BETHEL - NewArts Director Michael Unger and the production team preparing to open The Wizard of Oz - the group's second of two planned summer musicals - have cancelled the show's scheduled performances on Thursday and Friday, August 11-12.

Mr Unger told The Newtown Bee that the NewArts production of School of Rock, which ran August 5-7, brought unexpected demands that diverted production and technical crews scheduled to be prepping for the second show opening.

"With all the resources we had to devote to School of Rock, and considering that Wizard of Oz is probably our most complex show to date - with two huge casts, special effects, and a live dog - I felt that we would present a far better product beginning on Saturday, than we could have on Thursday," Mr Unger said.

NewArts will now be opening the double cast show Saturday, August 13, and are requesting anyone who purchased advance tickets for Thursday or Friday to rebook and plan to attend one or more of the remaining scheduled performances.

All ticket purchases for the Thursday and Friday shows will be refunded.

The updated Wizard of Oz schedule is as follows: Saturday, 2 pm (Twister Cast) and 7 pm (Tornado Cast); and Sunday, 2:30 pm (Tornado Cast) and 7:30 pm (Twister Cast).

In discussing the schedule change, Mr Unger acknowledged that ticket sales for Wizard of Oz enjoyed a bump as audience members who attended School of Rock began talking up that performance.

"Up until last weekend, we know a lot of tickets already sold were to family members of those kids in the show," he said. "But word of mouth certainly helped make ticket sales for Wizard of Oz jump between the opening and closing of School of Rock. We're really seeing word of mouth spreading like never before on these productions, which made it even harder to make this decision."

The NewArts director regrets if anyone planning to attend the Thursday or Friday shows will have to miss the show completely, but he is certain that the Walnut Tree Community Church theater can accommodate anyone wishing to attend one or more of the remaining four scheduled performances, who had already purchased seats for one or more of the cancelled dates.

Mr Unger also assured those attending that they would see an extremely ambitious production that is very familiar to the generations of viewers who grew up seeing the televised film of the show.

"We've added a special twist that doesn't affect the body of the show, but this version is based on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre production of many years ago that is virtually identical to the film," he said.

"Our audiences will see all the characters and all the magic and hear all the songs familiar to them from the Wizard of Oz film," Mr Unger continued. "And I feel that NewArts has set a certain standard for community theater in Newtown. So our audiences and the kids participating deserve to have that standard maintained.

"Unfortunately the complications tied to the most technically complex production we've done, and making School of Rock as successful as it was, has necessitated these changes," he said. "And since we had a double cast, we couldn't just cancel Thursday. We had to also cancel Friday so each cast could still have a equal number of performances."

Because of ongoing renovations at the Newtown High School auditorium, this summer's NewArts productions are being staged in the theater of Walnut Hill Community Church, 156 Walnut Hill Road in Bethel. For information and to purchase tickets for the remaining productions of Wizard of Oz, visit newarts.org.

 

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