By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — Those dropping by the Plymouth High School auditorium this weekend will quickly realize they aren’t in Kansas anymore, as the drama department presents its annual children’s show, “The Wizard of Oz.”
The group revives the first children’s show ever done at PHS with performances on Friday and Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. and matinees on Saturday and Sunday starting at 2 p.m.
As usual the show has a “Red” and “White” cast — both completely different.
The old favorite will feature some new twists and some deference paid to other productions of the classic. Costuming and set design have nods to the timeless movie production as well as the current Broadway hit based on the story, “Wicked.”

“We do the first part of the show in black and white as an homage to the movie,” said the shows director Charlotte Tyree. “Then, after the tornado, everything’s in color. Then our other homage is to ‘Wicked.’ The set of that show has a dragon with the map from the original book and we thought it would be fun to do that, so anybody who’s seen ‘Wicked’ will understand that.”
Technical director Jane Nelson has also added some new wrinkles in set and effects for the show.
“The last time we did it, we actually used flash paper and flash pots, but nowadays it’s just too scary to have real fire on stage,” said Tyree. “We’ve done some other things instead, and the witch’s castle — when Dorothy is put in the cage there she’s about three stories high. That gives you a really unique perspective of the auditorium to be up that high.”
There are also plenty of “must see” moments in the production, according to the cast.
“The chase scene,” said Britni Mills, who plays Dorothy in the “White” cast. “Everybody will love that scene.”
“The best scene by far is the witch melting,” said Andy Langdon who plays the Tinman in the show’s “White” cast. “The kids are going to have a lot of fun watching it.”
The casts of characters in order of appearance:
Dorothy — Britni Mills, Nancy Tyree
Aunt Em — Christina Ganshorn, Ali Rockefeller
Uncle Henry — Zach Ellsworth, Chris McGee
Hank/Flying Monkey — Cam Robertson, Nick Houin
Tom/Flying Monkey — Hailey Hennessy, Jennifer Kern
Zeke/Flying Monkey — Nathan Hurt, Zach Wendt
Miss Gulch/Talking Tree — Keshia Carnegie, Jessica Hoeffler
Madame Marvel/Talking Tree — Amanda Benham, Katie Day
Glinda — Caitlin Hite, Rachel Kubley
Munchkins — Beginning Theatre Class
Wicked Witch — Haley Jaggers, John Patrick
Nikko — Kalyn Hirschy, Miranda Martin
Scarecrow — Holly Morris, Matt Woods
Tinman — Andy Langdon, Jon Tyree
Lion — Chad Griewank, Taylor Hampton
Oz — Brian Finney, Andy Sanchez
Mrs. Lime — Kyra Erickson, Anne Marshall
Kelly Green — Casey Faricelli, Stacy Vervynckt
Olive Green — Liz Hoffer, Katherine Shaffer
Admission is $3 for those 12 and under and $4 for all others.