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"The Wizard of Oz" celebrates its 75th anniversary as the Barn celebrates its 25th
anniversary on opening night. Dorothy’s adventures have resonated with
generations of audiences. She and her companions seek what we all seek: wisdom,
heart, courage, and a place called home.
“The Wizard of Oz”
Auditions for Adults (16 years thru senior), Monday, April 4th, 2016
Registration 6:00 pm, Auditions 6:30 pm
Auditions for Children (10 to 15 years), Tuesday, April 5th, 2016
Registration 6:00 pm, Auditions 6:30 pm
ACTOR/SINGER roles
Leading Roles: 1 woman (16 thru 30)
1 woman (30 thru senior)
3 men (20 thru senior)
Children's Chorus - 12-20 members (10 years-13 years)
Adult Chorus - 12-20 members (14 years thru seniors)
ACTORS / Non-singing roles
2 women (40 thru senior)
2 men (40 thru senior)
AUDITION INFORMATION
MUSICAL AUDITION:
Adults (16 and older): Be prepared to sing a verse and/or chorus of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
You will be singing with no accompaniment. Choose a key that is comfortable for you.
Children: (15 and under) Be prepared to sing "Happy Birthday." You will be singing with no
accompaniment. Choose a key that is comfortable for you.
It's important to show us give your "belt out the song" voice! So have fun and "go for it"!
SHOWDATES: JUNE 22 thru JULY 3rd (excluding Mondays and Tuesdays). We may hold the show
over to JULY 4 & 5 depending on ticket sales. (All shows begin at 7:30 pm except for Sundays.
Sundays the show begins at 2:00 pm)
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STANDARD REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: Three to four nights/week plus week-ends (varies depending
upon how often each character is required and cast members prior commitments) - Rehearsals may
begin as early as APRIL 18th.
Specific rehearsal schedule will be decided after casting is complete.
MUSIC REQUIREMENT FOR “The Wizard of Oz”:
NON-SINGING ROLES: Uncle Henry, Auntie Em, the Professor Marvel/Wizard of Oz, and Miss
Gulch/Wicked Witch.
SOLO ROLES: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman, Lion, Glinda, and the Emerald City Gatekeeper.
CHORUS MEMBERS: (all make up the voices of the large musical numbers. Also, some chorus
members take on multiple small roles in smaller choruses)
THE CHORUS is a VERY big part of the show. A good chorus has lots of energy and creates fun and
excitement.
ADULT CHORUS: They are the Citizens of Emerald city. Some of the Adult Chorus will also play:
the Apple Trees, Poppies & Snowflakes, Jitterbugs, Winkies (the Witch's Guard)
CHILDREN'S CHORUS: Play the citizens of Munchinland. All of the children sing. There are also
solo lines for 3-5 children. The Children are in to musical numbers: "The Munchinland sequence" as
well as "Follow the Yellow Brick Road".
GENERAL AUDITION GUIDELINES:
Auditions are open to everyone.
-No appointments are necessary, auditions are conducted on a first-come first
served basis.
-If the audition date does not suit you please call 239-4600 to make alternate
arrangements for an audition.
-Casting can take up to two weeks. You will be notified if your presence is
required at a call back audition.
-Auditioners will be asked to read from the play - it will be a "cold reading".
If Auditioning for the Chorus or a solo role you will also be asked to sing.
(See Musical Audition at the top of the page.)
-Please take note of performance dates and standard REHEARSAL SCHEDULE.
Bring any conflicts to note on your audition form.
-We are a community theatre. All actors are volunteers, but because everyone
will need to travel out to the Barn for all rehearsals we try to help out with the
cost of fuel. Should you be cast in a roll you will be asked to keep track of the
kilometers your vehicle has accumulated driving out to the Barn and will be
reimbursed 10 cents per kilometer. There is also a $50 honorarium.
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Synopsis of "The Wizard of Oz"
Dorothy Gale is an orphaned teenager who lives with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry
on a Kansas farm in the early 1900s. She daydreams about going "over the rainbow"
after Miss Gulch a nasty neighbor, hits Dorothy's dog Toto on the back with a rake,
causing Toto to bite her.
Miss Gulch shows up with an order to take Toto to the sheriff to be euthanized. Uncle
Henry and Auntie Em have no choice but to comply with the law and put Toto in Miss
Gulch's basket. Dorothy, feeling like the world is against her, runs away from home.
She meets an itinerant phony fortune teller, Professor Marvel, who immediately
guesses that Dorothy has run away. Pretending to tell her fortune and wishing to
reunite Dorothy with her aunt, he tells her that Auntie Em has fallen ill from worry over
her.
Dorothy immediately returns home, only to find a tornado approaching. Unable to reach
her family in their storm cellar, Dorothy enters the house, is knocked unconscious by a
loose window, and apparently begins to dream.
Along with her house, she's swept from her world to the magical, beautiful, dangerous
land of Oz. The tornado drops Dorothy's house on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing
her. The witch ruled the Land of the Munchkins, little people who think at first that
Dorothy herself must be a witch. The Wicked Witch of the West (played by Miss Gulch)
who is the sister of the dead witch, threatens Dorothy.
But Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, gives Dorothy the dead witch's enchanted
Ruby Slippers, and the slippers protect her. Glinda advises that if Dorothy wants to go
home to Kansas, she should seek the aid of the Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald
City. To get there, Dorothy sets off down the Yellow Brick Road.
