Preparing for Wizard of OZ Musical

By: Lily Mendes

The cast of Wizard of Oz was released on the 18th of October and a few of the lead parts express their feelings with their future plans of portraying their characters.

Jersey Hays ‘21 is “really excited, obviously.” The part she got, “scarecrow, is regularly played by a boy but being a girl, I feel like it’s going to be different in a good way.” She’s looking forward to playing around with the part since it’s “gender neutral, you can do different things with it so I’m pretty excited.”

Hays initially “did want Dorthy just because I thought Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion were going to be boys but after seeing the cast list, I started to think that scarecrow would fit me a lot better. Hays has never had a “good dancing role before so I’m excited to get crazy on stage.”

Tessa Hemphill ‘22 was casted as the role of Dorothy, which has been one of her dream roles to play since she was a little girl. When auditioning Tessa had no idea that she would be the future lead of the 2019 Musical, in fact she would have been happy to receive any character. She believes that she was successful in auditions by “being confident, and pretending to know what she was doing.” Hemphill is excited to portray Dorothy, because she has “watched the movie and the play,” and has always wanted to perform the story. While Tessa is excited to be the lead, more importantly she is excited to “do something fun with her friends.”

Kylen Gray ‘22 was casted as the lion. He “was very nervous when they put the cast list out and very surprised.” He would have taken any part he was given but he’s looking forward to portraying this role. “He’s a very different, weird character and I’m excited to play him to the best of my ability.” During auditions he focused on “getting into character before” going up on stage which he believed helped him during the audition process. 

Mrs. Galvan the director of the musical, was looking for “believability and potential” for all characters of the play. She wanted people to take a risk when auditioning and stray away from the normal reading, singing, and dancing and instead “perform” their character to the fullest. The individuals that were “memorable” after auditions were the ones that brought something special to the table. 

Tessa Hemphill when auditioning brought Galvan to “tears” by pretending she was a girl that was lost and struggling  to find herself. Tessa was one of the fourteen girls auditioning for the role of Dorothy, but Mrs. Galvan “believed” Tessa when she was saying the lines of Dorothy. She embodied the character and left Galvan speechless when exiting the stage.