EDMONTON - The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz is one of those few films that delights both children and adults.
For children, the story centres around the fundamental fear that you might be taken away from your family and find yourself in a place both fascinating and terrifying.
As we grow older, those fears recede and fade. This journey down that yellow brick road brings it all back, along with the hazy picture we once had, of a strange and magical land that lies somewhere over the rainbow.
For his season closer at the Citadel, artistic director Bob Baker has chosen to return to the movie. The production, staged a few years back by the Royal Shakespeare Company, is faithful to the original in spirit. It includes the classic Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg music and lyrics and a physical reproduction of the film. It even reinstates a big production number, The Jitterbug, that was cut from the original.
But, as he did last year with his Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Baker has made sure his production has a fresh and human approach.
That humanity is supplied by a quartet of superb performers - or five, I guess, if you count a remarkable dog named Peanut (or possibly his stand-in, Link) as Toto, who was always right on cue and sat steadfastly on-stage for most of the evening despite the frenzy going on around him.
There are echoes of the original movie in Dorothy's companions but the three local actors find room for their individual talents to shine.
John Ullyatt locates the heart of the Tin Man long before the Wizard presents him with his ticker. It's a tough role, encased as he is in tin (it's plastic, actually), but his movements are much more fluid and interesting than Jack Haley's in the original. Jeremy Baumung has a lovely voice and his Scarecrow seems to have no bones at all as he wobbles about the stage. Julien Arnold is a constantly surprising actor. I found his blustery Cowardly Lion considerably more appealing than Bert Lahr's hammy original.
Blair Irwin's Dorothy doesn't quite have the vulnerability of Judy Garland but she brings her own spunky and spirited reading to the role. She also brings a great set of pipes.
The Munchkins are a bunch of local kids - some of quite tender years. They are, quite simply, terrific, registering a solid 10 on the Richter scale of cuteness.
Shelly Simester is having a wonderful time and her cackling Wicked Witch could give any kid (and possibly their parents) nightmares while Allan Price's Wizard is properly (and comically) dotty.
Baker begins his handsome production in the subdued sepia tones of the original, switching to glorious technicoloured hues when Dorothy lands in Oz. The cast, by my count, numbers 33 and the special effects are spectacular. Winged monkeys fly, a green-faced witch rides her broom and a fearsome storm breaks across the blasted Kansas plain.
Opening night was plagued with problems, big (the storm is not quite right) and small (the green-faced witch has a white neck) and some of the evening has yet to jell but there are many wonderful moments abound.
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