtanowicz, who is acting in Oz for the first time and is playing Tin Man, said that an actor has to find a character for this revival from the film version is what distinguishes live theater from a canned product, said Rothstein. Its the chance to share the same air with the actors, and to see and breathe the magic. Even jaded adults go ooh and aah when they see people flying onstage, Rothstein said. Even when you see the wires, theres nothing like that thrill. Reed Sigmund, who plays the Cowardly Lion, agrees. And theres nothing like seeing the fire blast out of a broom in the theater, he said. Especially when you can possibly feel the heat and smell the smoke. A TV or movie screen cant compete with that. Sigmund is returning to a role he twice played and one that marks his professional growth. Whats the difference between how hes playing the Cowardly Lion now vs. his two earlier depictions? Well,

himself. Judy Garland said that you cant be a second-rate version of someone else, said Wojtanowicz. You have to be a first-rate version of yourself. Childrens Theatre staged Oz back-to-back over two seasons ending in 2003. Rothstein has taken the reins of the mammoth production for the first time. What distinguishes

I was a young actor and yelled every single one of my lines then, he said. I know [my cast mates] might say that Im still yelling, but Im not approaching the Cowardly Lion entirely as comic relief today. Not that hes emoting or anything, but Im trying to build a base of vulnerability and layer the humor on top of that. Unlike Annie, whose gorgeous production Rothstein directed with recorded music at the theater in the spring, Oz will feature an eight-piece orchestra, directed by Victor Zupanc. You cant replace the adrenaline, the pullback and drive that happens when you have live musicians, said Rothstein. Its organic and outside of the science of time. The original was scored for 40, 50, 60 musicians -- a big orchestra -- that I translate to eight, said Zupanc. I have to figure out which families of orchestra to use. And it never stops. Well be halfway through the run before I finally figure out something thats bothering me. Then Ill go, Flute, why dont you take this line instead of violin?

Photos by Bruce Bisping