Meadowdale H.S. graduation 2012
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Wizard of “Wicked” has Kenley Players past
The original Wizard of Oz may not have been able to find his way back to Kansas, but the man who plays the Wizard in the musical “Wicked” has found himself back in Dayton.
Don Amendolia made it a point early in the run at the Schuster Performing Arts Center to drive past Memorial Hall on First Street and sit outside for a while “to get back in touch with my past.”
Now 65, he cut his performing teeth as an apprentice with the Kenley Players in the same building more than 40 years ago. “I built props, painted sets and did whatever needed to be done,” he said.
Director John Kenley said they “would have to find a way to get me on stage. They did. I came through Dayton for several years.”
The Wizard in “Wicked” is a dictator of sorts, presiding over the dissolution of animal rights in Oz.
Amendolia doesn’t believe his character is really “a bad guy. He’s a guy who ended up in circumstances that caused him to behave a certain way,” he said.
“The people of Oz believed he was a messiah. He became seduced by being adulated in that way. He did his best to make them happy.”
Anyone in the any cast of “Wicked” can probably relate.
“I’ve been in hit shows. This is a phenomenon. It seems to resonate with virtually everyone,” Amendolia said.
“When people leap to their feet for you every single night, it’s like landing in a world where everyone thinks you are terrific.”
The Wizard sings an Act 1 solo called “A Sentimental Man” “that describes who he truly is,” Amendolia said.
“He’s a traveling snake oil salesman who always wanted to be a father and have a family.”
When he finds out at the end of the play that he’s actually Elphaba’s father, due to a one-night tryst, “it’s devastating for him. He has screwed up his life chasing a dream he already had.”
That revelation comes as he’s being deposed by Glinda as ruler of Oz.
What will become of him?
“I can’t think about that. I don’t imagine he will survive. I doubt he will find his way home. I would like to think he will fly into a rainbow somewhere.”
Amendolia, who grew up in southern New Jersey, has been able to go home again. After living in Los Angeles for many years while working in television and film, he moved back into the house he built with his father.
Dayton was only his fourth stop since joining the “Wicked” tour. It felt like home a little.
“Wicked”, which opened Feb. 17 in Dayton, will be presented again through Sunday, March 7, at the Schuster Performing Arts Center, Second and Main streets. More information is available at (937) 228-3630 or www.ticketcenterstage.com.
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