CTORA Theatre brings classic “The Wizard of Oz” to Granville Island

posted on October 31st, 2023 at 11:04 AM

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By Raynee Novak

It’s off to see the Wizard!

CTORA Theatre is bringing the Royal Shakespeare Company version of The Wizard of Oz to the Granville Island Stage starting November 3. This delightful rendition features over 25 actors, including six munchkins to round out the talented and spirited cast.

Director Mark Carter speaks excitedly about the production.

“Let’s just say we’ve put in a little bit of theatre magic,” he says via phone. “This is by far my favourite musical, so it’s quite special to me.”

Carter has been a director for over 33 years and joined CTORA last summer, starting with directing a youth production of the musical Cats and then The Lightning Thief.

He aims to celebrate the classic story that The Wizard of Oz is by sticking as close to the iconic 1939 film as he can.

“I think you have a vision in your head as to what you’re going to expect if you already know the story, and I want to try to honour that—yet put a little spin and make it my own,” he says. “So, there are maybe a few of the characters slightly differently portrayed than what you might be expecting.”

Carter also thinks the original musical score from the movie version is instrumental in bringing The Wizard of Oz to life.

“Those are the classic tunes,” he asserts, mentioning that even Glinda’s entrance score will be familiar to the movie’s fans.

This production sees Camryn MacDonald as Dorothy, Preston Wilder as the Tin Man, Keith MacMillan as the Scarecrow, Jonathan Gagne as the Lion, and Kyrst Hogan as the Wicked Witch of the West. There is even an adorable dog who was cast as Toto.

“I really want to cast for talent—who is the best person for the role or the best person for the show that I’m doing?” shares Carter. “So, whether they’ve had 30 years of experience or three days, like a little baby, I just tried to treat everybody the same.”