Whew! Wizard of Oz Comes to an End

[Curtain call - me in middle with tie.]

We wrapped up the Rosetown production of the Wizard of Oz Saturday night. If you will forgive the metaphor, the show was as hot as the weather – with humidity and temp climbing throughout the day. Despite a great deal of tumultuous weather, we lucked out. There were no weather related cancellations like last summer’s tornado shortened final performance of Oliver!, or the snow-cancelled Christmas Carol performance last December.

The end of a production is always bittersweet. We are happy to have our evenings back, but “regular” life seems so boring compared to life in Oz.

Congrats to local Mayors Peter Lindstrom of Falcon Heights and Dan Roe of Roseville for their cameo appearances as “Honorary Mayor” of Munchkin City. Reciting lines over music on a stage filled with close to 100 Munchkins, in front of a crowd of over 500 can be a daunting task. But the mayors rose to the challenge. I spoke with Mayor Roe. He seemed to really enjoy it – and looked quite the part in his mayoral sash and top hat. (See far left in picture above.)

Thanks to Amy Crosson for the picture above. Many others have documented the show, see this great Flickr collection, and more on the Rosetown Facebook page.


What’s next? Like all strenuous activities – when it’s over you say, “Whew! Glad that’s over, I’ll never do that again.” But of course, you will try out for the next production because you’re hooked. Why? It’s a gas to spend so much time with your kids – and other families. The cast of Oz ranged in age from 4 to 54 (or so). It’s a great community and inter-generational activity. Other reasons include the obvious – it’s so much more rewarding than the “day job”.

The next show? The Christmas production, a musical, The Ultimate Santa. Next summer – Fiddler on the Roof.