My Adventures Over the Rainbow

I must have been 2 or 3 years old when I saw the Wizard of Oz for the first time and I can say without exaggeration that my life changed forever. I know I am one of millions of people who have such an affinity for this series and it’s characters, I just wanted to share my story.

I just was a little brunette girl who wore braids everyday, but I instantly saw myself on screen. Sure- I wasn’t an orphan, hell I had a pet cat, and lived in New York City, but none of it mattered. My imagination had been sparked, and I adopted a permanent skip in my step as I acted out every scene and tried to convince my cat to get into a basket, so I could fully accept my life as the real-life Dorothy, and make my way to Oz. At the time, I was probably aware of 5 existing places in the world, New York, Paris, India, Florida and Kansas (of course!). I used to live in fear of when I’d go to Kansas, because I was CONVINCED my clothes would lose all of their color forever since it was black and white there.

I must have seen the film hundreds of times, and my Mom would play a cassette for me every night that played “Over the Rainbow” which I found boring, and “If I Only Had a Brain” which was easily my favorite as I had always loved the Scarecrow. Naturally, when it came time for me to choose my first Halloween costume at the age of 3, I chose— the Wicked Witch of the West??

The forever pink girlie from day 1, obsessed with Dorothy,

was adamant about dressing up as the Witch.

I still don’t understand this decision, but my Grandma obliged my childish request, and made me a beautiful costume, complete with silver spiderwebs along my cape. My mom painted me green, and I ran around the halls of our NYC high rise screeching “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too,” much to the chagrin of everyone around me.

I think I realized the error of my ways, and by the time I was 5, I begged my Grandma to make me a Dorothy costume. My Grandma lived in Florida at the time, and she used to make costumes for all of my cousins. I think we were concerned that the costume wasn’t going to come in time, and my Mom bought me a Halloween store version that I despised. I remember having to wear that version to my school’s Halloween party and I was so salty— but then my Grandma’s beautifully made one came just in time for Trick-or-Treating. A Halloween Miracle :)

Over the years I continued to watch the movie and built so many family memories with it. I held onto the costume and wore it over and over until I outgrew it, and life kept moving on. Everything changed however, when I hit Middle School.

In 7th Grade, a friend of mine had just seen a new musical on Broadway called Wicked, which was a prequel story that centered around the Witches of Oz. She showed me one song, “Popular” that Glinda sang and basically told me “She’s you, you have to listen to this one!” I liked the song instantly, and begged my Mom to take me to the show, since we were gratefully very close to Broadway.

It took a whole year of convincing and planning, as well as a move further upstate, but 13-year-old Shauna could never have been prepared for what she saw next. Before the show even started, I remember there was a map of Oz on the stage curtain and I was already transfixed, studying each quadrant and seeing the areas that each Witch oversaw. Then came the show. I must have had stars in my eyes after hearing Eden Espinoza and Megan Hilty sing the roof off the Gershwin Theatre. I remember picking up on foreshadowing throughout the show and theorizing during intermission. I wanted to know so badly how Elphaba became the iconic Wicked Witch of the West. I studied every costume, and wanted more than anything to learn every song and be on that stage.

What followed, could only be described as a character shift for me under the guise of a full on obsession. I bought an I ♡ Oz shirt, that had the witches in the middle of the heart, and the soundtrack. I subjected my family to HOURS of playing that soundtrack over our home speakers. I paid specific attention to every single line Glinda sang in the show and perfected it. Every night that year, I put that CD in my purple discman and listened to it on repeat while I was sleeping. It only got worse when I eventually downloaded the entire soundtrack onto an iPod and listened to it on the bus on my way to school.

I was new in school that year, and I wasn’t particularly close to anyone in my new town. Rather than trying to blend in, I would spend all of my time listening to Wicked, and drawing anime characters dressed like Elphie and Glinda. It must have been really jarring for most people from my simple small town, to be approached by a particularly tiny 13-year-old who only wanted to obsessively talk about anime, Neopets and the Wicked Soundtrack. I remember none of my friends had seen it yet, and were quickly getting sick of me talking about it, so I spent a decent amount of time talking about it with anyone who would listen on deviantArt. Through much of my abrasive behavior, one of my new friends convinced me to join our school’s musical theatre production. I had never been on a stage before but after seeing Wicked and getting inspired, I knew I had to. I played a bit part in Annie, and had so much fun before the show ended. You could imagine my surprise when that same friend told me there would be a summer production and you’d never guess the show.

That’s right. That same year, after nursing a year long Wicked obsession, our community theatre was holding auditions for: The Wizard of Oz and I needed to play Glinda. Obviously this wasn’t the Wicked version, but I had seen the Wizard of Oz so many times I probably could have acted the whole show out in my sleep. More importantly because it’s me— I needed to wear that DRESS. I think something was lacking from my childhood decision to never wear Glinda’s dress for Halloween, because I was hellbent on playing this part. Plus everyone kind of already knew the producer’s daughter who was super talented, and a dead-ringer for Dorothy, was going to get the lead.

This was my chance. I showed up at that theatre with my I ♡ Oz shirt with my hair down to my butt, and I was ready to tell those Munchkins to come out wherever they were in the most graceful way I could. In this audition we all read for every character, so I remember reading for Dorothy and the Witch as well as Ms Glinda. At first I was scared I wasn’t going to get a part at all, but because I had remembered every line inflection from the movie, I realized I was easily the most qualified person in the room to be in this show.

At the very end however, we did singing auditions. They asked everyone who wanted to come forward for Dorothy to sing “Over the Rainbow,” for the group. One by one almost every girl went up singing their hearts out. I was both nervous, but also a bit stubborn because of my Glinda vision, so I initially held my ground and didn’t go up. As more people sang though, I couldn’t shake some of my most messed up thoughts. I was better than them, and I couldn’t stand still for one more moment without at least trying and giving it my best.

