Local Review: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by Michele L. Vacca at Kids n Co.
The Kids n Co. production of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was interesting. Yeah, not the good type of interesting.
I would like to start of by saying that I know many members of the cast and crew of this production, and they are all great talents. The God awful adaptation by Michele L. Vacca did not do them any favors.
If you don't know what "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is about, then I'm sorry.
The role of Dorothy was played by Markie Condra. She had the potential to be a really amazing Dorothy, but the weak adaptation prevented Condra from being the best she can be. The material did not give Condra much to work with and the Dorothy in this adaptation came off as bland and weak, and I feel bad for anyone who is stuck playing a bland character. I also felt bad for Karly Spencer who played Toto. I feel bad for anyone who is stuck in a dog costume. I don't know if it was because they thought it would be "cute", but if it was for that reason.....it was not cute....it was weird.
The Wicked Witch of the West was played by Nanea Aidinian. Aidinian's performance was quite overacted, in my opinion. Glinda, played by Chiara Chanoi (usually played by Illse Hernandez) was clearly trying to play the role like Galinda in "Wicked" and it was not working. We also could not hear a word that Chanoi said. Chanoi was an undersudy, so I guess all that really matters is that she did her job.
The only standout in this production was John Robledo in the title role. He was wonderful and I wish he had more stage time.
A very bad part of the production was the "stupidifying" of the Scarecrow (played by Zach Spencer). The person who wrote the script made the character totally stupid and annoying because....he didn't have a brain. Then at the end, the Wizard gives him the elements to a brain (dictionary, etc., things that made no sense) totally going against the lesson learned....the Scarecrow didn't need a brain, the Tin Man didn't need a heart (The Wizard gave him a heart transplant) and the Lion didn't need courage (I can't even remember what awful thing the Wizard did to him). But what disappointed me about the Scarecrow is that Zach Spencer went along with the stupidity the writer gave to the Scarecrow, and even overdid it. Even after the Wizard gave him a brain, he still acted like a dummy. The portrayal of the Scarecrow was annoying and purpose defeating. The Tin Man and the Lion (played by Anthony Munoz and Kendal Murray) were also pretty badly adapted as well, nothing specific stood out about either Munoz or Murray. Little chemistry was felt between Dorothy and her 3 friends.
I don't know what the ensemble was doing. There were people still reacting to events 5 minutes after they happened and there were people doing annoying character voices that got on my nerves. A very annoying part of the production was the Munchkins talking all in unison. It wasn't cute at all.
Like I have already said a few times, the adaptation was so bad. The dialogue was horrendous, I felt like almost every single line was a one liner. The humor was AWFUL, I got literally zero of the jokes and there was this horrible running gag where every time anyone said heart, some stupid song played. It seems like I was the only one who didn't get it. But overall, the worst piece of dialogue was:
Dorothy: Why are they called Mucnhkins?
All Munchkins: (in unison) Because we like to eat! Mucnh! Munch! Munch! Munch! Munch!
Another stupid factor was Miz Switch, who is supposed to be the Kansas counterpart of The Wicked Witch. It is dumb because it sounds like MISS WITCH, but the writer didn't wanna be to direct so, she came up with MIZ SWITCH. There were also moments where it seemed like the writer got lazy and just quickly threw together solutions to problems without any explanation as to how certain problems were solved.
Also, none of the characters seemed to have explanations for their actions.
There were very little redeeming production qualities. The set looked good, but the costumes and wigs most definitely weren't. I also can't believe the director, Paige Hale, stood for the horrible adaptation. I know she is better than that, I have seen her do better than that. Also, there were many pointless cast members who seemed to have less than 3 minutes of stage time. Specifically the performers playing the farmhands. I am sure they didn't have the 3 friends and the stage hands double because they wanted to weasel out of the quick changes.
Overall, it was a very weak production. The cast was less than mediocre, thanks to the adaptation, as well as people who just weren't all there, and the adaptation itself went against the original message to the show, as well as its bad dialogue and awful humor. But the audience seemed to enjoy it, and I guess if the audience enjoyed it, the critic is wrong. 1 star.
I would like to start of by saying that I know many members of the cast and crew of this production, and they are all great talents. The God awful adaptation by Michele L. Vacca did not do them any favors.
If you don't know what "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is about, then I'm sorry.
