The Wizard of Oz
'The Wizard of Oz' was an elaborate school play directed by Mrs. Norton, based on a film adaption of the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum titled, 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. The musical stage song played by Greg and the trees was We Three Trees. Ms. Norton chose to stay faithful to the original story by keeping Dorothy Gale's magic shoes Silver like in the book instead of the popular Ruby Slippers from the iconic 1939 film adaption.
Greg's experience
Mom came to Greg once after school with an flyer about the play. Greg didn't want to, because he doesn't like singing solos to everyone. However, he got an audition due to a argument with Mom and Dad.
When Greg came to the auditions, he said he never saw the movie (or read the book), so coming to it was like a freak show. Mrs. Norton (the music director) made everyone sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" so she could hear their singing voices. After that, Mrs. Norton said "What a lovely soprano!". Greg didn't know what a soprano was, but he heard some of the girls giggling, he knew it wasn't a good thing.
Tryouts went forever according to Greg, and the grand finale came to kids who wanted to be Dorothy. Patty Farrell tried out first. He thought about being a witch, but he heard that she does all sorts of mean things to Dorothy. Luckily, he heard that their is both a Bad and Good one, so he thinks he wants to be the bad one.
A few days later, Mrs. Norton showed everyone the movie of The Wizard Of Oz (most likely the 1939 one), so that everyone would know that story. He then decided to be a Tree due to 1) they don't have to sing and 2) they get to beam Dorothy with apples.
He then signed up to be one, but when he came to the rehearsal for them, the costumes had no arm holes, so that meant no apple throwing. According to Greg, they had too many kids trying out, and not enough roles, so Mrs. Norton had to start making up characters. For example, Rodney James tried out as the Tin Man but however, he became the Shrub.
He then got a speaking part. He says "Ouch." whenever Dorothy picks off a apple off his branch. Rodney James found a better deal to be a Shrub by sneaking in a video game into his costume to make the time go by.
Nearly closer to the performance, no one has bothered to learn their lines. Mrs. Norton usually whispers everyone's lines so they can remember. For example, Mrs. Norton whispers "I'll get you, my pretty" to the Witch when he actually speaks out "I get that you're pretty!". Another thing was that she keeps adding new scenes and new characters.
She brought in a first-grader to play Dorothy's dog, Toto. But his mom wanted him to walk around on two-legs instead of all-fours, because it would be too "degrading". But the worst part was that Mrs. Norton gave the Trees a song, due to her saying that everyone deserves a change to sing. He thinks it's the worst song ever written. At the end of that rehearsal, Archie Kelly tripped over Rodney James (Shrub) and chipped his tooth because he couldn't stick his arms out to break his fall. So they gave the trees arm holes for the performance.
The night came, and things were not going to go well. The play was supposed to start at 8.00, but it got delayed because Rodney James (Shrub) had stage fright. It finally started at around 8.30. Nobody could remember their lines just as he expected, but Mrs. Norton kept things moving along with her piano. The first-grader who played Toto brought a stool and a pile of comic books onto the stage, ruining the whole "dog" effect. When the forest scene came, Greg and the other trees came into their roles, and Manny said "Bubby!". He did some quick ad-libbing to Archie Kelly, saying "I think you dropped an apple, Bubby". When the first few notes of We Three Trees came, he felt his stomach jump.
Rodrick was holding a video camera and recording Greg's part. When the time came to start singing, Greg didn't know what to do, but the other trees were still singing. But then they stopped. Mrs. Norton then whispered the rest of the lyrics to them. The song was about three minutes long, but it felt like a hour and a half to him. Then Patty Farrell (Dorothy) looked at them Trees. They then started throwing apples at her and then everyone joins in. He thinks Toto got onto the act too. Someone knocked the Patty's glasses off, and one of the lenses broke. They had to shut down the play after that. Mum brought Greg a bouquet of flowers for his performing job, but she ended up throwing them into the trash on the way out of the door.
After the play’s events, people in the hallways started calling Archie Kelly “Bubby”, sometimes pushing him.
Appearances
Known Performers
- Greg Heffley - One of the trees
- Patty Farrell - Dorothy
- Archie Kelly - One of the trees
- Rodney James - Bush
- D.J. Harold - One of the trees
- Unidentified First Grader - Toto
Trivia
- Mrs. Norton asks for the students to sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" in the book, but in the first film, the students at the auction sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.
- When the kids are asked to sing in the book, Greg tries to go unnoticed but fails. In the movie, while almost all the kids sing naturally despite for their very poor singing skills (clearly getting notes wrong), Greg does not make any efforts to hide his voice from Mrs. Norton, and he can actually sing very well, especially being highlighted since he is supposed to sing the chorus.