Paving the Way for the Yellow Brick Road
Bedford actors learning new dance moves from dance instructor Steven Moore.
With school starting up, seventh and eighth graders are making their way to the Bedford auditorium to rehearse the fall production of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
With 100 cast members in total, many new changes will be made to the play, with special effects playing a big role in the production to provide the audience with the classic charm that made the story one to remember.
Some of these changes include a musical soundtrack, not a live band like the plays before. This is unexplored territory, but if the music can be recognized easily, that may be a giant payoff.
“We also have a rear projection screen,” said Mrs. McCormick, theater and presentation teacher as well as the director for the plays here at Bedford. “These two things have never been done before, here at Bedford.”
With the projector lighting up the stage behind the actors, though the pictures might make it easier for the behind the scenes crew, it is a challenge. As for the music, it works just as a computer soundtrack, and the computers can’t sense when an actor has forgotten his or her lines. So if the actor gets behind on his or her lines, it will be hard to get back on track.
“Right now we’re in the organizational phase of the rehearsals,” said Max Ardrey, a seventh grader, and a member of this and last year’s play, “Not now, but towards the end of production people are going to come into rehearsal without the lines they were supposed to have memorized by last week.”
The deadline doesn’t seem like a problem for Mrs. McCormick and the crew (Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m. opening), but the main issue is the timing. Getting everybody on the stage and then behind the curtains, will pose as a big deal, with the actors working two and a half hours Monday to Friday after school to make the transitions as smooth as possible.
As usual, there will be two casts, the “Emerald” cast performing on Friday night and Saturday afternoon, and “Ruby” performing on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Before they can get a heart, a brain of courage, they’ll need Ms. Lacy’s and Mrs. Smith’s costumes.
To make these costumes really shine, over 100 hours of work will be spent by Ms. Paula Lacy and Mrs. Smith, doing as much as they can in the short amount of time before the show. Not only do they have to create the costumes, they must iron and wash many of the 300 costumes after each performance. But the way that they construct the costumes is interesting.
“We actually buy the base, but then through layers build up the rest from hand. Most of the parts of the costume are from other productions,“ said Ms. Lacy, one of the costume designers for the play here at Bedford, as well as a paraprofessional who also runs BAM
“Over 300 costumes will be made. Some kids that don’t have a big part can have up to five costumes, but if you have a lead, like Dorothy, you will only have around two,” said Ms. Lacy.
Even with the chaos from the stage and behind it, a little help has come. Steve Moore, a choreographer, has come to Bedford to be in charge of the special effects, to put a magic and illusions into the show.
Some of Mr. Moore’s most famous work was helping two of the greatest magicians, David Blaine and David Copperfield. Who better to put the magic of the “wonderful wizard,” into “Oz” than the man behind the scenes of the world’s greatest illusionists.
But of course, while actors read their lines, another scene is going on behind the curtains of every stage.
“We have to decide on a stage manager or everything will be chaos this year,” said Rachalle Ubaldo, a member of the play’s tech crew, “But right now, we’re helping out as much as we can for the actors, so we can start working on the other stuff.”
So whether the seventh and eighth graders are actors or magicians, we know that they will be spending their afternoons hard at work, putting on a show that will be remembered.