VALDOSTA – Producing “The Wizard of Oz” faces new challenges in a “Wicked” world.

Peach State Summer Theatre opens “The Wizard of Oz” this weekend, as the last of its three musicals this season. “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” and “Little Shop of Horrors” opened in recent weeks. All three shows will now run in rotating repertory through July 19.

Staging a live production of “The Wizard of Oz” has always been challenging for theatre troupes.

There are direct comparisons to the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, a movie which generations grew up watching as an annual event on television. The stage show is directly based on the movie script and songs.

The show must meet numerous technical requirements and expectations: populations of colorful costumes, worlds of sets, magic, tornados, flying monkeys, flying houses, yellow brick roads, an Emerald City, Munchkins, talking trees, lions and tigers and bears … oh, my.

And now, “Wicked.”

“Wicked” has been a popular book and stage musical for several years but the movie musical released last year with its much anticipated sequel later this year has created a whole new set of expectations for “Oz.” In “Wicked,” the witch not only has a name – Elphaba – but is the hero of the story.

Timothy Letheic Goins, “Oz” director, said “Wicked” has changed the way audiences view the “Oz” story. Viewers shouldn’t expect the Wicked Witch of the West to have a name in “The Wizard of Oz,” he said, but don’t expect an exact replica of the witch from the “Oz” movie either.

“Margaret Hamilton made a choice to portray her as a darker character,” Goins said, referring to the actress who frightened generations of children playing the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 “Wizard of Oz.” “But we play her more as a campy character.”

Jenna Najjar plays the Wicked Witch; she also plays Patsy Cline in “A Closer Walk …”

“We pay homage to ‘Wicked’ with our show but we remain true to the original story,” Goins said.

Sarah Wildes Arnett, show choreographer, said PSST!’s “Oz” draws from multiple influences: “The Wizard of Oz” movie, “Wicked” and “The Wiz” from the 1970s.

“We worked hard to make the show meet audience expectations while making it fresh,” she said.

Both Arnett and Goins mention how the stage version includes things that were part of the original “Oz” movie script that were cut from the finished movie.

“Jitterbug” is a jazzy number – a rough cut from the movie is available on YouTube – that didn’t make the movie, Goins said, but South Georgia audiences will see and hear it with PSST!’s stage show.

In the PSST! show, “Jitterbug” appears to be a spotlight number for the Wicked Witch of the West and company. In the rough footage of the scene cut from the movie, “Jitterbug” was a number featuring Dorothy.

Aubrey Anderson plays PSST!’s Dorothy. For her, playing Dorothy is a dream come true … again. She played Dorothy in a past production with another theatre troupe. She also plays Ronnette in “Little Shop.”

Dorothy’s compatriots – the Scarecrow, the Tinman, the Cowardly Lion and even the Wizard – are also played by key actors from “Little Shop.” Andrew Rowell who plays the Scarecrow plays Seymour in “Little Shop.” Trey Harrell plays the Cowardly Lion and is the voice of Audrey II in “Little Shop.” Ian Anderson who plays the Wizard is Mr. Mushnik in “Little Shop.” And Johnny Flannagan plays the Tinman in “Oz” and plays the sadistic dentist and a small cast of other characters in “Little Shop.”

In “Little Shop,” Flannagan has one scene where he seems to be going through a revolving door of costume changes. In “Oz,” he is decked in the clunky costume of the Tinman. He can dance in the Tinman suit, stepping through a few moves during a photo shoot. In between photos, waiting for the start of rehearsal, he awkwardly sat in one of the chairs in Sawyer Theatre.

“It’s not too bad,” Flannagan said of the costume and makeup, “as long as I’m moving or standing. Sitting is a little difficult.”

Come curtain call, sitting may be difficult for audiences at the end of “Oz.” The Yellow Brick Road looks ready to lead to standing ovations.

THE CAST: Aubrey Anderson, Abigail Franks, Olivia Scott, Wes Genard, Trey Harrell, Johnny Flannagan, Andrew Rowell, Jenna Najjar, Ian Anderson, Mattis Ahlgrimm, Ivy Andersen, Tiah Loren Carthers, Daxton Chapell, Logan Cook, David Cooper, Elinor Fenimore, Cara Fralick, Avery Gallahar, Suzannah Gaston, Dorothy Gatchell, Emily Hernandez-Barnard, A’zaria Hillman, Lucy Lott, Erin Rose Pempel, Jeronimo Rico, Emmerson Rados, Kamari Samuels, Alexandria Walker, Bridget Walsh, Ady Williamson.

DIRECTION/PRODUCTION: Timothy Letheic Goins, director; Sarah Wildes Arnett, choreographer; David Springfield, musical director; Cortelina Encalada, production manager; Alex Battenfield, stage manager; Ethan Ray Parker & Maila Gutierrez Springfield, vocal coaches; Piper Dearing, technical director; Zach Cramer, sound designer; Erica Felice, hair designer; Abigail Franks, makeup designer; Jason Lee Courson, scenic & projection designer; John Hemphill Jr., lighting designer; C.J. Kelly, costume designer.

Peach State Summer Theatre’s “The Wizard of Oz” opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 27, and 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Sawyer Theatre, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood, and plays in rotating repertory with “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” and “Little Shop of Horrors,” through July 19. For example, the two other shows also have performances scheduled this weekend: “Little Shop,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28; “A Closer Walk,” 3 p.m. Sunday, June 29. Reservations, more information: Visit www.valdosta.edu/psst or the in-person box office, open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon-2 p.m. Sundays, VSU Fine Arts Building. The in-person box office opens one hour before announced start times for walk-up sales in the VSU Fine Arts Building.