Izzie, short for Isabella, is a 14-year-old girl who lives in Sedona, Arizona. She lives inside a small apartment located at the top of a big building built in 1943. Izzie only has the necessities: a kitchen, a bedroom, and a small bathroom. She grew up hearing from her parents, “No!” and, “You know I’m not made of money!” or “Go clean the kitchen!” Her parents both passed away before she reached the age of twelve. Since they died, Izzie has lived only with her two cats, Willie and Gilmore. As you can imagine, they are her best friends.
She has always dreamed of becoming famous, but she is filled with doubt about reaching her goal. One day, Izzie aspires to be on the cover of Vogue magazine, walk the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, and be featured in Broadway’s new musical.
Izzie attends Redwood Pines Public High School, as she can’t afford a private school. She is a normal 9th grader. She mostly has B’s in all her classes, but there are some A’s. Izzie hates going to school; she has no people to hang out with or even talk to. She struggles with bullies who love to pick on her and only her. This always gives Izzie even more doubt about reaching her goal of fame.
One day, she was on her way to school, listening to her favorite playlist, “Anything Rihanna”. She pauses at a street lamp one light away from her school and sees a poster in the distance. She crosses the street and reads the poster, “Redwood Pines High: Wizard of Oz auditions today!” Izzie's excitement goes through the roof, and butterflies fill her stomach. She knows she has to audition for Dorothy, her dream role. Once she made her way to school, she took a deep breath, opened the school's double doors, and entered the school.
Izzie ran straight to her locker. She frantically opened it and put her stuff inside as quickly as she could. When she was done, she ran to her favorite place in school, the library. On her way, she came across Ms. Buckery, the theater teacher at Redwood Pines.
“Oh, Ms. Buckery!” shouted Izzie.
“Yes, darling?” questioning Izzie like she was in a rush.
“Is it true auditions are being held today?”
“Of course, dear, auditions are held in the auditorium at three pm sharp, don’t be late!” said Ms. Buckery.
“Yes, I’ll be there!” Izzie exclaimed.
“You would make a magnificent Toto!”
“Toto?” Izzie said with a sorrowful voice.
Ms. Buckery walks away, Toto? Izzie thinks to herself Why? All my hard work and none of it pays off.
Izzie makes her way back to her first class to ask the teacher a question in office hours, but she is interrupted by, “Loser! Of course, you’ll get Toto! I already got Dorothy!” shouts Regina. She and her group walk away, filled with laughter. The bell rings, and it's time for class. Izzie rushes to her locker and grabs all her textbooks for the day. As the day goes by, Toto sticks in her head.
At three pm, the bell rings, and Izzie rushes to her locker. She throws her things into her locker and fixes the shelf that fell over night. After collecting her things, she runs to the auditorium and finds her seat. Ms. Buckery and the head of school are seated on the stage with audition papers on their desks. One by one, students go up and say their name, grade level, and the part they are auditioning for.
Once Izzie’s name is called, she makes her way out of her seat and goes up to the stage. “Hi, my name is Isabel Johnson, I am in 9th grade, and I’m auditioning for the part of
Dorothy.” The crowd of students gasps in doubt, and Ms. Buckery's face looks confused. Izzie moves on, she starts her audition, and she chooses to read the whole script. “In the land of Oz...” She thinks to herself I have to nail this audition, it’s my only chance... “Not long ago..” The audition process continues. She keeps singing her lines, “The Wicked O Wicked O Wicked O Witch is dead!!” “The Wicked Witch is dead!!!” She hits her high note perfectly. “It's Glinda!” “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” Izzie felt like Dorothy; this felt like an accomplishment to her due to all her hard work over the years; she felt like she was in Munchkinland! She felt like she had munchkins surrounding her; the way she acted put her into that feeling. After her audition, she gave her paper to Ms. Buckery. Ms. Buckery's facial expression looked different, she wasn’t shocked or annoyed, she looked pleased, like she already chose a role for Dorothy.
After Izzie’s wonderful audition, she sat back down in her chair and listened to the rest of the performers. Her doubt comes creeping back in; they’re right, maybe I am made to be Toto. Izzie feels upset for the rest of the rehearsal; I don’t deserve to be Dorothy, only Toto. Ms. Buckery stands up and announces, “Great work, dearies! Roles will be posted on the student portal by tomorrow.” Everyone stands up and leaves the auditorium gossiping about who will get the role of Dorothy. Meanwhile, Izzie puts in her cabled headphones and starts blasting her playlist “Anything Rihanna.”
Once she returns home, she's greeted by her cats, Willie and Gilmore. She gives them food and finishes any homework that's due tomorrow. She's about to microwave Kraft Mac and Cheese when a notification dings on her phone. She checks her phone. “Roles of Oz! Please
check rehearsal times for future dates!” Butterflies fill her stomach, and she opens it. Dorothy- Isabel Johnson. “Oh my goddess!” She shouts out loud. She knew she had proven everybody wrong. She jumps up and down until she is practically causing an earthquake, almost making her building fall. She calms herself and realizes she should probably get to bed. She gets settled and has an amazing sleep.
In the morning, Izzie feeds her cats and runs to school. She doesn’t even bother to eat breakfast; she just wants to get to school. After a long and full day, she runs to the auditorium for her first-ever rehearsal as Dorothy, not Toto. Everyone takes their seats, and rehearsal starts. In rehearsal, she learns her lines and light cues. She's not used to the bright lights so she needed some eye drops. She loves being on the stage! This is her new happy place.
Rehearsals last for over three weeks, and it eventually culminates in show day! Izzie is ecstatic. She goes to her dressing room, sets up her mic, and puts on her blue farmer gingham dress and red sparkly heels. The makeup artists add touch-ups, curl her hair, and she then makes her way backstage for the soundcheck. She takes a deep breath and enters the stage. She sings her opening song and runs off stage, ready to go on to her next song. That audience is huge, she thinks to herself. Maybe I.. No! I’m going to nail this performance. So she does, she does all her lines and songs perfectly due to her hard work in rehearsals, and does her part perfectly! “Toto, I don’t think we're in Kansas anymore.” After the show, she is greeted by a strange man.
“Young lady, you were so amazing, I would like to offer you a scholarship to my fine arts theater camp this upcoming summer.”
“Oh my goodness! Thank you!” said Izzie, “I will be sure to attend.”
Taxi horns blare in the distance, and the subway shakes the ground Izzie walks on. She approaches the backstage door and takes a deep breath. She enters the old brick building, built about the same time as her home in Sedona. She takes a deep breath, turns the doorknob, and, in disbelief, sees “Isabel Johnson” on the dressing room door. Izzie enters the dressing room, puts her things down, and plays Anything Rihanna. A man’s voice is heard over the loudspeaker: “Three minutes to showtime!” Izzie is playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz on Broadway in New York City. Her big dreams turned into a reality.
By