By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Dorothy isn’t in Kansas anymore.
From March 16-18, Brandon High School presents the Wizard of Oz.

“We wanted something upbeat and funny. Something very family friendly. There are a lot of principal characters,” said director Kristen Kelsey.
This version of the Wizard of Oz is a bit different from the film. This is the muny version, which is the stage version. Toto won’t be seen in the show, and there will be more surprises for the audience.
“It’s more true to the actual story,” said Kelsey. “ It has the same songs, but it’s not as predictable as the movie version.”
With the same cast of characters, this play promises the fun and family friendly feel as the film, and the cast behind the characters are having just as much fun as the audience.
Alexa Laube, a foreign exchange student from Germany, plays Glinda the Good Witch.
“My choir teacher played that part when she was in high school, and she showed us a clip, and she still has that dress, and she was like ‘you know what? If it fits you, you can wear it,’” said Laube.
Laube, who also takes choir as a class, is a junior at Brandon. She was involved in the fall play as stage crew, and back in Germany she was involved in after school choir and band, as well as dance classes outside of school.
“There’s always something to do,” she said. “Even if you’re not in the scene, you can rehearse or you can go back stage and work with stage crew.”

Laube also enjoyed her experience with stage crew in the fall play, saying that it was a lot of fun and they sang a lot, even sometimes getting yelled at for being too loud.
“I did a lot of drama stuff in Germany but I never did like stage crew, so it was kind of interesting to see how long it takes to build the set and stuff,” she said. “We have some middle schoolers as some of the Munchkins, and I had so many people coming up to me saying ‘your accent fits so good.’”
“It’s really neat how kids who have never interacted with each other make new friends,” said co-director Brittany Miller. “It’s cool watching everything come together.”
See Laube and the rest of the cast in the Wizard of Oz at Brandon High School Performing Arts Center, 1025 S. Ortonville Road on March 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. and March 18 at 2 p.m. tickets go on sale the week of the show at the high school and middle school offices for $7.
“This group of kids that we have are very energetic,” said Kelsey. “It’s a passionate group of kids.”