Date: August, 2014
Venue: Town & Country Resort, San Diego California
Collaborators: Chrissy Burns (Director), Joseph Grienenberger (Music Director), Jennifer Solomon-Rubio (Choreographer), Eric Shanower & Davi Maxin (Scenery and Costumes)
My Role: Lighting Designer
Description:
In 2013, I had the good fortune to meet Eric Shanower and David Maxine. Eric is a best-selling writer and artist. David, among many other accomplishments, is grammy nominated producer of Vintage Recordings from the 1903 Broadway Musical The Wizard of Oz from Hungry Tiger Press. These gentlemen had a dream of restoring and re-staging L. Frank Baum’s operetta “Tik Tok Man of Oz” in San Diego in August of 2014 (to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the close of the original production.) With promises of minimal time in the theatre, minimal space for equipment, and minimal resources to put it on, they invited me on their journey — and I eagerly said “Yes!” David and Eric tracked down most of the music from the original production, and many existing fragments of script. Eric assembled the fragments into a workable script. David and Eric created the costumes. Joseph Grienberger took the surviving music and orchestrated for the small orchestra. He also created a dance music to fill in for the missing “Storm at Sea” Dance based on music by the original composer, Louis F. Gottshalk. San Diego stalwart, Chrissy Burns directed and Jennifer Solomon-Rubio choreographed. The one and only performance sold out months in advance as part of the 50th anniversary of “Winkie Con,” a convention of Baum and Oz enthusiasts meeting on the west coast of the United States. With the very tight schedule, I not only designed the lighting, but ran the light board. I am indebted to Atticus Gannaway and Peter Hanff for allowing me to use their fabulous pictures of the once-in-a-lifetime event for my portfolio.