I took a deep breath, stood up from my seat, and planted myself on that stage with as much confidence as I could. The rest just kind of happened, after all I really was just singing some song I heard every night, once in a lullaby. I knew I killed it, but definitely tried to play it off like I was humble (probably horribly). My mom came in right when I started singing and got to hear the whole thing. I think it was the first time she’d ever really heard me sing like that, and she has such fond memories of that moment to this day. The producer of the show asked her nicely which kid was hers, and my mom said my name to which the woman responded with a very sour face.

I don’t think I had even made it home yet by the time the director of the show called with the news. My dad is notoriously bad for getting information wrong when people would call the house, so my mom and I frantically called her back. She had let me know that I had officially gotten the part of Dorothy, but only for the first half of the show as I was sharing it with the aforementioned producer’s daughter. At that moment, this was the biggest accomplishment I had made in my life, and my favorite part of the show was the first half anyway, so I was simply abuzz. I remember quickly highlighting my lines in pink and watching the movie a few times to refresh.

I know I was only 13, but that show became one of the most special and formative experiences for me. I made new friends from different schools right away, and we became so close as a cast, as it was many of our first times ever playing leading roles. Of course, I instantly had a crush on the boy who played the Scarecrow who went to another school. I remember having to balance being comfortable with him in scenes, with my nerves of being so into him in real life. It probably didn’t help that I loved the original scarecrow and had such a big crush on Wicked’s Fiyero. At the same time, since he didn’t go to my school, he didn’t know I was a weirdo so I got to put my best self forward. Even though I had gotten more comfortable with him over the summer and eventually became his friend; I remember sitting on opposite sides of a bench alone with him during tech week and being so nervous and tense. He kept inching in closer to me and I kept sliding further away. When he finally told me he liked me, I was so close to the edge I almost fell off. I remember the rest of the cast running past us right after, pretending they weren’t listening to our whole conversation which broke the tension. Despite that, clearly something I did had worked and totally tricked him into thinking I wasn’t a weirdo (jk he was a huge nerd too).

The more difficult part of this production was the costumes. Because of my status as a newcomer, and my split role, I tended to get shafted when it came to costumes. I was several inches shorter than the other actress, which made our clothes fit very differently. Rather than providing me with a costume, they handed me a bundle of fabric and basically told me to figure it out, while she was ordered an outfit for the production. Thankfully my Grandma was a seamstress who had the very specific experience of sewing that exact costume once before. Additionally, my shoe size was completely different from the other actress which usually isn’t an issue but in this case it was detrimental.

They ordered one stunning pair of Ruby Slippers in size 9. I was barely a 6, and I was gutted because no amount of wadded toilet paper would make those shoes fit me. In 2006, Amazon did not exist the way it does now, and typically Party City would only carry costumes en masse during Halloween. But it was July, the season for sandals and relaxing. I think my resourcefulness as an eventual cosplayer started in this very moment. My mom and I went to at least 10 different stores trying to find red pumps, or even white ones. At a certain point, just pumps. We dug through sandal, after wedge, after flip flop, until we found what we were gonna have to make work. A pair of black ballet flats with a wedge needed their Cinderella moment.

I remember spray painting those shoes in the backyard, then hitting them with spray adhesive to add glitter and sequins to them. After a few wears, up close they were an absolute mess, but from far away they were perfect. I think I did 6 shows in them and would carefully touch them up with a paintbrush every day. Clearly this experience didn’t dull my spirits as I took it upon myself to make individual poppy flowers by hand for the famous scene, and excitedly brought whatever small props I could from home to make the show a success.

It went better than I could have hoped honestly. Even if no one helped me with my hair, and my braids were falling out regularly on stage, probably with a trail of red glitter close behind me- none of it mattered. In my mind I had made it to Oz and had the time of my life that summer. I ended up doing shows with so many of those people throughout high school, and always felt such a close connection to them because of this show. I have no doubts in my mind that if it wasn’t Oz, it wouldn’t have been this special. I think it cemented both my love of performing and crafting, which I have continued to do in multiple ways. Even our director was such a wonderful person, and really had such a special place in her heart for us. She returned a few more times to direct, and I think that was a main reason for all of us coming back every year. She ultimately inspired me to choose the college I ended up going to.

As I got older, my obsession with Wicked and Oz may have waned, but never dissipated completely. I sang Popular for countless auditions and won parts with it as well. Concurrent with performing through school, I became a bit of a Broadway nerd with a special affinity for both Idina and Kristin. Over time, I was fortunate enough to see both of them live a few times, and even got to meet both of them!

It took me nearly 10 years but I finally found my Elphaba. Early in my friendship with my friend Heather, we bonded over Wicked and found our other halves in each other. We even lived together for nearly 5 years! Through our opposing color aesthetics and personalities, we seem to always fall right into these characters. One of my favorite inside jokes between the two of us relates to Wicked ;) We can’t seem to go a single Karaoke night without choosing at least one Wicked duet. I know for a fact, for the rest of my life, I will always tear up and think of our friendship when I hear the song “For Good.”

It’s only fitting that the movie comes out this week and we are taking things very seriously. My Elphaba and I be at opening night on Friday, in full Wicked regalia. Over the years I followed in my late Grandma’s footsteps and learned how to sew, I’ve even gotten pretty decent. For this premiere, I have gone far enough to make my own dress, marking my official first time EVER getting to dress up as Glinda (hopefully not the last). I couldn’t be more excited for this movie—I have so much hope and faith in this cast, and I can’t wait to see the spin they put on these beloved characters. I can tell they care so much about the characters, and everything I’ve seen and heard so far has been wonderful. I know I am gonna cry my eyes out, and I am ready.