All You Need is Love... and a Little Music

By Jillian Haguisan

Dorothy and friends

​     The OBHS musical theater program performed Imagine Oz on Sunday, March 25th and Tuesday, March 27th. Mr. Kerry Prep originally directed the play, but due to conflicts, Mr. Derrick Kolby took over. The students and staff worked diligently to execute this unique and entertaining musical.
       Imagine Oz followed the main storyline of The Wizard of Oz in which a simple country girl, Dorothy, played by Sarah Conway, and her dog, Toto, played by Miriam Coor, get trapped in the magical land of Oz. In order to return home, she journeys with her friends the Scarecrow, played by Claudia Paolucci, the Tin Man, played by Rachel Kowalsky, and the Cowardly Lion, played by Destini Gaeckler, to seek the great wizard of Oz, played by Annabella Balone. However, their journey gets foiled by the Wicked Witch of the West, played by sophomore Alessandra Martorella.

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     Unlike the original film, Imagine Oz has a unique twist; all of the actors perform songs by the Beatles. The musical includes classics such as “Here Comes the Sun,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” and “We Can Work it Out.”
     Casting began a week before midterms and rehearsals began two weeks after. Stefanie Sadocha, a 9th grader at OBHS, commented, “I thought that all the parts were cast perfectly for their roles.”
     With just two months to work on the musical, the actors and actresses met every day after school (and sometimes on Saturdays) to rehearse. “It was definitely a unique experience, being that this was an original show, and our first director left us so early in the process. But, overall, the show came out great. The whole cast was phenomenal, too,” said Ava Aschettino, who played Glinda, the Witch of the North.
     The original shows were scheduled for March 24th, March 25th, and March 26th, but due to the snow, the Friday and Saturday shows were both moved to Sunday, while the final show was moved to Tuesday night. The cast also missed out on rehearsals because of the snow days, but they managed to pull through and perform a spectacular production.  “I was incredibly impressed with my students’ talents,” Ms. Murphy, an English teacher at OBHS, said. “It was refreshing to see a musical that combined one of my favorite stories with great music.”
     Even if you don’t listen to the Beatles, anyone can appreciate Oyster Bay High School’s spectacular production of Imagine Oz.