Skipping their way down the yellow brick road, the student body of Freedom High School was led to the band room for for the high school’s annual musical performance. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was selected as the musical, and students began preparing for auditions by looking over dialogue, songs and more, marking Nov. 9 and 10 on their calendars.
After the weekend of auditions, the cast list was decided and published on Nov. 11 on the band room door. The list came out much faster than previous years and was advertised very quickly. Dance auditions were later held on Nov. 23 to pick out the dance ensemble for the musical, including flying monkeys and other dancers.
Junior Ashley Malinak thinks the Wizard of Oz is a good musical choice for this year. “We need to make up for last year,” she said, as Fiddler on the Roof did not make as much profit as expected. She believes this musical will be more successful as it is more well-known.
As far as the auditions went, this year they were surprisingly more calm and exciting than they were nerve-wracking, according to Junior Ryan Edder. “I was very calm. Not nervous. Very excited…I did what I had to do,” Edder said. Malinak agrees that the atmosphere of auditions was a lot calmer.
The Wizard of Oz was picked for a very special reason, as this year Mr. Keith Kovalic plans to “cap both ends” of the musical spectrum by finishing his musical career with this one.
“Wizard of Oz was the first [show] I did, and it’s going to be the last one,” Kovalic said. According to Kovalic, when they first did this musical, it was terrible, and he plans to do it justice this year and end on a positive note, as it is time for him to move on to do other things.
Kovalic believes the musical will do well with the community as there is a lot to do with the fantasy aspects as well as the technology and the aesthetics of the show.
Junior Maura Lehocky will star as Dorothy, alongside Edder as the Scarecrow, Junior Nathan James as the Tinman and Junior Robbie Raso as the Cowardly Lion. Senior Hunter Bonzo takes the role as Glinda the Good Witch next to Malinak as the Wicked Witch.
The cast list can be seen outside of the band room for anyone interested in viewing it.