On the evening of Nov. 15, a flurry of munchkins dressed in varying shades of blue convened around Naomi Eisenmann in the gymnasium at Aldo Leopold Intermediate School, where they had been waiting to take their bows at the end of Burlington High School’s musical production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
A wand, a pink hoop dress and months of practice had transformed Eisenmann into Glinda the Good Witch, and she spent her time between sets holding court with the elementary students who had signed on to represent munchkin factions like the Lollipop Guild and Lullaby League, keeping them entertained with games like “Mother, may I…?” and “hide and seek.”
In the musical, the munchkins, coached by orchestra teacher Diana Wells, had been among the first residents of the County of Oz to meet Dorothy — played by Elaine Guyton — after she and Toto — played by Guyton’s dog, Cooper — arrived there by tornado.
“It’s a great way for kids to see, ‘I can do this when I get bigger,’ ” BHS music teacher James Flaherty said of including elementary-aged students in the production.
After all, that was how Eisenmann got her start in musicals.
The year was 2017, and Flaherty, in his first year of teaching at his alma mater, took on the task of directing “The Music Man.” It was the school’s first musical production since 2008, when they put on “The Wizard of Oz” at the Capitol Theater.
“A big plot point (in “The Music Man”) is there are little kids involved,” Flaherty said. “Our Glinda was actually one of the little kids in ‘The Music Man.’ She was a third- or fourth-grader. Now she’s a junior, so it’s kind of come full circle.”
Eisenmann remembers gathering on stage in a circle and marching around while the high school performers sang a song. She also remembers huddling around a Chromebook in the corner of the gym, watching a live feed of the musical with her fellow elementary actors when they weren’t on stage.
Fast-forward five years, and Eisenmann landed a role as a salt shaker in “Beauty and the Beast.” Her sophomore year, she was an orphan in “Annie,” a role she was particularly excited about because the set included bunk beds and she got to be on top bunk. This year, she had a slightly bigger role, and a much bigger dress.
“This one, I love because of this dress,” Eisenmann said with a smile, motioning toward the dress that Music Booster Nicolette Critser had expertly dyed pink for the occasion, though Eisenmann likely would have been happy with any role. “I absolutely love theater — dancing on stage, singing, acting, all of it.”
She isn’t the only one.
Eisenmann was among 47 BHS students involved in “The Wizard of Oz,” more than four times as many as participated in the 2017 musical.
“Our motto has always been bigger and better and this is the biggest and best we’ve done,” Flaherty said, noting that the upcoming expansion of Aldo’s auditorium will go a long way to achieving that goal in the years to come as Flaherty, music teacher Emma Gobble and stage master Sara Parris continue to grow the music and drama program.
“One of the reasons I went into music education was to both give kids the opportunities that I had but also the things I wish we would have been doing,” Flaherty said. “Musicals were one of those things.”
After getting his college degree, Flaherty returned to BHS and set about bringing back musicals.
“I said ‘OK, well I wanted to see this happen and if we wait, there will always be a reason not to do it, so we’re just going to rip off the band-aid and we’re going to do it,’ and I haven’t looked back,” Flaherty said.
Later that year, Gobble began teaching music at the elementary level and joined Flaherty in his efforts. One of her elementary students was Ruby McCormick, who played Hickory and the Tinman in this year’s musical.
“I started in January of ‘15,” Gobble said during a dress rehearsal in the hallway outside the auditorium as she applied silver make-up to McCormick’s face. “I came from Danville, which has a huge drama thing, and we were just like, ‘let’s do this.’ It’s exhausting, but we’re doing it.”
Their efforts have paid off.
“We have so many kids who have come out of the woodwork to do this,” Gobble said.
Among those kids has been Guyton, whose long list of extracurriculars include band, orchestra, choir, swim, tennis, softball, Bring Change to Mind, Student Council, Leo Club and wrestling.
“It’s her senior year so she doesn’t want to miss a thing,” Flaherty said.
Guyton had always liked musicals and looked forward to getting into high school so she could participate in drama activities. Despite her enthusiasm, she didn’t try out for any singing roles her first two years. That changed at the start of her junior year, when she landed the role of Miss Agatha Hannigan in “Annie the Musical.”
“Even if you’re a shy person, you should still try out, because my freshman and sophomore year, I didn’t try out for any singing roles because I was too nervous, and then last year and this year, I tried out for two singing roles and I got both the ones that I wanted,” Guyton said.
Guyton was among a handful of students that Flaherty, Gobble and Parris thought might make for a good Dorothy, but final casting decisions were made via a blind audition by a panel of four judges.
“We always have to pick a show where we know we have two or three kids who can kind of do everything, so we had two or three kids in our head for each role,” Flaherty said when asked how the musical is selected.
“This year we have the right people for this. … Like Kendal is secretly evil, so we’re letting it out,” Gobble said with a laugh while looking at Kendal Sawyer as she applied green make-up to her face. “She’s really one of the sweetest people in the world.”
Despite her real-life sweetness, the role of the Wicked Witch of the West fit Sawyer even better than the green gloves she wore to play the part.
“This is the most really cool acting role I’ve ever had in my entire life,” said Sawyer, who got her debut in acting in the third grade when she played an ogre in a production of “Rapunzel.”
The cackles or shrieks punctuating her stellar, villainous performances came easily. What was more difficult was managing her relationship with her four-legged cast member, Cooper.
“I’m a dog person, so I told Gobble on day one, ‘I can’t be mean to the dog. We have to get a cat,’ ” Sawyer said.
But Cooper is a professional, and he took it all in stride, sitting calmly in the basket while Miss Almira Gulch carted him off on her bicycle to be destroyed before returning to the stage to rejoin his owner on their adventure to Oz.
Working behind the scenes to make the production a success was the tech crew, a group of students who carried out everything from sound system setup and lighting to set design.
“From painting, lighting, curtain pulling and moving set pieces; the tech crew kids really know how to help bring the show alive,” Parris said. “You might not see them on stage, but they are there putting in the same amount of hours. Every year the drama department gets bigger and better, and that’s largely due to the extra set of hands from behind the curtain.”
The next drama performance will be put on this spring with a yet-to-be-announced play that you won’t want to miss.
