Geva’s Wizard of Oz is Magical and Transformative
- REVIEW by D.E. BENTLEY
It is rare to find an adaptation and performance of a classic so generously in tune with the times as Geva’s recent production
After a recent viewing of the Wizard of Oz at Geva Theatre, the two people I attended with (who had grown up in urban areas, one in Baum’s hometown, Buffalo) wondered why this story has been so enduring. For me, that answer is easy. Having grown up in an isolated region of rural New York State, with my canine companions as my closest friends, I could easily see myself in Dorothy (although I shunned the ribbons and bows of Judy Garland’s Dorothy). Stories are lifelines, a way for us to see beyond the confines of the worlds we are haphazardly born into; they are magical, and transformative; they open minds, and hearts. I recognized this as a youth who consumed books every summer—including Baum’s story, borrowed, most likely, from the traveling book mobile.
Contemporary theatre offers us an abundance of newer plays featuring stories relevant to and—thanks to expanding hybrid presentation modes and added features like closed captioning—more accessible to, wider audiences. Yet, it is rare to find an adaptation and performance of a classic so generously in tune with the times as Geva’s recent production. There have been innumerable play adaptations of Lyman Frank Baum’s Emerald City stories since its 1902 stage debut and its 1903 run on Broadway. Geva’s version, adapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and directed by Zi Alikhan, features the score from the 1939 Turner Entertainment Company’s movie version, starring Judy Garland—the version I identified with as a child and the one that has cemented the “Over the Rainbow” refrain as fully into our heads as the most enduring marketing jingle.
Geva’s production begins as a storybook telling by RuPaul’s Drag Race ‘s Rosé, who plays Aunt Em and Glinda. As my fellow theatre goer put it: “Using an outstanding drag queen performer in the role of Auntie Em [and Glinda] was a touch of genius. I thought they were the heart of the production, even overshadowing Savy as Dorothy.” The character choice and the early use of simple props (a dust-covered book, a chair, a glittery suitcase, a fabric house and curtains hung on a clothesline) center us in storyland and tie in fantastically with the racks of clothes that serve throughout the performance as the screen for lighting changes and projected imagery. They also serve as the dressing and wardrobe room for the performers. In the same way that simple props open doors to imagination, this simple set allows memory and imagination to fill in the gaps. Most of the action occurs front stage without assistance from any setting. A unique strength of the production.
Puppetry also plays a significant role, with racks of clothes at times becoming living things: threatening trees in a windy forest and Winkie Guards. Additional puppetry touches include googly eyes and feet that emerge from the garment racks when Dorothy and her traveling companions arrive in Munchkin Land. And then there is Toto, too. Puppetry Designer Emma Wiseman’s creative animations of inanimate things gleefully reminds us that objects are never mere objects. They, too, have a life.
For me, it is Dorothy that roots us in reality, at least reality as perceived by a child, as she rushes on stage, frightened and threatened by Miss Gulch. As Dorothy, Savy Jackson also yanks us quickly back to the production’s roots with her adolescent angst and her opening “Over the Rainbow” (out of this world) solo. The story and the momentum build from there. Savy offers up an outstanding performance from the opening scene until the rousing finale, when Dorothy wakes surrounded by her loving family.
Although Dorothy is the central character in most adaptations of Baum’s Wizard of Oz stories, including this one, the importance of her delightful traveling companions keeps them well out of the shadows. In the Geva Theatre production, an abundance of color and glitter also helps them shine, thanks to creative costuming design by Lux Haac. Under her direction, Scarecrow (Easton Michaels-Hunk/Scarecrow) is a multi-colored, rag-doll character covered in stuffed toys, Tinman (Barnaby Reiter – Hickory/Tinman) is a glittery, bell-bottomed rocker, with a microphone replacing their rusty ax, and Cowardly Lion (Pauli Pontrelli – Zeke/Cowardly Lion) a pastel-rich, ribbon-wearing king—carrying their head rather than wearing it. All of which contributes to a storytelling that inspires us to imagine and accept characters and worlds beyond our wildest imaginings. There is a reason they call it fantasy.
As in any fantasy, there is good and evil. I loved the goodness of Glinda with her beauty and bubble wand. I absolutely loved the evilness of Jennifer Sanchez as Miss Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West. Her initial scenes drip with meanness, and she carries this through to the melting point. When she is at her worst, Dorothy asks her, “ How can anyone be so nasty, mean, and cruel,” to which she responds, “Practice.”
Practice is also what makes such complex theatrical productions possible. The ensemble team members were constantly in motion as they served in multiple roles and kept everything on stage running smoothly. The choreography by Jayme Bermudez, and accompanying musical score, was well executed and must have taken many hours of work on the part of all. I especially loved seeing The Jitterbug dance and music scene—a scene cut from the 1939 movie, included with this production. According to Roger Clarke, writing in the Independent, the cut may have been due to its “association with alcohol misuse and mixed-race Harlem dives,” since the bugs gave one the jitters.
Geva’s hybrid production also includes an abundance of video screens, including the brilliant broadcasting of weather radar and the use of multiple screen projections of Dorothy’s encounter with Professor Chester Marvel and of the great and powerful Oz, that orient the story, and the storytelling, in the present. Marvel’s “crystal balls,” a computer screen and a cell phone, pull us further from the 1900’s era, as does the anti-drag signs carried by Miss Gulch and her hateful minions. The projected dream scene as Dorothy woke up was fantastic, as was the use of the smaller screens during the jitterbug scene and the spruce up in Oz scene. If there is any criticism to be shared related to the production, it is that the creative team tried to do a bit too much, and who can fault anyone for dreaming big.
The theatre was packed and it was great to see a range of young and not so young audience members. Even with some notable changes in the telling, the core story remained, and inspired the same questions that inspired the earliest theatre goers. As the balloon lifts off without Dorothy, a child sitting in the row just in front of us asked her parents, “Is she going to get back home?” Many of us dream of better places to be, and for some, “there’s no place like home” means finding a family rather than fitting well with the one we land in. As shared in Geva’s online “About the Show” write up: “director Zi Alikhan explores what it means to go “over the rainbow” to find your chosen family, and discover your true self in the Land of Oz.”
The show runs through October 1, 2023
For more information and tickets visit Geva online: