The Wizard of Oz

     What a delight it was to see "The Wizard of Oz" performed by the North County School of the Arts at the Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center.  My friend, Vanessa's daughter is the wicked witch of the west.  She did an excellent job of creating and evil, but comical character.  I enjoyed every bit of her acting!
     Her peers were also extremely talented.  The teenager playing Dorothy was recently my math student at Digueno Middle School.  I didn't put it together that she was in the same play as Vanessa's daughter, so I was shocked when she walked out onto the stage!  She has a beautiful and developed voice beyond her age and really made Dorothy believable and entertaining.  I was impressed.
     The North County School of Arts not only had an extremely talented group of teenagers and kids, they had a fabulous stage strategist.  I was in awe how they ran around the house to create the tornado effect!  Then they used a movie screen to show the scary Wizard of Oz.  The poisonous red poppy dancers turned into innocuous white poppies by a dance twirl removing their wrap-around red skirt and another twirl putting the white side of the skirt outward.  Amazing!
     The costumes were amazing throughout.  There were so many elaborate costumes that I wondered who the angel was that was making them!  The apple tree costumes were amazing with the hoop at the bottom of the long, trunk-like skirt.  The trees could easily detach their apples to throw them at Dorothy and the Scarecrow, too.  Who ever it was that designed the costumes really added to the fabulous team which created such a remarkable musical, "The Wizard of Oz."
     Congratulations North County School of the Arts on a performance intricately and fabulously accomplished!