Arts & Entertainment

Local Actors and Director Bring The Wizard of Oz to Stage in Summit

16-year-old director and several young actors from Millburn-Short Hills among those in Summit Playhouse production.

Editor's Note: The director and five of the young actors in The Wizard of Oz are from the Millburn-Short Hills area. Sources close to the production tell Patch a 2 p.m. Saturday show has been added to this, the last weekend of sold-out performances.

Good luck to Millburn-Short Hills' own: Director Lindsay Maron and actors Samuel Dantowitz, Alexandra Ruibal, Mia Sinclair Jenness, Caroline Cariddi and Ambika Chetal.

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I'm no theater critic, but and the Kaleidoscope Theatre for Youth put on a wonderful performance of The Wizard of Oz.

Clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks so as the final three performances are sold out.

Find out what's happening in Millburn-Short Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

First of all, let me just say that I had never actually been inside the Playhouse. Living so close to it, I suppose I always took it for granted; only complaining about the cars parked on my street on the night of a show. But Wednesday night, I was lucky enough to walk to the theater for my night out.

I now feel like I truly live in Summit. Nothing really says community like the community theater and the Playhouse offers an intimate experience that brings you into the show in a way Broadway never could.

On top of that, this production of The Wizard of Oz is truly remarkable because of the young age of many of the actors in the show. The munchkins, in particular the Lullaby League and the Lollipop Guild, are absolutely, certifiably adorable. Not to mention that Toto, played by Anna Clara Anderson, comes to life when Dorothy lands in Oz.

The props and costumes in the show are extremely creative and well done and the actors are responsible for all the set changes, another innovative and impressive component to the production. The cast also somehow managed to rekindle my love for the show and reminded me of scenes I had nearly forgotten were part of the story.

Morgan Kelleher, who plays Dorothy, shines with a top-notch musical performance; Nicole Pigott artfully masters two characters playing both Aunt Em and Glinda the Good Witch and her mature voice is a delightful complement to Kelleher's younger sound.

But the obvious crowd pleaser was the energetic and truthful performance of Victoria Crincoli who plays the Wicked Witch. Crincoli imitates the feared character to a T and even adds a buit of humor to the story. I know I'll be having nightmares of her for a while. Some of my absolute favorites though were somewhat minor characters: Billy Conlan does a bang up job playing both Professor Marvel and The Wizard of Oz, Samuel Dantowitz is adorable as the guard of Oz and Jaron Cole is right on with his portrayal of the The Mayor of Munchinkinland.

If you already have tickets, consider yourself lucky. The Wizard of Oz is a great family-focused summer show. Summit is lucky to have a community theater that not only provides local kids the chance to experience the arts through performance, but also by being in the audience. The Wizard of Oz is chock full of budding talent that is sure to continue pleasing audiences for many years to come.

Tickets are $15; Friday and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3:00 p.m.; at The Summit Playhouse, 10 New England Ave in Summit, 908-273-2192.


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