When I directed this show at a middle school, I cast a student with dance experience as the "yellow brick road dancer." She had a dance feature during "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," and then she would re-enter between each scene and dance across the stage as the other actors followed her. We didn't have a physical yellow brick road -- just her. (She did carry a piece of yellow poly silk to suggest the idea of the "road.") This streamlined our set changes, created a new opportunity to feature a student, and tied in with my overall vision of a more stripped-down version of
Wizard of Oz. I've attached a photo.
I find that with a show like
The Wizard of Oz, a lot of people come in with a very specific idea of how everything should look -- but there are actually lots of opportunities for creative and out-of-the-box solutions. Hope you find a good solution for your production!
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Elizabeth Berg
Drama Teacher
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-11-2020 09:32
From: Amy Penney
Subject: Yellow brick road in Wizard of Oz
Hi there,
I am directing Wizard of Oz in a small shared black box theatre, so our set has to be portable. Has anyone seen or directed a production in which student actors moved the yellow brick road to where they needed it to be for the next scene. I am thinking of having like a 6 ft piece of painted canvas hanging from a rod that actors would literally pick up and move as they sang yellow brick road, and then would lay it down in a new spot for the next scene. I am trying to convince my crew director that this a good solution and that we don't need a literal yellow brick road. Can you direct me to any video footage I might show her? I've also considered having actors actually be the road (or at least a part of it). Any input?
Thanks!
Amy
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Amy Penney
Albany Middle School
Richmond CA
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