Lent Heartbeat - Alleyn's School

The WIZARDof OZIf ever, oh ever, some Wizzes therewas …Here Sheila Robinson, Head ofinfants, gives us an idea how theproduction of The Wizard of Oz wasconceived, prepared and enjoyed.For the musical play we give the Year 1 childrensupporting roles, while the Year 2s take the solospeaking and singing parts. This works wellbecause after Year 2 the children have a big gapbefore they get to appear in their nextproduction – the Year 6 play.We had a slight conundrum with The Wizardof Oz, because there are only a few maincharacters but 18 children raring toparticipate. I devised a way in which the rolescould be ‘carved up’ to give everyone achance to feel special. So for example therewere two Dorothies – who each took twoscenes at a time. Follow the Yellow BrickRoad was then used as a link song to helpmesh things together. The little ones wereWinkies and Munchkins and did lots of groupsinging and movement.For Barbara Dalton and myself, preparatorywork began in earnest during the half-termholiday. I wrote the speaking parts andBarbara the songs and musicalarrangements. Our shared aim was to play tothe children’s particular strengths, becausethis gives them real confidence in theirperformance ‘on the night’.Back at school we rehearsed with thechildren for four weeks, but tried to keepinterruptions to core lessons to a minimum.And when the time came, we were absolutelyready to put on our show! We did oneperformance for the rest of the school, andtwo evening performances for parents. Andto be honest, I thought they were all fantastic.I was really proud.I’d like to thank the following people for theirinvaluable contributions: Tania Hurt-Newton, for the wonderful stage set; JaneMines for being an unfailing source of helpand information; Toni Subramaniam, forhelping the children get ready and doingtheir make-up; Mrs Foley for the impressivelighting; and Nikki Kakkar for the myriadcostumes. Many others were involved indifferent ways, and we are so grateful foreverybody’s contributions.”14