Guest Blog: Performing the music that people know so well

Today's Guest Blogger: Joe Slabe, Musical Director of The Wizard of Oz, The Musical

“This isn’t really a musical. It’s a play with music,” said our director, Glynis Leyshon at one point early in rehearsals and I agree that The Wizard of Oz doesn’t function like a traditional musical.

As the musical director, it’s my job to be the advocate for the score and bring this glorious music to life. Everyone can sing at least one song from the show and I was well aware of the responsibility I had to the legendary songwriting team of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.

And yet, there are really only eight tunes in The Wizard of Oz and, a third of the way into the second act, the show pretty much forgets about being a musical at all.  But, our two-person orchestra is kept busy playing almost constantly thanks to the third musical genius behind The Wizard of Oz, Herbert Stothart.

Stothart wrote the underscoring, musical stings and wove together the tunes to create a continuous score that I admire every time I play a performance. Emotions are heightened, entrances and exits are announced, scene changes are made seamless and every character has a melodic motif that changes with them on their musical journey.

This sort of extensive underscoring is very common in movies but much less so in contemporary theatre. In fact, one of my challenges was to encourage the cast to leave room for the music to punctuate the action onstage.

That might be because The Wizard of Oz owes a huge debt to a theatrical style that is very out of fashion now – the melodrama. With oversized characters and emotions, a life-and-death plot and almost continuous music, the show certainly fits the bill.

And, now that the cast have nailed it, it’s exciting to watch audiences embrace this wonderfully old-fashioned show at every performance.

The Wizard of Oz, The Musical runs at Alberta Theatre Projects until December 31st. For tickets and information, visit ATPlive.com or call 403-294-7402