Everyone is a little Toto in the musical The Wizard of Oz† The dog – fur of dark cloth, red checkered handkerchief around his neck – comes to life in the hands of the players, who skillfully pass him on to each other. They make him growl or bark, lift his head in surprise or wag his tail.
Toto steals the show, but the real protagonist is his owner: young Dorothy, played by Maxime Karsten. She is thrown into a wonderful world by a tornado, away from a farm in the American Kansas. It’s quite an adventure to get back home and along the way Dorothy encounters all kinds of mischievous characters, such as a cowardly lion and a scarecrow.
The fairy tale is famous The Wizard of Ozo of course as the Hollywood blockbuster from 1939 and through musical film The Wiz with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson (1978). Decades later, Joop van den Ende staged the story in the Netherlands as a spectacle. Theater Terra is now turning it into a charming musical for children from 6 years old. Four actors play all the characters and also tell the fairy tale with dolls such as Toto, a crow or with a tumbling herb. Director Wesley de Ridder keeps the scenes short, so that the momentum remains and the young audience does not have to get bored.
Designer Kathelijne Monnens sets the mood on stage with playful costumes and red umbrellas like poppies. Sometimes the imaginative images seem to have been plucked straight out of a child’s drawing. In the universe in which Dorothy ends up, you can still see the barn, where the first scenes of the performance took place. For example, the famous ‘yellow brick road’ consists of wooden boxes and an evil witch comes out from behind high barn doors. The visual language is not sugary, but colorful with here and there a darker element, such as a flying monkey or a gigantic wizard.
Musically, the musical is very accessible. Some songs stick with you (‘step, step / don’t whine!’). They propel the story forward and fit well with the clear script. Meanwhile, Karsten is a mischievous Dorothy, who doesn’t let all the strange things she’s going through upset her. Not even when she encounters an evil witch (fantastic role by Sjors Arts) or meets the wizard of Oz. That probably also has to do with that faithful four-legged friend by her side.