Wicked: For Good wasn’t the only appearance the Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz recently made in the theatres. Midlothian Theatre brought the yellow brick road to our home stage on November 20th, 21st, and 22nd. The cast featured sophomore Liliana Geraci as Dorothy, which was her first leading role as an actress.
“Our community has always been wonderful and to have been blessed with this opportunity was another dynamic I got to be a part of, in relation to being a lead, because being such a role model to others is such an interesting experience in and of itself,” Geraci said. “It was a lot of pressure, in terms of memorization and being on stage the whole time, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world, and it ended up awesome.”
Geraci follows her journey to the Emerald City with Jackson Ward (12) as the Scarecrow, Alexander Winslow (10) as the Cowardly Lion, and Huntley Flournoy (11) as the Tin Man. For Ward, the Scarecrow was the role he initially auditioned for, after taking heart to the character’s goofy nature.
“The Scarecrow is such a fun and wacky character and I love playing those characters,” Ward said. “You just get to jump around the stage and move the whole time, so I thought it was a perfect fit for me.”
Flournoy played the role of the Tin Man, but unlike Ward, the role was not planned.
“Initially, I didn’t really know what role I wanted to be. I kind of just thought, ‘well, it would be nice to get into this play,’” Flournoy said. “Then I was like, ‘maybe I’ll just try out for the [Cowardly] Lion,’ and then she called me back for the Tin Man and I was like, ‘wait a minute, I kind of see it now.’ I’m glad I got this role.”
Right before reaching Oz, they interact with one more character, Winslow, as the Cowardly Lion.
“I like how he acts during scenes,” Winslow said. “[When I got this role], I was so ecstatic. I was jumping for joy because this is my first lead at Midlo, and I was so happy about it.”
On the Sunday after the show closed, Midlothian Theatre took a trip to see Wicked: For Good in theaters as a celebration of their performance.
“It was super fun to have the hype for Wicked around the same time we were working on the show,” Geraci said. “It was such great timing in terms of all of the promotion going around; it definitely drew some people to go see both that same weekend.”
