Youth arts groups to stage ‘Wizard of Oz’

The Appalachian Children’s Chorus, the West Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra and the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble will present “The Wizard of Oz” on Feb. 8 at the Clay Center in Charleston. This photograph was taken during a group performance of “A Winter World of Imagination.” Courtesy photo by Michael W. Keller

By: Clint Thomas, Metro staff | Posted: Jan. 5, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail Kanawha Metro

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble, the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and the West Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra will escort audiences to the merry old land of Oz — by way of the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences in Charleston.

The three local youth groups will collaborate on two stage performances of “The Wizard of Oz” next month. A school performance will also be offered on the morning of Feb. 8.

The youth groups will present their own take on the fanciful tale of Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale’s adventures in the Land of Oz based on the classic L. Frank Baum stories.

“We’ve come up with a shortened version of it, with an original kind of twist,” River City Youth Ballet Ensemble Artistic Director Michelle Raider said last week.

Michelle Raider of Elkview is the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble Artistic Director.

Raider said “The Wizard of Oz” was presented on stage by the Kanawha City-based River City Youth Ballet Ensemble and the West Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra, along with Child Song, in 2006.

For this year’s production, “the Youth Symphony and ACC will be singing some of the stuff they’ve been performing last year. Basically, I sit down and come up with a storyline based on the music,” the Elkview resident explained. “We get together and put it all together.

“It’s pretty cool. We have close to 150 performers in it,” Raider said.

“The ballet kind of tells the story,” she said. “Some pieces will use the Appalachian Children’s Chorus singing, some pieces will have the Youth Symphony playing and some pieces will feature both of them together.

“Each group is working on their sections. We’ll get together for one combined rehearsal before we move into the theater, and we’ll have a dress rehearsal the evening before at the theater,” Raider said.

Thirty-five members of the Appalachian Children’s Chorus will participate in “The Wizard of Oz,” said Selina Midkiff, founder and artistic director of the ACC.

Selina Midkiff is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Appalachian Children’s Chorus.

“It’s such a neat opportunity for the community, particularly to bring their children to see all these groups in one venue at one time,” Midkiff said. “When they see them performing, maybe a kid will say they want to do that, too.”

Midkiff said the ACC consists of students in grades five through 12 from a five-county area.

“The Wizard of Oz” will mark another stage collaboration of the trio of arts groups. Other productions the RCYBE, ACC and WVYSO have staged together include “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “A Winter World of Imagination.”

“The River City Youth Ballet Ensemble, the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and the West Virginia Youth Symphony have successfully joined forces for 12 performances over the past 12 years — and maybe more — to stage a collaborative ballet performance for the mutual benefit of our young dancers, singers and musicians,” West Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra General Manager Marjorie Cooke said in a email. “We each represent the Official Youth Ballet, Chorus and Youth Symphony in the state of West Virginia, as designated by the West Virginia Legislature.

Marjorie Cooke is the West Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra General Manager.

“We are each proud of our organization’s individual accomplishments, as well as this unique collaboration designed to let young emerging artists perform with other young emerging artists for young people and adult audience members alike,” Cooke said. “Artistically, we hope to expose young people to a beautiful, live performance including children performing in three disciplines – choral singing, ballet dancing and orchestral classical music playing. We hope to inspire other young artists, as well as increase audiences of tomorrow with a collaboration with approximately 150 RCYBE, ACC and WVYS students on stage and in the pit.

“A fairy tale theme will weave the performance together and garner excitement among the school children and young families,” Cooke added.

The West Virginia Youth Symphony is made up of more than 125 student musicians from 10 counties throughout the Mountain State.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance of “The Wizard of Oz” can be purchased through the Clay Center box office. Tickets cost $13.50 each for adults and children.

Tickets and additional information about the morning school performance are available at the River City Youth Ballet Ensemble website, www.rcyb.org, or by calling the RCYBE offices at 304-925-DANC (3262).