Owning the yellow brick road

Maeve Moynihan, a young stage phenom who had a featured role in the premiere of "A Little House on the Prairie" at the Guthrie a few years ago, made her professional acting debut playing a cute munchkin in "The Wizard of Oz" at the Children's Theatre.

Ten years later, she is skipping down the yellow brick road as Dorothy, the precocious center of the storm in the musical based on the classic 1939 MGM film.

"Not only is this a perfect holiday show with themes of home and finding what you're looking for in yourself," said Moynihan. "This theater has been home for me and I'm going off to college next. It's a gratifying bookend."

For the Edina-based actor, her cast mates and the creative team, putting on this big musical means navigating a tricky line between homage and hagiography. They have to find original voices and depictions that nod to history but are also their own.

In a recent pre-rehearsal roundtable, the cast reflected on their histories with "Oz" as well as the magic of re-creating a film classic in live theater.

"There are certain shows, like [Laurence] Olivier's 'Hamlet,' where you can say, 'We're not going to watch the tape,'" said director Peter Rothstein. "This is one where you can't just say we're gonna do our own 'Wizard of Oz.' It's such an enormous part of the culture."

The 1939 feature film was a landmark for many reasons, including the fact that it was shot in Technicolor, a big technological breakthrough in those days. All of its principal actors were or became stars, including Judy Garland as Dorothy, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion and Jack Haley as the Tin Man.

The show's iconic status actually provides a kind of freedom, said Jennifer Blagen, who is playing the Wicked Witch and who's having a return moment herself. She made her stage debut at the Children's Theatre in "The Empty Space" in 1976.

That "Oz" is so well-known "is something ... we can hang our hats on," she said. "But then we can move away from that in a way that makes sense for our characters."

Max Wojtanowicz, who is acting in "Oz" for the first time and is playing Tin Man, said that an actor has to find a character for himself.

"Judy Garland said that you can't be a second-rate version of someone else," said Wojtanowicz. "You have to be a first-rate version of yourself."

Children's Theatre staged "Oz" back-to-back over two seasons ending in 2003. Rothstein has taken the reins of the mammoth production for the first time.

What distinguishes this revival from the film version is what distinguishes live theater from a canned product, said Rothstein. It's the chance to share the same air with the actors, and to see and breathe "the magic."

"Even jaded adults go ooh and aah when they see people flying onstage," Rothstein said. "Even when you see the wires, there's nothing like that thrill."

Reed Sigmund, who plays the Cowardly Lion, agrees.

"And there's nothing like seeing the fire blast out of a broom in the theater," he said. "Especially when you can possibly feel the heat and smell the smoke. A TV or movie screen can't compete with that."

Sigmund is returning to a role he twice played and one that marks his professional growth.

What's the difference between how he's playing the Cowardly Lion now vs. his two earlier depictions?

"Well, I was a young actor and yelled every single one of my lines then," he said. "I know [my cast mates] might say that I'm still yelling, but I'm not approaching the Cowardly Lion entirely as comic relief today. Not that he's emoting or anything, but I'm trying to build a base of vulnerability and layer the humor on top of that."

Unlike "Annie," whose gorgeous production Rothstein directed with recorded music at the theater in the spring, "Oz" will feature an eight-piece orchestra, directed by Victor Zupanc.

"You can't replace the adrenaline, the pullback and drive that happens when you have live musicians," said Rothstein. "It's organic and outside of the science of time."

"The original was scored for 40, 50, 60 musicians -- a big orchestra -- that I translate to eight," said Zupanc. "I have to figure out which families of orchestra to use. And it never stops. We'll be halfway through the run before I finally figure out something that's bothering me. Then I'll go, 'Flute, why don't you take this line instead of violin?'"

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390