The Wizard of Oz

Esplanade Theatre, Singapore, November 2018
 
Director: Warren Baumgart
Set Designer: Susan Koh
Lighting Designer: Gabriel Chsn
Projection Designer: Aaron Yap
 
Produced by Ngee Ann Polytechnic 

Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s The Wizard of Oz follows the version staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987.

For a musical of this scale on a big stage with a limited budget, the aesthetics of the stage visual is heavily dependent on projection, partly to fulfill the various special effects as mentioned in the script (for example the tornado sequence and the scene where the wicked witch of the West writes “Surrender Dorothy” with the smoke from her broom), and partly to also fill up the big stage of Esplanade Theatre more effectively, using as little physical set pieces as possible unless absolutely needed, and leaving the rest to the projection.