There are many special things about the “Wizard of Oz” which is this year’s Great Northern Theatre Company’s summer production. The idea of leaving the mundane and the every-day behind to experience something colorful, creative, and fantastical might be one of its most enduring themes.
Take Dorothy Gail and her posse as they journey to Oz; before they transform into the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion (albeit in -Dorothy’s dream), we know them as the farmhands Zeke, Hunk, and Hickory, working on the Kansas farm belonging to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. This summer’s Great Northern Theatre Company’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” is similar, and so is the entire philosophy of this 29-year-old Cold Spring-based community theatre; nearly everyone involved in this community theatre has a day job, a career, and yet they come together “after hours” and – a little like how Dorothy’s world turns from black-and-white to Technicolor in the 1939 film – they create art, and some magic too. 
This year’s stars make a sort of transformation similar to the farmhands in Kansas: one is a server at Marnanteli’s turned main character Dorothy Gail through the magic of GNTC. Her name is Olivia Maselter, and she’s a recent ROCORI grad who will attend Southwest State University in the fall. The Scarecrow, played by Dean Rothstein, has probably made a sub sandwich for you at the Cold Spring Subway. He’s also a recent graduate of ROCORI and will attend Concordia/Moorhead in the fall. There’s also a former COVID tester who is awaiting his start in college at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul. His name is Luke Rentschler, and he plays the role of the Tin Man. Finally, there’s Mitchell Hurrle, a 27-year-old NICU nurse at The St. Cloud Hospital. He plays the Cowardly Lion. These four, whom Maselter has dubbed “DTSL” (an acronym for their character names), are a perfect picture of community theatre: people of diverse interests who cultivate talent beyond their daytime careers. Kimball native Holly Dahlinger is Glinda, the Good Witch (pictured below left). 
There are about 50 cast members in this year’s GNTC production, 14 of whom are munchkins played by children. Leigh Ann Davis, director of “Oz” and a veteran of all things Great -Northern Theatre, has a clear vision about this particularly iconic production. “We’ve tried really hard to make sure that, when people come to experience the show, they are going to feel like they are watching the movie. “The difference,” Davis notes, “is you’ll really get caught up in being in the theatre and seeing it live.” She shares that there is one scene that will feel new: the “Jitterbug,” which was cut from the 1939 MGM production, but not before it was performed and recorded with its star Judy Garland. (Check it out on Google).
This year’s production also includes pyrotechnics, “lots of magic,” as Maselter says, and of course a real dog to play Toto (his actual name is Bear).
Davis also remarks on the spectacular sets built for the production. “There are lots of sets. You’ll see the witch’s castle, you’ll see Oz. They will just ‘wow’ you!”
There’s another great theme about Oz too: the idea of coming home. That’s why this show might be especially fitting in 2021. After the worst of the COVID pandemic, the audience and actors are coming together to experience theatre. Director Davis emphasizes this when she says, “After so many people being away from theatre for so long, this is just a fun show to come back to. It’s about everybody getting to experience that familiar feeling of getting back into the audience. Audience members will sit down and say, ‘it feels so good to be back again.’”
Come back “home” to experience the magic of theatre. “The Wizard of Oz” performs two weekends – July 30-Aug. 1 and Aug. 5-8, at the Glanville Smith Auditorium at the ROCORI High School. With support from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, two special performance features include a pay-what-you-can performance on Friday, July 30, with any unreserved seats available at the door; and an ASL interpreter performance with special seating available on Sunday, Aug. 1.
Tickets available at gntc1.com or by calling the box office at (320) 241-4682.
Story submitted by Kelly Fitch; photos by Justin Walters.