“The Wizard of Oz” Critique

This children’s play was perfect for a younger audience. I enjoyed watching the elementary school children act as munchkins in the beginning of the play. The munchkins were cute and fun to watch. They behaved by singing little children’s songs and having small parts in this performance. In the scene, where Dorothy first discovers she is in Munchkinland, she hands over the dog, Toto to a little boy munchkin. When the munchkin was holding Toto, Toto lets out a yelp and the Good Witch took the dog. I thought that was really adorable.

When the group arrived at Oz and was waiting at the gate, the gate had slowly begun to fall. The Cowardly Lion noticed the gate falling and saved it by holding it up. He quickly ran towards that gate while it was falling. He had to spur out lines like “Ohhh, that was scary!” Then, the gate fell down completely a second time. Dorothy had burst into giggles and laughter when the gate fell down. Throughout, the play the actors and actresses incorporated lines about the gate falling down. For instance, the Wizard of Oz mentioned he wasn’t sure he should grant them wishes since they ruined his gate. The adlib lines and sudden comical scenes was a good cover up to something like this happening.

The performance was funny to watch because of the actors and actresses in the play. They are very talented and theatrical performers who made a children’s play a big success. The presentation of “The Wizard of Oz” was different from the book and the movie. Hocus and Pocus were introduced as new characters. And Ogma The Wizard’s Secretary and Ozma were used as helpers for the Wizard. The Wizard was not really a magical person with powers. I liked how the ending of the play was different than expected. Everyone expected the Wizard to be powerful with his voice and intimidating personality. Then, he appears onstage to be a small, short man with no powers at all to grant them there wishes. He did grant them their wishes, but, in a different way.