GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

FEBRUARY 5, 1999

Exepings 4

Lions and tigers and lesbian munchkins, oh my!

Couple is part of the group that welcomes Dorothy to Oz

by Doreen Cudnik

While talking recently to Wendy Watts and Mary Ruvolo, who spoke to me on two separate phones from their Minneapolis hotel room, it was often hard to tell which one was which. The two women sound amazingly alike. They break out into contagious laughter when they catch themselves answering a question with almost identical words, and, like many couples, they complete each other's sentences.

Watts, 32, and Ruvolo, 34, were in the Twin Cities with the touring company of The Wizard of Oz, which played to packed houses recently in Columbus and makes its way to Cleveland February 11 through 21, for an 18performance run at the newly restored Allen Theatre.

Both Ruvolo and Watts have roles as Munchkins in the stage adaptation of the 1939 classic, which stars Mickey Rooney as the wizard, Liliane Montevecchi as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Columbus native Jessica Grové in the role of Dorothy. "Mary," Watts says of her partner, "is one of the Munchkins who wears a big flower dress. When she hides from the witch, she hides in her flower."

"Wendy is a barrister Munchkin," Ruvolo adds. "She comes along with the mayor of Munchkinland and double-checks to make sure the witch is really dead."

Both women fill the height requirement for Munchkins. Ruvolo is the taller of the two at 49", while Watts measures 4'7". A release by the theatre announcing open auditions for walk-on roles as Munchkins called for "boys and girls 8 to 14 years of age, or little people... no taller than 4'10"

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"Our friends in the company call us the 'pocket dykes that came from New York,' they said with a laugh.

"When we met I was very honored to be a couple of inches taller," Ruvolo said. “At first I was like, 'Wait a second-she's a little shorter, she's going to take over my role,' but actually, I was glued to her side the moment I met her."

"We're both very comfortable being small," Watts added. "We're comfortable together, too... we're very natural together."

So natural that, after 31⁄2 years of dating,

the couple recently celebrated their commitment to each other with a December 7 ceremony in New York City. It was very special to them to be touring together in the same show, and to have celebrated their union with the rest of the Oz company, who, Watts said, considers them "kind of like a little package."

The show itself, the two women said, is a technical marvel. To pay homage to the film, the story comes to life on stage in black and white. When Dorothy's house lands in Munchkinland, however, the set becomes a kaleidoscope of color.

"It's a really nice transition," Watts said. "It's very clever to copy that part of the movie, because that's one of the magical parts of the film-going from that black and white canvas into that beautiful Munchkinland."

Prior to Dorothy's house landing in Oz, the set is done with a lot of grays and muted black and white colors. "It looks like the actual movie screen," Ruvolo said. "The only thing that might have color is obviously the faces and the hair, but the whole floor of the stage is painted gray, lighting is muted, costumes are done in black and white and grays."

"The audience goes through the tornado," Watts added, "then there's a big crack of thunder and a blackout, then all of a sudden you hear that 'Lullaby' music and the lights

come up and there's this amazing bright color. And Dorothy creeps out of the black and white house."

Ruvolo and Watts can't say enough about 16-year-old Jessica Grové (pronounced grow-vay). She returned to the role of Dorothy after starring in the 1997 production in the Theater at Madison Square Garden, with Roseanne as the Wicked Witch of the West.

"A 16-year-old going on 35," Watts marveled, "I'm just amazed at her sense of responsibility and professionalism."

Like the critics, who have consistently said that Grové aptly fills Judy Garland's legendary ruby slippers, both Ruvolo and Watts say she is a "great singer and a great actress."

"It's a very big technical show," Ruvolo said. “[Jessica] has to deal with flying and the house rolling underneath her, and the dogand in a show that big, there's bound to be some mistakes and miscues. But she's always right there. Whatever might happen, she never loses it. People from Ohio should be very proud of her."

Grové is currently an honor student at Hilliard Davidson High School in the Columbus suburb of Hilliard. She works with a tutor when she is on the road with the show.

The couple also has good things to say about two of the shows' other main stars, Mickey Rooney as the wizard, and Liliane Montevecchi as the witch audiences love to hate.

Cast to perform benefit

Cast members of The Wizard of Oz will perform a special benefit for the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, on Friday, February 19 at 10:00 p.m. in the Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square Center.

The "Other Side of the Rainbow" benefit will be a song-and-dance style cabaret produced "expressly for a Cleveland audience," organizers said.

"We are delighted with the Wizard of Oz cast's enthusiasm for this event, and the time and hard work they are investing to make this an outstanding night of entertainment," said AIDS Taskforce development director John M. Nolan. “This performance promises to be different from any we've had in past benefits, and we think audiences will be thrilled." Proceeds from the event will be split between the Taskforce and Broadway Cares, Nolan said, and will be used to provide educational programs and direct services to over 800 Taskforce clients.

In addition to the show, audience members will have the opportunity to bid on rare theater memorabilia in both live and silent auctions.

Tickets to "The Other Side of the Rainbow" are $50, $30 and $15, and available at the same locations as Wizard tickets.

"He's very professional," Ruvolo said of the 78-year-old Rooney, who made his debut in vaudeville at 18 months with his parents. "He never misses a show."

"It's amazing to watch someone his age be that dedicated," Watts added. "The cool thing is being on the stage side with him and seeing the audience react to him, because it's overwhelming. He completely charms them.”

Paris-born prima ballerina Montevecchi follows Roseanne and Eartha Kitt in the role of the Wicked Witch of the West.

"She's wonderful," Watts says of the actress and dancer. "She has fun playing the witch... she's not a dark evil witch, she has sort of an "inner giggle," like 'I've got you.' She's quite a lot of fun, and being a former dancer, she's very limber and stunning to watch.

Known amongst other members of the company as "the two who really make the road work," the couple says they are looking forward to visiting Cleveland and discovering what is unique about the city and its lesbian and gay community.

"In every city, you try to take the city for what it's known for and venture out and explore," Watts said. "We've really had some fun in some of the cities we've traveled through, trying to find the gay spots."

They expect that the gay and lesbian community will be well-represented in audiences during the Cleveland run, since the show is "one of those magical childhood favorites" that doesn't exclude anyone.

"There is a character in the show for every person," Watts said. "There is a gay man out there somewhere that just loves Glinda" the Good Witch.

"It's a land of misfit toys in the sense that there's a little bit of everything, Ruvolo added. "And there's no prejudice. There are little people, there are big, scary lions who are a little frightened, there are people who don't think they have brains but have a lot it has everything. And no matter who you are or how old you are, you look at the show and still find something to love about it.' ♡

Tickets for The Wizard of Oz are available at the Playhouse Square box office, from Advantix at 216-241-6000, or online at www.playhousesquare.com.