The Wizard of Oz Brownstown High School 1990

One of my Top 365 memories goes to the cast and crew of The Wizard of Oz, Brownstown High school 1990. Upon reflection, what a labor of love.

I came into the role of play director at Brownstown as a part of my "extra curricular duties". I approached the role of play director as an opportunity to work with students to bring about an extravaganza. And that it was.........

With Dave as the Scarecrow and Tina as the Tin Man and Kelley as the Lion, they went down the Yellow Brick Road. I am not going to cite all cast members for fear of forgetting some.  Michele as the Good Witch. And who can forget Sherry as the Wicked Witch of the West and Kathy as Dorothy. We had witches brew and we had Flying Monkies. We used music from the Wizard of Oz and music from Cats. . We had the Munchkins and we had Kansas and Oz. And who to forget Jon as our Wizard,, "Oz the Great and Powerful".

We worked hard and synched the songs and dances. Parents made costumes. We did newspaper articles and radio shows and we had SO MUCH FUN. Directing plays was always a challenge at Brownstown because we were small. We had to compete with a lot of other activities and for gym space.

Nonetheless, the show did go on. TWICE. The Board asked us to do an encore performance because some of them missed the first one and heard it was good. We danced, we sang and I hope that for some of the cast members it was a chance to grow into stronger and more confident people.

As I look on those times, it was all about creating experiences for kids that would make them happy and more confident people. It was about making music and having fun and working together. Many of my Facebook friends who were students were parts of the other plays which I will probably discuss at a different time. Someday I am going to have all of those videos put onto DVD.

The lesson to be learned was: Anything is possible and go for your dreams.

I watch Glee every week. Now they have moved on to New York but the esteem and the joy of singing and acting and producing is so relevant today. I am all for a balance in education and I think the Common Core can only bring back some of the focus on creativity and collaboration which I think is good if done right. But Sometimes I get stuck on these times at Brownstown. We had it so good. Probably if I had kids of my own I would be reflecting on their plays and activities.  Yet,  I like to think that as teachers we made a difference. Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. I don't need a day of appreciation. It should be coined, Student Appreciation Day. So to the cast and crew of The Wizard of Oz, 1990, the experience was one in a lifetime and for those I keep in touch with, you have moved on to be adults to be proud of as I see it in your posts and pictures.

Lea Michelle is starring as Dorothy in the remake of Oz to be released this Friday. Bet it won't be as good as ours. Huh Kathy?  With Love. Ms R.