Loveland’s got talent! That’s the phrase that came to mind to lead off this review as I left the Loveland Stage Company theater on Friday. I put it aside when I realized it was exactly how I started the review of my first visit to the theater in 2023 (Company). But it did not stay there, and in the end, being repetitive didn’t seem so bad. The amount of talent this community theater group brings together is awesome. You, I told myself, can say that again.
This is a happy time for the Wizard of Oz and me. I’ve seen the 1939 movie on TV screens numerous times, then last month, I saw it in a theater for only the second time (The Wizard of Oz). Before this month ends, I hope to visit the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS. It seems a near-perfect time for me to see the story presented live on stage for the first time ever.
Many versions of the story exist. The Loveland Stage Company’s production is based on the classic 1939 movie. Almost every difference is because a theater stage is not the same as a Hollywood sound stage. There are no horses of any color, nor is there a sty filled with pigs for Dorothy to fall into. The stage backdrop is a screen that provides views of the really big stuff. These include the tornado, Dorothy’s flight to Oz (yes, there’s a bike and a boat), the field of poppies, and even (pay attention) the Wizard flying off in his balloon. One big thing that is not a projected image, even though it was in the movie, is the Wizard. Here he is free-standing and majestic. The stage design, on what I assume is a limited budget, is truly impressive.
Most, but not all, of the differences between the movie and the stage are pragmatic omissions. There is at least one example of something in the stage production that was not in the movie. It’s a scene featuring the song Jitterbug. Although it was filmed in 1939, it did not make the final cut. The official video has been lost, but you can catch a glimpse of the scene here, even though I’m sure you’ll like the LSC version better.
Every bit of music, including the Jitterbug, comes from a ten (or maybe fourteen) piece orchestra behind that rear stage screen. The uncertainty comes from the difference between a list and individual biographies in the program. I could not count them live, of course, because they are hidden. They sound great and are a key part of the production. An awful lot of the talent behind this article’s first sentence is hidden. Check out the program to identify that hidden talent.
Of course, that program also identifies the unhidden talent. The cast of The Wizard of Oz is comprised of ten players in named roles plus a sixteen-member ensemble. Quite a few ensemble members fill individual speaking roles at various points. Loveland’s talent clearly runs deep.
Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion are played by Kelly Johnson, Derek Harper, Matt Truesdell, and Derek Foster, respectively. These four handle much of the singing and dancing, but the ensemble definitely carries its share of the load. Olivia Munro appears as Glinda, and Ginny Johnson is the Wicked Witch of the West. Jim Tobergta plays the Wizard and contributed tremendously to set design and construction. Toto is brought to life, marionette fashion, by Jonah Human. Human is probably on stage as much as any character, yet manages to be nearly invisible most of the time. There are several instances where his facial expression adds to the on-stage action; none where it detracts.
Six performances remain: Friday and Saturday evenings plus Sunday matinees for the next two weeks. At the moment, none are completely sold out, but they are all getting close. If you make it, see if you think Ginny Johnson might be channelling Margaret Hamilton in the delivery of a few of her lines, and maybe a couple of laughs, too. I did.