The latest premiere before the summer break of the Music Theatre in Sofia was a long-awaited title – the musical the Wizard of Oz by Harold Arlen, based on the book by Frank Baum. It is directed by Nina Naydenova, a professional with a clear vision of the message she wants to convey to the young audience. She admits she finds theatre for children the most difficult thing. It is a challenge to stage a work with so many interpretations, with a film version that both experts and viewers invariably place in the top 10 best films of all times. 

Nonetheless, Nina Naydenova has taken the plunge into the microcosm of the Wizard of Oz, bringing together the creative energy of her coworkers and the show is now a fact. “I hope that we shall show aesthetics and style that is suited to latter-day children living in a world of a myriad of visual temptations,” Nina says. “Baum himself says he wanted to create a modern tale in which children will feel happy. And I took that very personally – I myself have a son who is six and I don’t spend enough time with him because I hold several jobs. And I know there are many parents in that same position. I want to make up for lost time and what better way to do this than with… fairytales. There are things that cannot be said – they have to be shown. How to help children have courage, to communicate, how they should love, how they can always feel at home. The message took shape around Baum and his character Glinda, the good witch of the North.
She says: “Home is a place we all must find. It's not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.”

In the Music Theatre’s play the emblematic song Over the Rainbow is performed by Sandra Petrova, who plays Dorothy. She has graduated puppet acting at the Krustyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts and has experience on this stage – she has performed in three premieres. She also performs at the Puppet Theatre and sings with the rock band PSS. Her father is opera singer Nikolay Petrov, known for his roles at the Music Theatre and the Sofia Opera house. It is with him Sandra Petrova works on her vocal interpretation.

“To tell you the truth I have always wanted to play Dorothy ever since the time I started singing,” she says. “While I was rehearsing for the role I had all sorts of interesting moments and ups and downs. One of them was the director’s wish that Dorothy should not be naïve and small, but more like the teenagers of today. They know their mind so well… She wanted her to follow the road, not to her dream, but to her goal. And she attains it. The play is a fairytale, made to look like a 3 D movie. We have multimedia, magnificent costumes and stage set –every actor’s dream.”

The Wizard of Oz at the Sofia Music Theatre is truly beautiful. Romantic clouds are replaced by children’s drawings, by fields and poppies. There is multimedia and a tinted transparent set in front of the actors. Conductor of the play is Igor Bogdanov. Here is what he says about his work with Nina Naydenova describing her as a director who approaches the music gently, but boldly.

“She herself is a musician, so there is a sound bond with the staging of the work,” says Igor Bogdanov and describes the orchestra as sympho-jazz. This musical fantasy, as he calls it, has around 50 musical tricks.

The characters on the stage – Dorothy, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man all follow the road to the Wizard of Oz. Inside the theatre, a little boy sitting next to me asks: Are they real? Yes, what is real is the yearning for miracles, the dreams we all have of a good, beautiful and wonderful world. A world, in which the words: There is nothing so depressing as boundless optimism, can only be said by the Wicked Witch. “They will all go together,” the little boy whispers, his eyes wide open, because he believes the word “together” is magical.

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others,” – come the words from the actors on the stage.

The audio features the following recordings:

-  Over the Rainbow, Judy Garland from the 1929 movie sountrack;

-  If I only had a brain, Jackson Browne, Jewel, Ry Cooder, David Sanborn, in concert;

-  Over the rainbow, instrumental.

English Milena Daynova