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DeKALB – The Stage Coach Players will open its 2025 season with performances of the musical “The Wizard of Oz.”
The musical is scheduled to run for two weeks.
“The Wizard of Oz” tells the story of Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto, who are swept away by a tornado from their home in Kansas to the Land of Oz. Her house accidentally lands on the Wicked Witch of the East; is threatened by the Wicked Witch of the West; and saved by Glinda, the Good Witch.
The pair must journey to the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz in order to find their way back home. Dorothy and Toto also meet the Scarecrow, who wants a brain; the Tin Man, who wants a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who wants courage.
“The Wizard of Oz” is based on the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 MGM movie of the same name. The Stage Coach production will be directed by Steven Meerdink, who previously directed the Stage Coach production of “Cabaret” in 2024. Musical direction is provided by Judy O’Connor, with choreography by Melissa Roseberg and Aaliyah McCormick.
Meerdink said the vision came from the idea that the original story from Baum was written at the very end of the Victorian period, and steampunk is the vision the Victorians had of the future.
“I wanted to take a well-known tale and make it new,” Meerdink said in a news release.
The cast features Blythe Schwaller as Dorothy, Isaiah Panke as the Scarecrow, Brock Demeter as the Tin Man, Todd Pope as the Cowardly Lion, Emelie Walton as Glinda, Paula Tsiagalis as the Wicked Witch of the West and Eli Oleson as the Wizard.
“I remember when ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was shown on television once a year,” Meerdink said. “I am not sure what my exact age was, but I was young. The witch and the flying monkeys made the biggest impression on me ... mostly because I found them terrifying at the time.”
The rest of the cast includes Greg Anderson, Summer Arwood, Daerielle Balika, Saelyn Balika, Addison Bentz, Kora Cahill, Sophia Cook, Avery Drake Devin Drake, Mike Groark Lily Harned, Elianna Kettley, Ava Lamere, Alyssa Landshaft, Rosie Landshaft, Joel Ledbetter, Aaliyah McCormick, Amanda Martin, Charlie Nall, Maddy Nall, Sydney Nall, Elizabeth Pickett, Melissa Roseberg, Monique Smith, Karli Waldrep and Julia Woodward.
“Down deep, I suppose it was the confirmation that family was always there for you,” Pope said in a news release. “However, I had a pretty idyllic childhood. My family marched to its own drummer, and I actually think my real life was more like Oz than Kansas.”
Performances of “The Wizard of Oz” will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 through March 1 and March 6 through March 8 at the Stage Coach Theatre, 126 S. Fifth St., DeKalb. There also are matinee performances at 2 p.m. March 2 and 9.
Tickets cost $25 for adults and $23 for seniors and children ages 12 and younger.
“It captures the child in all of us and transports us on an adventure, from the trials and tribulations of childhood to the fantastical world of Oz and back home again, allowing us to suspend reality and experience Oz through the eyes of Dorothy,” Tsiagalis said in the release.
For information, visit stagecoachplayers.com.