Ferndale students travel to ‘Wizard of Oz’ for next musical

FERNDALE — The students of the Ferndale Theatre will be traveling the yellow brick road for its next show.

Ferndale Theatre’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” will bow on Saturday, March 14. It will be followed by show dates on March 15 and March 20-22. All shows will be at Ferndale High School, 881 Pinecrest Drive.

Kelly Komlen, the theater director for Ferndale High and Middle schools, said she wanted to pick a show that was comparable to “Newsies” after it did so well last year. She also wanted their costume designer, Carol Digby, to weigh in on what show she would like, as she’s retiring.

“It didn’t hurt that the ‘Wicked’ phenomenon was sweeping the country, but that was just a happy accident,” she said.

Komlen said the script they’re using for the musical was lifted from the film script, which has presented some challenges in their production, as some things that work in the movie are harder to re-create on stage.

“For example, the hot air balloon that they fly off in or the cyclone sequence when she’s imagining all the things flying by,” Komlen said. “That’s been fun from a creative perspective, but also really challenging. The technical elements of this show are pretty broad.”

Leading the cast as Dorothy Gale is Bralyn Meadows, who has been acting in the school productions since ninth grade.

Now a graduating senior, the 17-year-old Meadows, from Ferndale, looked back and said she found a place of belonging when she participated in her first show.

“Ever since then, I really liked doing theater because — previously before — I didn’t really have much friends and I didn’t really talk to people well, but doing theater, you kind of all have to talk to each other,” she said. “You just get to know each other well in such a short amount of time, and I felt like I belonged somewhere for the first time.”

Meadows felt proud of how much she’s been able to develop her version of Dorothy and find her own interpretation of the character that’s different from Judy Garland’s version.

She’s excited for what people will get to see in the production come March 14.

“All the characters and stuff are just so lively and fun,” Meadows said. “The music is good. It’s just a really fun performance. and I just want everyone to be excited to see it.”

The times for each show are 7:30 p.m. March 14, 3 p.m. March 15, 7:30 p.m. March 20-21 and 3 p.m. March 22.

For more information and tickets, visit onthestage.tickets/show/ferndale-high-school. The tickets cost $15 for general admission, $10 for students and seniors, and $5 for youths.

“(Rehearsals are) going really well,” Komlen said. “We’re having a lot of fun with it. The kids are working really hard and they’re enjoying it a lot. And we have a big cast. This is probably the biggest cast that we’ve had since I’ve been with Ferndale. We have almost 60 kids in the cast, and they span anywhere from sixth grade to 12th grade.”