It's so familiar, director Richard Hurst's production proceeds with the comfortable inevitability of a karaoke video, as the rebellious farmgirl Dorothy Gale (Chelsey Duplak) takes her leave of her Kansas home and ends up flying -- via tornado -- to the magical world of Oz, where she gains the enmity of the Wicked Witch of the West (Brenda Gorlick).

Well, you can't beat the classic material, but to fend off familiarity-bred contempt, the production does deviate here and there, particularly in a day-glo-enhanced "Jitterbug" musical number that precedes Dorothy's kidnapping by the witch's flying monkeys. It's also a pleasure to see the clever manner they devised for adults to play Munchkins alongside a chorus of cute, talented kids.