Hundreds come see the Wizard at WJHS

Post date: Mar 30, 2018 12:35:27 PM

On the afternoon of March 24th, Wells Junior High School presented the last of three performances of The Wizard of Oz-Young Performers Edition. This musical featured 60, 5th through 8th-grade students as cast and crew. Gretchen Graffam played the central character of Dorothy and Jackson Meagher played OZ. The musical contained 8 classic songs including If I Only Had a Brain and Over the Rainbow.

Josie Perkins was the director of this musical. “We had close to 800 in attendance over the 3-day run of our show,” commented Perkins, who added, “The overall production was a huge success and I couldn’t be happier with student, parent, community and teacher response.” Perkins went on to express gratitude for “…everything from the process we went through to get to the end product, to the number of parent volunteers, community support, and school support.”

Perkins indicated that she is not sure of what she will direct for the junior high’s play in the fall but commented, “ I am looking forward to working with all the ‘munchkins’ again and can’t wait to see what the future holds for the graduating 8th-grade students.”

This one-hour adaption of the Wizard of Oz is written especially for middle schoolers by L. Frank Baum with music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Hamburg licensed by TAMS-WITMARK MUSIC LIBRARY, INC.

From the last moments of Wells Junior High School’s 2018 production of The Wizard of Oz.

From left to right are just “some” of the main cast members from this production. Those pictured at the end of the last show are (left to right) Isabella Bazata (Lion), Sam Coleman (Tin Man), Charlotte Allaire (Scarecrow), Gretchen Graffam (Dorothy), and Ella Richard (Wicked Witch of the West). Not pictured is Anna Franks who played Glinda the Good Witch.