‘East of Oz’ offers audiences a new ‘what if’ Yellow Brick Road tale – Calaveras Enterprise

If you like ‘Wicked,” there’s another alternate musical telling of “The Wizard of Oz” now cleverly afoot. Brand new and cleverly spun, it is currently onstage at the Metropolitan in San Andreas.

Fourth Wall Entertainment Troupe’s “East of Oz,” which opened last weekend, plays through mid-November. The show is local community theater at Fourth Wall’s fun, endearingly heartfelt finest; inclusive and supportive of established and budding talent, innovation and clever creativity on a shoestring. 

Fourth Wall founder-creative director Cyndie Klorer shared that she got the idea for “East of Oz” about a year ago after the warm reception of the staging of another of her works, “Oh, You Beautiful Doll.”

“I knew I wanted to tackle another immersive ’jukebox musical,’” she confided. “I wanted to tell a story about the Wicked Witch of the East and what might have happened if Dorothy’s house had landed on the Wicked Witch of the West and we were left to deal with the ruby-slippered witch instead.”

So, Klorer started doing research, reading and falling in love with L. Frank Baum’s story “The Tin Woodman of Oz,” drawing a good deal of inspiration from it and loosely basing “East of Oz” on Baum’s Tin Woodman story, albeit, with what she described as “a lot of creative license.” 

Once the storyline took shape, Klorer, aided by her directors and daughter, began curating a list of possible familiar tuneage already out in the popular music universe that could be woven into the storyline, jukebox musical style to interject poignancy, levity and zing.   

Roughly two dozen cross-genre hits spanning from the 1950s through the present made the rather clever cut. Among them: “(Theme From) The Monkees,” “I Hate Everything About You” (Three Days Grace), “The Long And Winding Road” (Beatles), “Last Resort” (Papa Roach), “Tin Man” (Miranda Lambert), “Heart Of Glass” (Blondie), “The Chain” (Fleetwood Mac), “Straighten Up & Fly Right” (Nat King Cole), “Hero” (Mariah Carey), “You Don’t Own Me” (Lesley Gore), “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” (Chicago). 

Sparkling in the spotlight

The Tin Man (Joe Slankard), formerly the human woodcutter-fiance of his also somewhat transformed bride-to-be Nimmie Amee (Em Darmsted) confronts her and her captor-turned-friend, the Wicked Witch of the East (Pandora Muetterties) in “East of Oz,” a new play by Fourth Wall Entertainment Troupe’s own Cyndie Klorer at the Metropolitan in San Andreas.
Tori James/Calaveras Enterprise

While Klorer really wanted to direct the play she had written, she said she was torn between doing it or finally taking her own stage at the Met for the first time in its six years with her at the helm. It is not surprising that in her daily role of watching over and keeping the operation humming merrily along from mostly behind the scenes that the role of Baum’s character Glinda the Good Witch spoke volumes to her; especially when the opportunity to step into the role of the sparkling diva comes with donning a getup of sweeping, billowing skirts, a star-topped magical staff and a luminous crown!

“The only time I’ve performed has been out of necessity as an understudy, so I really wanted to audition for the role of Glinda,” she admitted. She asked Beth Brant and Zie Harman, who directed “Alice’s Adventures Underground” last season, to take on directing duties.

“They happily agreed but told me in no uncertain terms that I would have to audition just like everybody else,” Klorer added. “It didn’t matter that I was the author or the owner; I was to be given no special treatment. Fortunately I got the part I wanted, for if not that certainly would have been humbling!” 

“East of Oz” includes many of the Met regulars. As Klorer noted, “The Cowardly Lion (Joe Urrutia), the Scarecrow (Sam Shelton), and Glinda (Cyndie Klorer) are there alongside Dorothy (Jillian Zahniser), who is a full-blown country girl from her gingham overalls to her southern twang.

A musical scene with cast members of Fourth Wall Entertainment Troupe’s “East of Oz,” playing through Nov. 17, 2024 at the Metropolitan in San Andreas.
Tori James/Calaveras Enterprise

“We get a deeper insight into the Tin Man (Joe Slankard) as his origin story unfolds before us. We are introduced to three new characters, Nimmie Amee (Em Darmsted), Ku-Klip (Stephen Daly) from Baum’s (“The Woodman of Oz”) story, and Margorie Ruggey, who I created based on the Wicked Witch of the East, and who happens to be played by my daughter Pandora Muetterties. 

“We have 20 people in our cast ranging from eight to 78 years old! I’d say the rating for the show is PG because the Wicked Witch of the East does not always watch her Ps and Qs, which is horrifying to poor Glinda!”

Besides the three new characters, the alternate-telling offers numerous twists to “The Wizard of Oz” tale, including friendly flying monkeys and crows and a number of intriguing and transformative relationship experiences. The cast is clearly having a ball, breaking out into the show’s jukebox of popular tuneage selections and reveling in a mostly breezy sense of camaraderie. The Enterprise notes there is one very much “old school” Brothers Grimm-like scene that simulates a scary (but bloodless) loss of multiple limbs as part of a curse by the bad witch.  

In time for the winter holidays, the Met’s next show is “Belles on Broadway,” another Klorer original work about three sisters who are regulars on a 1940s radio show trying to make it to Broadway.

Playing for several more performances through Nov. 17, showtimes for “East of Oz” are Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For more details about Fourth Wall Entertainment Troup or the Metropolitan, 59 Main St. in San Andreas, its shows and activities as well as ticket information, visit 4thwalltroupe.com