One of the tickets sold for the April 29, 1983, show of the Wizard of Oz at Beaver Dam Elementary. (Ticket courtesy of Sam Alford)
***UPDATE*** Today, June 29, is Ms. Phyllis Odle’s birthday. In honor of her birthday, we’ve unlocked the story below, as well as our story on her and all the Beaver Dam Elementary musicals, for all to enjoy. If you’d like to wish her a happy birthday, you can find her on Facebook. I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.
By Lee Bratcher / OC Monitor
(If you enjoyed our first story on Phyllis Odle and her wonderful musical productions at Beaver Dam Elementary, this is the second part, which features, perhaps, her biggest triumph, the 1983 production of The Wizard of Oz. This story looks back into the details of the production. Be sure to read until the end for a small Christmas gift.)
BEAVER DAM, Ky. — As you probably know by now, Phyllis Odle was a genius at planning out huge productions at Beaver Dam Elementary, but one specific program stands out above the rest, The Wizard of Oz.
It stands out not just for the performances, the costumes and the set pieces, but for the sheer size of the production. One end of the Beaver Dam Elementary gym was Kansas and Dorothy’s farmhouse, while the opposite end was Oz and Emerald City. And it just plain worked perfectly.
Odle thought about choosing The Wizard of Oz as a Beaver Dam program years before the parts were cast and the set was built. On nights she couldn’t sleep, she’d plan out the production. Odle spent around three years planning out the production before she officially decided to go for it.
The three years of planning had little to do with whether or not the children could pull it off. In fact, Odle chose The Wizard of Oz because she felt most of the students were already familiar with the material because the movie had been on TV many times.
After she figured out how to put the show together, she began casting parts.
“(The Wizard of Oz) had so many scenes in it, but everybody already knew every scene because they had seen it so many times on TV,” Odle said. “That made it a lot easier for the kids to know and feel just like they were professional stars. I really believe almost all of them were so familiar (with The Wizard of Oz), they almost felt like they were the real characters they were acting out.”
Because of the students’ familiarity with the movie and the way they inhabited their parts, to Odle, the performances in Beaver Dam’s Wizard of Oz seemed “more real” to her than scenes in many professional productions. When the children were cast and began learning their parts, Odle believes the characters “almost became real to them.”
The main parts were cast not only by the student’s ability, but also the willingness of the parents to build props and create costumes for their child’s part.
“I thought the leading characters were just perfect, again, because the knew the story so well,” Odle said. “Their parents made sure all of them had wonderful costumes.”
The main cast was made up of Tracy Crume as Toto, Karen Miller as the Scarecrow, Blake Davenport as the Tin Man, Eric Taylor as the Cowardly Lion, Cristy Gray as Auntie Em, Brandon Fields as Uncle Henry, Lori Drone as Miss Gulch, Stephanie Iglehart as the Wicked Witch of the West, Marcie Chapman as Glenda the Good Witch, Steven Finch as the Doorkeeper and Scott Montgomery as the Wizard. Dorothy was portrayed by twin sisters, Jackie and Jennifer Weill.
The front and back pages of the playbill for the Wizard of Oz. (Playbill courtesy of Sam Alford)
The second and third pages of the playbill for the Wizard of Oz. (Playbill courtesy of Sam Alford)
One would imagine Odle and others had a hard time, not only keeping the children in line for the performances, but also teaching the students their parts in the production. Odle doesn’t remember any problems with the students during the Wizard of Oz rehearsals or performances.
“I know it has been over 30 years ago, and I could have forgotten some things, maybe, but I really cannot remember (the students behavior) being a problem,” Odle said. “I may be wrong, but I think all of them loved the programs, and would not have wanted to be taken out of them. I think they were so proud to be a part of it, at least most of them did their very best, even during the practices.”
A breakdown of the cast consisted of kindergarten boys as corn stalks with kindergarten girls as a field of poppies and the boys as crazy cornstalks. First and second-graders were Munchkins and the Lullaby Ladies. Second graders were also flying monkeys. The third-graders made up the cyclone with third grade boys as the lively lightning and third grade girls as the wild wind. Fourth graders were the gloomy guards or prisoners of the Wicked Witch’s castle. Fifth and sixth-graders were the furious fruit trees and the citizens of Emerald City. Students of all grades played other small parts as well.
While Odle loved all the children and thought they did a wonderful job, one cast of characters really stood out to her, as well as many others.
“I thought the little munchkins were so cute! They were very sincere about their parts, as (all students were),” Odle said. “Of course, 5 year-olds are automatically cute and sweet whatever they do, aren’t they?”
Adding to the “realness” of the production was the creation of elaborate and beautiful props. Volunteers chipped in to build the massive sets, such as a giant house, which was carried up into the sky by a twister during the production.
Flying monkey costumes were made by the Ohio County Home Economics class, while other props were made by students as a class art project. Special effects were created with fire extinguishers and flashing lights.
Sam Alford, left, and his brother, David, dressed in the flying monkeys costumes for the 1983 Wizard of Oz production at Beaver Dam Elementary. (Photo courtesy of Sam Alford)
“I thought the props were all so great for an elementary program, but by then all the props got to be very impressive,” Odle said. “I thought the rainbow was one of the best props of all, and we could thank the teachers and parents for all those hours that were spent getting the props and costumes ready.”
Leading up to the production, students were tasked with bringing empty egg cartons to school for two major set pieces. One of those was the large rainbow, Odle spoke of, which was made of over 500 pastel egg cartons. The other major set piece was a “yellow brick road” made out of over 1,000 yellow egg cartons.
“The kids loved the ‘Yellow Brick Road.’ They all helped out by bringing all their yellow egg cartons,” Odle said. “After all these years, I still think of that when I throw an empty egg carton away.”
As much as the students were the main characters in the production, the teachers provided many hours of help to Odle. Hours they didn’t have to give and hours for which they received no payment. Odle hasn’t forgotten those who gave of their time and she hopes they know she appreciated every one of them.
“I probably haven’t given the teachers enough credit. They were so much help in so many ways,” Odle said. “Most of them could not have been better and I think most of the enjoyed being a part of it. I appreciated their help so much. I will always be grateful to them.”
Looking back on all the musical programs Odle brought to life in the Beaver Dam Elementary gym, one thing sticks out in her mind which she cherishes to this day.
“One of the very best things about the musicals were showing the talents some of (the children) had, in spite of the fact they might not have had a lot of money or a big fancy house or expensive clothes, but they had talent and love for these musicals. When they were performing, they were as rich and popular as anyone else in the programs,” Odle said. “I do believe they gained a lot of good feelings about themselves and I hope they still remember how good it made them feel to know (they made) our programs successes.”
Even though there were a few down times during those years at Beaver Dam Elementary, including several instances in which the stress of the production landed Odle in the hospital, she is thankful and appreciative of her time there.
“I thank God that He led me to Ohio County and put me with such great people and children that loved music so much. I will never forget those many years, especially our musicals,” Odle said. “I wish we could go back and do the programs all over again. We all know that can’t happen, but we can remember it again, after all this time, and we can feel very good.”
As Odle said, we can think back to those musical productions and feel good. And because of her help, the Ohio County Monitor got its hands on a VHS copy of the Beaver Dam Elementary’s production of The Wizard of Oz. The VHS tape has been digitized and has been placed on the Ohio County Monitor YouTube page.
Please be aware, the video came from a 34 year-old tape. The footage is grainy, but we believe it’s good enough to bring back some good feelings and memories.
We hope you enjoy this small Christmas present from Ms. Odle and the Ohio County Monitor. Merry Christmas to all our readers!
