The Wizard of Oz Young Performers’ Edition

Each season, Forestburgh Playhouse produces a Theatre for Young Audiences show targeted at families and children, casting their resident company in the lead roles and their junior company in the supporting roles. The show is intended to run simultaneous to the main season, so it must use the space and technology as it is for the current main production.

This show used music tracks, vocal microphones, and a large number of sound effects. Most were very magical and almost cartoonish in order to lean into the lightheartedness of the show and keep it appealing to children. That said, however, the director also wanted to emphasize the creepier parts of the story, so moments like the attack of the flying monkeys and the release of the Jitterbugs utilized sound effects that strayed away from the upbeat tone and were more realistic and unnerving.