The line above is famously spoken by the Scarecrow from the timeless classic The Wizard of Oz.
I'm not sure if it was directly pulled from the 1900 children's novel by L. Frank Baum, or if it just appeared in the 1939 film, but it was certainly in this afternoon's stage performance I attended at the Highlands Lakeside Theater here in Sebring.
I would imagine if it were present from the original novel, it might have been a tongue-in-cheek reference, perhaps for parents to chuckle at while reading to their children, to the then turn of the century famed blowhard William Jennings Bryan. Of course, Scarecrow's comment in the 1939 film was a no-doubt reference to the then-current blowhard Adolf Hitler, but I was more than a bit surprised at quite a rousing reaction from my fellow Highlands County residents, packed to the gills in the theater today, whooping it up at this line when it was spoken as nowadays it clearly alludes to yet another famous blowhard prescient on all our minds, most especially this week. I guess there is a strong loyal opposition to the Deep Redness of this Deep Red county, at least among theater types, yearning for Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Alright enough about that one little moment, how did this go overall?
Well, once again, HLT redeemed themselves.
Was it Broadway level? Heck no! Was it touring Broadway level? Heck no! Was it better than Orlando level? No again. But, just barely. For this rural county this is about as good as it gets. This was about as good as The Sound of Music from a few years ago that played here. I'd say if they could only, and I really mean it since it's always been their biggest problem, only get a handle on their set design, and I've talked about this before it doesn't have to be settled by a big bag of money, it just needs some creativity, they could be Orlando Shakes quality. Or at least UCF.
Well maybe I'm just giddy from the performance which was carried so well by its lead Vix Garcia-Ceballos who played Dorothy very similar to Judy Garland but with enough of her own style to make it unique. Her only real singing chops came in her only real singing duty, but what a duty it was what it being the signature song Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which she performed quite well and technically accurate. She's young, I'd give her a few more years to hone her skill a bit more, mostly to get away from the theater style of singing and to discover her own voice. Perhaps to emulate a little bit closer to her co-stars who both seemed a bit more seasoned and frankly kind of stole her thunder, in the case of the Wicked Witch of the West, pretty much literally what with the thunderclaps of explosions that loudly announced her appearance on stage almost each time. The Scarecrow played by Corey Adams and the aforementioned Wicked Witch of the West played by Jen Westergom were freaking awesome not only with their vocals but with their incredible acting both orally in delivering their lines with passion, as well as their over the top (purposefully) and totally enthusiastic all-in athletic movements and flourishes. Corey especially was a freakin' rag doll! Mucho chops to OC Stevens as the Tin Woodsman (who, according to the director, made his own metal costume!) and good effort by a clearly green, yet promising Erik Copper as the Cowardly Lion.
Applause as well again to the sound team, the lighting and the pyrotechnics! Nice big booms! But, as I mentioned, again set design....Just one example, for instance: The entrance doors to OZ. Plain wood 2x4 framed cheap panel doors with flat, low-contrast green paint and minuscule lettering? Cheap looking accent side-lights? This should evoke the grand age of Art Deco or harken back to the Gilded Age novel era like Wicked did with a steampunk look. Bright fluorescent greens and purples and iridescent (fake) gold-leaf and maybe big ol' jeweled (faux emeralds?) accents! This wouldn't cost more, it would just take a designers artistic touch.
Two other things that got some sympathetic "aws" from the audience where the use of a live dog for Toto and about 50 children for the Munchkins. To me, the dog was kind of a stupid prop really since even though it was a real dog, it was just carried around all the time or placed in its little basket. Its only one big role was when it was positioned near the supposedly secret curtain where I guess it was trained to pull the curtain back or perhaps just walk into the area where the curtain was to expose the real wizard. Well it failed to do so and Dorothy had to pretend Toto had actually done so even though the dog just actually stood there and did nothing. Plus, all I could think of is what manner of drugs did they give this dog to make it so sedate, especially with those big explosions going on. And the kids as Munchkins. Oh please. Half of them screwed up their lines and they couldn't sing worth a damn. That's right I'm an evil bitch and I'm giving a bad review to 10-year-olds. What the fuck do I care, their parents aren't going to read this. And if they happen to, well you don't know where I live do you! I live in the little green shack on the other side of the lake, my pretties...but you can't melt me with a bucket of water!