Rediscovering Oz

Up until this school year, I had forgotten about the magic of The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz was my school's spring musical. My principal likes to say that the school programs get better and better year after year. But I'm not sure I'll be able to top this one next year. I mean, how can you go wrong with The Wizard of Oz? The material is just . . . there.

When I originally watched the movie and adapted the script, I was reminded as to how good it was, and I found myself weeping as I typed up the last page, sending Dorothy away from her friends in Oz and back home to Kansas.

Okay, but I'm a sentimental music teacher. Did the kids get it? Maybe. Here are a few of the things that transpired the day after the production.

1. The kindergartners could not stop talking about the show. They came into my room chattering about the play.

One student said, "I want to be the robot when I'm a sixth grader." (I believe he was referring to the Tin Man.)

I also had the students watch part of the movie so that they could compare the film to the live version. When Toto escaped from Miss Gulch and bounded through Dorothy's bedroom window, the little kindergartners erupted in applause.

2. I was walking down the hall and came upon a fifth grade boy plucking out "Over the Rainbow" on his violin. I also heard spontaneous choruses of "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead" throughout the school building.

3. This year, the students all received theater shirts with a Wizard of Oz logo due to the generosity of a special parent and my school. Several of the students proudly wore the shirts the next day, and the shirts were so popular, we are giving away the extras in a drawing every Friday.

4. Best of all, the sixth grade teacher came rushing into my room the afternoon following the program and said, "We're showing the movie to the students, and they are singing along with every song!"

This may not seem that remarkable, but anyone who has ever tried to get a group of sixth graders to sing anything will understand the miraculous nature of the statement above.

So, I think the kids got it. I think they grasped the magic of The Wizard Oz. And maybe someday when they are adults, they will have a chance to rediscover that magic . . . like I did.

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