Opening night for the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of The Wizard of Oz is still five weeks away, but advance sales are already flashing like Judy Garland’s ruby slippers. CTC announced today that it was extending the run of this classic musical by one week. The Wizard of Oz is set to open just after Halloween on November 3, and will now close on January 10 after a 10-week run.

In a continuation of CTC’s push for racially diverse casting, this production stars Traci Allen Shannon as Dorothy alongside a mixed cast of CTC company members and guest stars. Allen Shannon previously starred in CTC’s 2013 holiday production of Cinderella as the titular maid; in this production, she locks basket and broomstick with Mary Fox (the Wicked Witch of the West).

• Read: Traci Allen Shannon on her experience playing Dorothy as an African American actress.

CTC last staged The Wizard of Oz in 2011.

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Basil Considine

Basil Considine is the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar.

Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all)

• REVIEW: The 2023 AOI Operas at the Kennedy Center (Washington National Opera) - January 23, 2023
• PREVIEW: Well-Behaved Women Coming To… (Theatre Elision) - January 10, 2023
• INTERVIEW: Matt Crowle on Embodying Thénardier in Les Misérables - December 2, 2022