On Friday, March 27th, The Eagle’s Cry had the pleasure of “easing on down the road” at our very own high school performance of The Wiz, a musical Ms. Stehlik picked this year for the spring show. Its basically a modern, updated version of the Wizard of Oz. The storyline and main characters are all the same, but the stage show features more musical numbers.

The show took about three months to prepare. “We rehearse four times a week including Saturday” said Jill Perota. “The most important part of preparing for the show is dedication and hard work.” She said that it’s crucial to be at all the rehearsals so scences can develop quickly but also to work on the substantial amount of singing and choreography.

The roles are picked by the director Ms. Stehlik based off of an audition process.  The process takes place over a span of a week and a half and auditioners do a dance followed by a song. After those, standouts are tapped for callbacks and will read and sing for a specific part. After all of this, it comes down to the director’s vision as to who could play which part best.  The lead roles: Dorothy: Jill Perota; Scarecrow: Miguel ALmanzar; Tinman: Jessica Okeefe; Lion: Skyler Paccio; The Wiz: Lauren Conway; Glinda: Emily Marczak; Eveline: Jen Millan; and Addaperle: Carly Sesti.

Jill said, “The biggest struggle is sometimes working towards something that you have to wait so long to see a final result for.”

The show was a success by all accounts.  The songs worked well, the performers nailed their lines, and the whole production seemed professional. Once you start adding different elements it made the excitement for the show  feel real said Jill Perota.

Mrs. Stehlik said “my dream became a reality due to the hard work and talents of the actors, stage crew, audio visual crew, and pit band.”  All aspects of this production far surpassed my hopes and expectations.  I am so proud.  Jimmy Johnson said, ‘The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.’  I believe it was that ‘little extra’ each member of the production put in that made this production extraordinary.”