Audiences have just four more chances to journey with Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man down the yellow brick road in Eden Prairie High School’s (EPHS) Drama production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
Final performances will be in the high school’s Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, Friday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Nov. 18. There will also be a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday.
Tickets for the family-friendly show are $11 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens and can be purchased here.
The show opened last weekend, with performances on Nov. 10 and 11.
“We had a great opening, including lots of kids for the matinee,” said Laurie Nebeker, who is the show’s director and an EPHS teacher. “We had some kids come in Dorothy costumes, and the cast had fun taking pictures with them after the show.”
Nebeker said she’s proud of the hard work students have put into the show.
“I’ve thought about the gift of ‘tiny pieces of time’ as I’ve watched our students put in many extra hours on this huge undertaking of a musical,” she said in the show’s program.
Nebeker noted that some students have been working on the show since August, when they began brainstorming set design with her. “Our ‘flying group’ of actors and flight-line operators put in a full weekend of training and have followed up with extra rehearsals every week for the past month,” she added.
Nebeker also praised the tech crew leaders, who “have arrived early and late to paint, fix lighting cues, finish props, accessorize costumes, and organize scene shifts,” among many tasks. She also noted the significant amounts of dialogue and specialty makeup techniques the cast had to learn.
“In ‘short,’ nothing about producing this show has been Munchkin-sized,” she said.
The show stars Laura Schiveley as Dorothy Gale, Diva as Toto, Zahara Umar as Aunt Em, Aidan Gordy as Uncle Henry, Zak Bhatti as Zeke/Cowardly Lion, Mark Allen as Hickory/the Tin Man, Adam Szendre as Hunk/the Scarecrow, Elizabeth Stephan as Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West, Owen Caruth as Professor Marvel/the Great Oz, Lily Hugen as Flying Miss Gulch, Poppy, and Flying Monkey, and Susannah Smith as Glinda the Good Witch.
The production involves more than 80 students, including the cast, pit orchestra, and tech crew. With others contributing to set design, props, and costumes, the total number of students participating exceeds 100.
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