"The Wizard of Oz" at Children's Theatre Company

Children's Theatre Company is returning to The Wizard of Oz, one of the classic adaptations in their repertoire, but one they haven't done in over ten years. This production features brand new design and direction, and a mostly new cast (with the exception of returning company members, because why mess with perfection?). For those of us who grew up with the 1939 Judy Garland movie version of Frank L. Baum's novel (the first in a series of 14 books), it feels nostalgic and familiar, like the beloved movie live and in 3D. From the display of the credits at the beginning of the show, to the tornado sequences, it feels very cinematic. This adaptation (by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company) hews very close to the original movie, and all of the songs are from the movie, with no attempts to make it anything different from the story we know and love, just brighter and more full of life. The Wizard of Oz continues at CTC through June 14, recommended for the young, the young at heart, and those who want to feel young again. Keep reading for highlights of this production.

• This cast. The role of Dorothy is shared by a couple of high school seniors with bright futures - Aniya Bostick and Harriet Spencer. I saw Aniya, and this 2025 Spotlight Triple Threat is incredibly self-possessed and mature for her age, with a beautiful voice and a natural stage presence, playing the moral center of the story and going toe-to-toe with these seasoned pros. Namely, CTC company members Dean Holt and Reed Sigmund who have played Lion and Scarecrow, respectively, in every production I've seen. They are both so centered and secure in these roles that they are able to play and find new dimensions. Dean is impossibly loose-limbed as Scarecrow, Reed milks every moment as the Cowardly Lion, channeling Bert Lahr from the movie but making it his own. Regina Marie Williams joins the cast this year as the tender-hearted Tin Man in a (metal) pants role; CTC company member Autumn Ness dons the black cape and hat as the deliciously evil Wicked Witch, with parallels to nosy neighbor Mrs. Gulch; Becca Claire Hart transforms from the drab but kind Auntie Em to the glamourous Glinda the Good Witch; Riley McNutt is the stern Uncle Henry, the happy mayor of Munchkinland, and the OZ Gatekeeper; and JoeNathan Thomas is the charmingly befuddled Professor Marvel in Kansas as well as the showman Wizard of Oz.

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  Dorothy and friends (Regina Marie Williams, Reed Sigmund,
  Aniya Bostick, and Deal Holt, photo by Glen Stubbe photography)

  The music! Every song is a delight and will remain stuck in your head for days. Victor Zupanc orchestrated and serves as music director, leading the eight-piece pit orchestra as they bring the movie score to richer, deeper life.
• The design. This production makes ample use of video projections to create the tornado effects, the Wizard of Oz talking head, and a scary message from the Witch. Practical sets include a frame of the farmhouse, the witch's lair, the gates of Oz, and various plants that inhabit the magical land. Lighting and sound effects help to create the immersive feeling of being inside the movie, and the transformation from colorless Kansas to technicolor Oz. (Scenic design by Adam Koch, lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, sound design by Reid Rejsa, projection design by Kylee Loera.)

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  poppies! (Becca Clair Hart as Glinda)
  (photo by Glen Stubbe photography)

  The costumes. We open on the sepia-toned Kansas, everyone dressed in grays and browns,
  Dorothy's iconic blue gingham dress reimagined as blue patchwork shorteralls (with a fun Ozian transformation into something more reminiscent of the movie dress). The munchkins are dressed in blue, Ozians in every shade of green, and Dorothy's friends' Oz costumes parallel their Kansas farmhand looks, which at the end of the play are in brighter color.
• The direction/choreography. With direction by CTC Artistic Director Rick Dildine and choreography by Christopher Windom, the story clips by at a good pace, the huge and talented youth and adult cast moving like a well-oiled machine, recreating all of our favorite movie scenes in a fresh way.
• Toto. The premiere Broadway animal trainer William Berloni returns to CTC and brings along professional theater dogs Alfie and Nessa (understudy). I'm not sure it's an overstatement to say that Alfie is the best trained actor on the stage, always hitting his mark, emoting, never barking, compliantly being carried to and from by various people, put in boxes, and running on and off stage on cue. 
• To be reminded that there truly is no place like home, and that we have everything we need within us.

we welcome you to Munckinland! (photo by Glen Stubbe photography)