North Springs Arts

NOW SHOWING!

The Wizard of Oz

North Springs takes a trip down the Yellow Brick Road

March 6-15, 2009

(SANDY SPRINGS, GA) Well, we are not in Sandy Springs anymore, Toto.  North Springs Charter High School has selected the beloved musical The Wizard of Oz for its spring production, and the show promises to delight both first-time viewers and die-hard fanatics. The script, modeled after the MGM motion picture and adapted for the screen by the Royal Shakespeare Company of London, is produced at North Springs by special arrangement with TAMS/Whitmark.

This award winning Fine Arts department has big plans for the show, which is scheduled to open March 6th.  The technical theatre magnet students, under the guidance of technical director Marty Aikens, are planning a thrilling page to stage adaptation, including a mechanized tornado, large puppets, and, yes, even flying monkeys.

To make this technical miracle happen, Aikens has enlisted the services of ZFX, a professional flying company, to train the cast and crew of the wonderful land of Oz.  Through the technical theatre magnet program at North Springs, students have been exposed to many other advanced technical production techniques like this one. Much like the surreal and creepy projection screens in last season’s Bat Boy: The Musical, the scope and scale of the technical production will thrill audiences as much as the acting.

Brian Kimmel, the stage director for this trip over the rainbow, has recently directed Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Bat Boy: The Musical, which was selected for the 2008 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.  While planning the show with the production team, Kimmel decided that the high school students at North Springs needed some support from an unlikely place, our own “Munchkinland.”

They decided to cast students from Woodland Elementary Charter School and Sandy Springs Middle School as both munchkins and flying monkeys.  With the help of Pamela Jackson at WECS and Kay Walker at SSMS, the students were selected in January and have been enjoyed rehearsing with the “big kids” in preparation for the show. 

Other cast members include Mackenzie Devlin as “Dorothy”, Damon Bellman as “the Scarecrow,” Spencer Showalter as “the Tin Man,” and Jason Sokolic as “the Cowardly Lion.”  The magic of Oz is complete with performances by Mary Malloy as “Glinda,” Olivia Harlow as “the Wicked Witch of the West,” and Michael Rowland as the great and powerful “Wizard of Oz.”

Songs include “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” “Off to See the Wizard,” “If I Only had a Brain,” “If I only had a Heart,” “If I only had the Nerve,” “King of the Forrest,” and the forgotten gem, “The Jitterbug,” among others. With the expertise of choreographer Denise Kent and members of the North Springs dance magnet program, these classic pieces  thrive on the mainstage. 

 Tickets are $8 for students, $15 for adults, and $20 for our featured V.I.P. seating.  To order tickets, please call our ticket hotline at 770.551.2490 ext. 180 or email M. Northcutt at marianmn@bellsouth.net. 

The Wizard of Oz

 Showtimes: 

March 6 -  7pm
March 7 - 7pm
March 8 - 2pm & 7pm
March 13 - 7pm
March 14 - 7pm
March 15 - 2pm & 7pm

 Tickets:

 Tickets are $8 for students, $15 for adults, and $20 for our featured V.I.P. seating.  To order tickets, please call our ticket hotline at 770.551.2490 ext. 180 or email M. Northcutt at marianmn@bellsouth.net. 

 Directions:

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