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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Dorothy not in Kamas anymore
By NANCY VAN VALKENBURGParody travels twisted Yellow Brick Road
Good witch Glenda struggles with being benevolent, and always falls short. The Scarecrow wants a brain and, without one, he sounds suspiciously like Keanu Reeves' slacker/stoner/surfer Ted, from the '80s film "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Bogus, dude! This is not your parents' "Wizard of Oz."
It's "The Wizard of Odd: A Wicked Comedy," a new parody hybrid of "Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked." And among those starring in the Desert Star Playhouse production are three actors from the Top of Utah.
Bonnie Wilson Whitlock, 37, of Layton, plays the sweet/snarky Glenda (not Glinda, as in "The Wizard of Oz"). Ed Farnsworth, 30, of Farmington, portrays the totally mellow but somewhat dense Scarecrow.
Rounding out the trio is Tod Huntington, 30, of Bountiful, who plays not only the Great and Powerful Wizard of Odd, but a Munchkin, a castle guard, a flying monkey and the tornado.
"It's a blast!" Huntington said.
Additional characters in the show include Dorothy; the Cowardly Lion, played as an
out-there Richard Simmons type; Tin Man, played like brittle Brit Simon Cowell; and a reasonable-by-comparison green-skinned witch, Algebra (not Elphaba, as in "Wicked").
"It's a ton of fun," Huntington said. "It's pretty goofy, and they like to keep things local and topical, so Dorothy gets swept to Odd from Kamas. It's quite comical. Participating in any show at Desert Star is always a good time. You never know what is going to happen. If you're a big fan of things going by the book, being in one of these shows would probably give you a headache."
Skills required
Whitlock makes the drive to Murray's Desert Star because she loves acting in parodies.
"It looks like what we do is so easy," said the actress, whose day job involves recruiting workers for a staffing service in Layton, and teaching voice on the side.
"Actually, this is the hardest kind of theater. When things go wrong, the show gets better. Ad-libs make the show better. It's extremely difficult for someone used to getting a script and memorizing it. The director told me, of all the actors he knows in Utah, maybe 20 can do this kind of theater."
The theater's last show, "My Valley Fair Lady," provided lots of improvisational opportunities, said Huntington, who also works as a film actor, musician, paintball shop employee, and sometimes as a bartender.
"There was one scene where pingpong balls were supposed to fall down, but some stuck in the rafters," he said. "In the next show, every few minutes, one would fall from the sky. A lot of good jokes came out of that. Desert Star has some very talented and funny people who get an idea and roll with it."
But not just any ad-lib will do, Whitlock said.
"It's a family theater, so we have to make sure we are not truly offensive," she said.
And you can't get too far off-track, said Farnsworth, an accountant in his daytime hours.
"To work there, you have to have pretty good comedic timing," he said. "You need to know how to deliver lines without spoiling a joke or giving it away too fast. The biggest skill you have to have is commitment to the joke. If you hold yourself to the joke, and you don't hold back, that's what makes it funny. If you're shy about it at all, it's not going to work."
So all the actors are required to do is stick to the basic story, while rolling with the punches, taking comedic risks, self-censoring risqué ad-libs, and maintaining perfect timing.
"Many people who worked here are now doing Broadway tours," Whitlock said. "If you can handle this kind of theater, you can handle any kind."
For love and money
Audiences seem to enjoy the combination of parody and actors with the skills to play fast and loose.
"We get a huge crowd," Whitlock said. "Everyone who says he hates theater loves Desert Star. We get people who would never go to Salt Lake Acting Company or Pioneer Theatre. They don't like theater-theater, but they like Desert Star. It's a relaxed atmosphere, and it's hard to tell when something is an ad-lib and when it isn't. When something goes wrong, like someone forgets lines or somebody's costume falls off or someone in the audience spouts out something, we respond. It's so much more fun. The audience really feels it is part of the show."
And actors feel they are part of a close-knit team. Friendships are strong since directors draw from the same core group of actors for multiple shows each year, at both the venue's Playhouse stage and its dinner theater (there are no shows currently in the dinner theater).
In addition, Desert Star actors are paid for their work, a benefit community theaters can't offer.
"It's not Equity (an actors' union) pay, but it's one of the better-paying theaters," Whitlock said. "I've been doing shows here for 11 years."
Huntington worked for years as a Desert Star musician. This is his second show as an actor.
"Film is a lot more lucrative, of course, but you need other jobs," he said. "You can't count on film jobs, so you do what you've got to do, taking jobs here and there. And working at the Desert Star is like hanging out with friends, and getting paid. For a lot of guys at the Desert Star, they do this because they love it, and they've got other careers, sit-down jobs where they deal with mortgages, or whatever."
Farnsworth fits into that category.
"Pretty much everybody has another job," he said. "We get a lot of stay-at-home moms who use this to help supplement their family incomes."
Farnsworth loves acting in spoofs, he said.
"I've done close to 25 shows in the last nine years, and there are others who have done a lot more in less time. There are other local theaters that pay, but they do edgier stuff. I'm LDS, and I'd rather stick with family-friendly shows. I'm not putting down the theaters that do edgier stuff, it's just not my particular brand of theater."
Whitlock, a musical theater graduate from Brigham Young University whose singing and acting career has taken her around the world, said she's grateful to have the Desert Star so close to home.
"I feel like I've been in some of the funniest shows ever written, and it's not just the person writing who makes it great, it's what the actors can bring to it. It's a collaboration. It's very talented people and a phenomenal theater. And it's a whole lot of fun."
PREVIEW
l WHAT: 'The Wizard of Odd: A Wicked Comedy'
l WHEN: 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Fridays; 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays; with additional shows at 7 p.m. some Wednesdays and noon some Saturdays. Through June 7.
l WHERE: Desert Star Playhouse, 4861 S. State St., Murray
l TICKETS: $12.95-$17.95; $8/children; $11.95/seniors at matinee shows; $12.95/students at 9:30 p.m. shows. 266-2600.
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