Bringing the wizard to town

After 3,000 shows of The Wizard of Oz in the past eight years, Sydney-based Brian Laul is all set to bring the production back home to Chennai. Although the show will be staged in September, the director made a brief trip here to promote the show, interact with some potential stage talent and catch up with a few old friends from the city’s theatre circuit.  He reminisces, “When we started our production group, Young Stars, in Chennai over a decade ago, things were so different — there were only two auditoriums where you could stage a show. There was Music Academy if you had a larger audience, and Museum Theatre for a smaller one.” Apparently, a lot has changed since then, he adds. With the opportunity presented by the Australia-India Council to make the trip to India, the director’s theatre group from down under, Youngstars2.com will be putting up performances and conducting workshops for young children, who may join the cast as well. Brian says, “Most of the main characters will be played by actors from the group, but every child who comes for the workshop will get a chance to be a part of the show.”  Over 100 children are estimated to be a part of the production, from the age of six to youngsters in their late teens. And for music lovers, this will be quite an unexpected treat as the entire musical has been re-written in modern day genres. For instance, the wicked witch will be seen as a rocker, the king of the flying monkeys thinks he’s elvis, a simple Dorothy is a pop princess, and the lion who wails about no heart will sing the blues!“So you see, the Emerald city is a bit of a fusion land in our version,” states Brian. Asked why he chose this particular musical to take to different parts of the globe, the director explains, “If you’re familiar with the story, you would remember that the tin man looking for a heart is the most loving character, and the lion looking for courage already has it — except they don’t believe and it takes a journey down the yellow brick road to find it. So I think it has a deeper meaning for everyone.”(The children’s workshop will be on from September 14 to 18)