Bellaire’s Spring Musical: The Wizard Of Oz

This month, Bellaire High School presented The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. This annual spring musical was run by Bellaire’s Theatre Department.

The director of the play was new theatre teacher Ms. Kayla Boffone, the music director was Ashley Evans, and the technical director was James Scott.

This play took a tremendous amount of time and preparation. Auditions were held December and there were intense practices during lunch and after school.

“But it is fun and rewarding,” Chloe Helpinstill says, “and you realize it when you come out you to bow and you get that moment when everyone is cheering you on and you know all your hard work has paid off.”

“I’m also very grateful for the experiences and friendships I’ve made this year and the growth I’ve made as an actor.”

Chloe Helpinstill played Dorothy for two performances of The Wizard of Oz and is vice president of the Theatre Club.

“The hardest part [of the play] was understanding the meaning of The Wizard of Oz. Even before auditioning. I was trying to find out what some of Dorothy's lines meant and specifically this line: ‘If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again. I’ll never look any further than my own backyard because if it isn’t there then I never lost it to begin with.’”

This line is a very big theme of The Wizard of Oz and in life; the theme of love and desire. It means that “if your heart’s desire isn’t in your home and with the people you love, then you’ve never actually lost it” because her heart’s desire was truly only with her family, and Dorothy realized it after her experience in Oz.

This can be used for all of us because it means that our only real heart’s desire is with the people we love, then it isn’t a real desire. So we shouldn’t believe that things like a new phone or computer is all you need to be happy, because desires like those come and go. Desire for love and family will always stay though.