The role of Dorothy was played by Markie Condra. She had the potential to be a really amazing Dorothy, but the weak adaptation prevented Condra from being the best she can be. The material did not give Condra much to work with and the Dorothy in this adaptation came off as bland and weak, and I feel bad for anyone who is stuck playing a bland character. I also felt bad for Karly Spencer who played Toto. I feel bad for anyone who is stuck in a dog costume. I don't know if it was because they thought it would be "cute", but if it was for that reason.....it was not cute....it was weird.
The Wicked Witch of the West was played by Nanea Aidinian. Aidinian's performance was quite overacted, in my opinion. Glinda, played by Chiara Chanoi (usually played by Illse Hernandez) was clearly trying to play the role like Galinda in "Wicked" and it was not working. We also could not hear a word that Chanoi said. Chanoi was an undersudy, so I guess all that really matters is that she did her job.
The only standout in this production was John Robledo in the title role. He was wonderful and I wish he had more stage time.
A very bad part of the production was the "stupidifying" of the Scarecrow (played by Zach Spencer). The person who wrote the script made the character totally stupid and annoying because....he didn't have a brain. Then at the end, the Wizard gives him the elements to a brain (dictionary, etc., things that made no sense) totally going against the lesson learned....the Scarecrow didn't need a brain, the Tin Man didn't need a heart (The Wizard gave him a heart transplant) and the Lion didn't need courage (I can't even remember what awful thing the Wizard did to him). But what disappointed me about the Scarecrow is that Zach Spencer went along with the stupidity the writer gave to the Scarecrow, and even overdid it. Even after the Wizard gave him a brain, he still acted like a dummy. The portrayal of the Scarecrow was annoying and purpose defeating. The Tin Man and the Lion (played by Anthony Munoz and Kendal Murray) were also pretty badly adapted as well, nothing specific stood out about either Munoz or Murray. Little chemistry was felt between Dorothy and her 3 friends.
I don't know what the ensemble was doing. There were people still reacting to events 5 minutes after they happened and there were people doing annoying character voices that got on my nerves. A very annoying part of the production was the Munchkins talking all in unison. It wasn't cute at all.
Like I have already said a few times, the adaptation was so bad. The dialogue was horrendous, I felt like almost every single line was a one liner. The humor was AWFUL, I got literally zero of the jokes and there was this horrible running gag where every time anyone said heart, some stupid song played. It seems like I was the only one who didn't get it. But overall, the worst piece of dialogue was:
Dorothy: Why are they called Mucnhkins?
All Munchkins: (in unison) Because we like to eat! Mucnh! Munch! Munch! Munch! Munch!
Another stupid factor was Miz Switch, who is supposed to be the Kansas counterpart of The Wicked Witch. It is dumb because it sounds like MISS WITCH, but the writer didn't wanna be to direct so, she came up with MIZ SWITCH. There were also moments where it seemed like the writer got lazy and just quickly threw together solutions to problems without any explanation as to how certain problems were solved.
Also, none of the characters seemed to have explanations for their actions.
There were very little redeeming production qualities. The set looked good, but the costumes and wigs most definitely weren't. I also can't believe the director, Paige Hale, stood for the horrible adaptation. I know she is better than that, I have seen her do better than that. Also, there were many pointless cast members who seemed to have less than 3 minutes of stage time. Specifically the performers playing the farmhands. I am sure they didn't have the 3 friends and the stage hands double because they wanted to weasel out of the quick changes.
Overall, it was a very weak production. The cast was less than mediocre, thanks to the adaptation, as well as people who just weren't all there, and the adaptation itself went against the original message to the show, as well as its bad dialogue and awful humor. But the audience seemed to enjoy it, and I guess if the audience enjoyed it, the critic is wrong. 1 star.
I see that you took down my last comment. So be it. But I just want you to know why I am so put off by your callous remarks. It is because they are addressed toward children. I spent one hour and thirty minutes on the phone giving advice to a mother with a child that suffered a major hit to her already fragile self esteem after reading your reviews. If you feel a certain way, great, stand by it...by my only question is why disparage children in an education center environment? Some of them come there to be drawn out of their shells, to learn to socialize, to embrace something they love that makes them feel good. I still say shame on you for bullying children with your pen...
ReplyDeleteHello,
DeleteI do not consider myself to be bullying children on this blog. At the beginning of this review, I stated that the cast is very talented, but the script is undermining that talent. I apologize that you had an issue with my review, for any further questions or concerns you can email my Google account which is disneyfan24601@gmail.com
Thank you.