HCCC to perform at Logan High School this weekend only

Today and tomorrow, the Hocking County Children’s Chorus will be welcoming residents of Hocking County to join them as Dorothy and her friends Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion travel the yellow brick road to find adventure.

The HCCC has was established in 1980 and has provided the children of the community opportunities to explore and develop their own talents in music, performance, and theater. HCC, which is an agency of United Way, is open to all children of Hocking County grades two through eight.

The current play concludes the first season with the choir for its new director, Therese Karnes.

This year, there are 32 choristers in the group. They have performed at the United Way opening dinner, a Christmas Concert, and at the Festival of Trees in December.

In March, they also represented Hocking County in Athens, performing at the Southeastern Ohio Children’s Music Festival.

According to Karnes, the choice to perform Wizard of Oz was an easy one because the young chorus, comprised mostly of second, third, and fourth graders, were perfect for munchkins. This year is also the 60th anniversary of the broadcast television premier on CBS.

The movie, which is based on the 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by Frank L. Baum, originally premiered in 1939 with Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale.

Karnes shared that this has been an especially fun run for several members of the production team as many of their own children had roles in the play when the chorus performed Oz in 1999. Karnes herself played Dorothy in the her high school production at Lancaster Fisher Catholic in 1979.

Though originally scheduled to be held in the Logan-Hocking Middle School theater, the play was relocated to the Logan High School theater due to issues with the Middle School lighting board.

The LHS prom is also scheduled to be held on Saturday, and so play traffic is encouraged to use the first entrance to the school, which is generally used for the theater.

The main cast is as follows: Madison McGhee, Dorothy; Shane Blevins, Toto; Peyton Wallace, Scarecrow; Lauren Begley, Tin Man; Alexandra Neville, Lion; Jerah McVey, Glinda the Good Witch; Bailey Lape, Wicked Witch; and Gavyn Monk as the Wizard of Oz.

The Saturday performance is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the Sunday performance is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.