Before she's followed the road very far, Dorothy meets a talking scarecrow whose
dearest wish is to have a brain. Hoping that the wizard can help him, the Scarecrow
(played by the farmhand, Hunk) travels with her. Next they meet a man made of tin
(played by the farmhand, Hickory) who was caught in the rain and is so rusty he can't
move. When they oil his joints so he can walk and talk again, he confesses that he
longs for a heart; he too joins Dorothy. As they walk through a dense forest, they
encounter the Cowardly Lion (played by the farmhand, Zeke), who wishes for courage
and joins the quest in the hope that the wizard will give him some.
On the way to the Emerald City, Dorothy and her friends are hindered and menaced by
the Wicked Witch of the West. She incites trees to throw apples at them, then tries to
set the scarecrow on fire. Within sight of the city, the witch conjures up a field of
poppies that cause Dorothy, Toto, and the lion to fall asleep. Glinda saves them by
making it snow, which counteracts the effects of the poppies.
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The four travelers marvel at the wonders they find in the Emerald City and take time to
freshen up: Dorothy, Toto and the Lion have their hair done, the Tin Woodman gets
polished, and the scarecrow receives an infusion of fresh straw stuffing. As they
emerge looking clean and spiffy, the Wicked Witch appears on her broomstick and
skywrites "Surrender Dorothy" above the city. The friends are frustrated at their
reception by the "great and powerful" Wizard of Oz (played by Professor Marvel) -- at
first he won't receive them at all. When they finally see him (the doorkeeper lets them in
because he had an Aunt Em himself), the Wizard declines to help them until they bring
him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Daunted but determined, they set
off again.
The witch sends Jitterbugs, an insect to infect the friends with a never-ending-desire-to
dance before they reach her castle. During the dance the Winkies, (the Witch's
personal guards) snatch Dorothy and take her to the Witch's Castle leaving the others
behind to search for her.
When the witch finds that the Ruby Slippers can't be taken against Dorothy's will as
long as the girl is alive, she turns her hourglass and threatens that Dorothy will die
when it runs out. Meanwhile, dressed as guardsmen, the Lion, the Tin Man, and the
Scarecrow sneak into the castle and try to rescue Dorothy.
They're discovered before they can escape, however, and the witch and her guards
corner them and threaten to set the Scarecrow on fire. Dorothy douses her with a pail
of water. The water causes the witch to disintegrate ("I'm melting!"). The guards are
happy to let Dorothy have the witch's broomstick, and Dorothy and her friends return to
the Emerald City.
The wizard isn't pleased to see them again. He blusters until the Scarecrow reveals an
old man who resembles Professor Marvel pulling levers and speaking into a
microphone behind the Wizard's throne. -- the so-called wizard, as the Scarecrow
says, is a humbug. He's abashed and apologetic, but quickly finds ways to help
Dorothy's friends: a diploma for the Scarecrow, a medal of valor for the Lion, and a
testimonial heart-shaped watch for the Tin Man. Then he reveals that he's from Kansas
himself and came to Oz in a hot-air balloon, in which he proposes to take Dorothy
home. The wizard appoints the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion rulers of Oz in his
absence.
Dorothy is saying good-bye to her friends when something goes terribly wrong and the
balloon along with the Wizard lifts off without Dorothy. Unable to come back because
he can't actually fly the balloon, the wizard leaves without her.
Glinda, the Good Witch appears and explains that Dorothy has always had the power
to get home; Glinda didn't tell her before because Dorothy wouldn't have believed it.
Bidding her friends a tearful good-bye, Dorothy taps her heels together three times,
repeating "There's no place like home," and the Ruby Slippers take her back to Kansas.
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Next we Uncle Henry, Auntie Em and Professor Marvel searching in the dark, after the
storm, for Dorothy. Just as they are about to give up the search they hear her.
Dorothy wakes with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry fussing over her. She tells them of
the place she has been and recognizes Professor Marvel as the humbug wizard, Oz.
This raises indulgent laughter from her family, but she's so happy to be home she
doesn't mind that they don't believe her. Uncle Henry and Auntie Em will take her home
where Toto is waiting for her. It seems Miss Gulch suffered a broken leg in the storm
and has no interest in pursuing Toto anymore. Dorothy ends the show with her new
mantra, "There's no place like home!"
CAST OF CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS: (*are non-singing roles)
DOROTHY GALE - High spirited, kind, brave, caring -- experiences everything with wide-eyed
wonder.
*UNCLE HENRY - Thoughtful, slow, good sense of humor, does what ever his wife Emily says.
*AUNTIE EM - Straight forward, no nonsense, fair
HUNK / SCARECROW - Kind and loving, thoughtful and caring // wide-eyed and innocent
HICKORY / TINMAN - Emotional and joyful and very sweet
ZEKE / LION - Big and blustery, shows off and scares easily
*MISS GULCH / WICKED WITCH - Selfish, Controlling, impatient, loud cackling (evil) laugh
*PROFESSOR MARVEL / WIZARD OF OZ - A kindhearted show-off, doesn't take himself too
seriously, loud showman.
GLINDA - kind, gentle, graceful, self-assured
EMERALD CITY GATEKEEPER - Gruff and gregarious, pushy but kind, a showman
CHILDREN'S CHORUS (12-20 members):
MUNCHKIN Chorus with Solo Characters
Mayor
Barrister
Coroner
2 School Teachers
3Tots (Lullaby League)
3 Tough Guys (Lollipop Guild)
ADULT CHORUS (12-20 members):
All -- Citizens of Emerald City
Smaller Groups -Apple Trees
- Poppies chorus
- Jitterbugs chorus
- Winkie chorus (Witch's Guard)