BUCHANAN — Four out of five lead cast members of Tin Shop Theatre’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” recommend seeing the musical July 28 and 31 and Aug. 2, 3 and 4. The fifth lead was too wicked to share her thoughts.

Hayden Bauer, the 10th-grader who plays the Wicked Witch of the West, was actually putting on her green makeup when the recommendations were made by her castmates, but she is enthusiastic about the production like they are.

“We have members as young as five in the cast,” said 12th-grader Nora Kaltenbach, who plays protagonist Dorothy Gale. “There’s obviously different levels of ability, and for some people, it’s their first show, but I think everybody’s doing really amazing.”

Director Kelly Carlin thought the cast has done well, too. For the past six weeks, children 5 to 18 have come to rehearsals to practice acting, singing and dancing for the July and August performances at the community theater in Buchanan.

“It’s been a great adventure,” she said. “I’m really excited to be able to put this on. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.”

The 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” is widely regarded as one of the most recognizable films in history. Its musical adaption follows its plotline.

Both center on Dorothy Gale, who wakes up in the Land of Oz after a tornado hits her Kansas home. Befriending Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, she follows a yellow brick road through Oz in hopes of finding her way back home.

Carlin said that some directors will choose to do a “junior” version of a musical when working with many younger cast members. A junior musical is usually shorter and simpler.

The director had not directed a junior musical while leading her previous Tin Shop productions, and “The Wizard of Oz” is no exception.

The full-length musical comes with many whimsical scene changes, costumes and intricate dance routines, she said.

The scene change from Kansas to Oz was unanimously the favorite part of the musical of the leads.

Characters start out in greyscale while in Kansas, but once the tornado hits and sends Dorothy to Oz, everyone and everything becomes colorful.

The color change mimics the 1939 film’s change from black-and-white film to technicolor.

Extravagant scene changes and a full-length musical can be difficult for any cast, but Carlin said veteran performers helped her teach those younger and less experienced.

Not only did they help with choreography, singing and acting, the veteran performers also helped others put on makeup and costumes.

It was not Rylan Baker’s first time on stage, but it was his first time in a lead role with leadership expectations. The 11-grader plays Scarecrow and his Kansian counterpart, Zeke.

“You mostly have to worry about everything around you because you want everything to succeed,” he said. “You’re a lead role.”

Kaltenbach had a different kind of pressure on her.

“Obviously, you want to make the character your own, but, also, Judy Garland was Dorothy, and you want to try to do her justice.”

Her characters’ companions, Cowardly Lion and Zeke, are played by Joshua Malstrom, an eighth-grade student.

Malstrom said he felt the cast was prepared, but they were all collectively “a little nervous.”

“We have to do all the things in our head at once and go full-fledged,” he said.

Carlin, however, shared positive remarks about each lead. Watching people transition from novices to confident, enthusiastic actors is her favorite part of the job, she said.

She has seen Baker, Bauer, Kaltenbach, Malstrom and ninth-grader Landon Mitchell — who plays Tin Man and Hickory — all grow into the actors they are now.

She noted that both Bauer and Kaltenbach had been performing at Tin Shop since their ages were in the single digits.

Carlin found Baker’s growth to be “amazing.”

“To see him from [the start] and him progress, it was awesome,” she said.

Like his director, Baker recognized his own progress, and also like his director, said one of his favorite parts of being in productions is seeing others grow.

“I wouldn’t think they’d be like that, and then they come out of their shells,” he said of some of his castmates’ nervousness. “I was very shy to be a Scarecrow, but now I’m going with it.”

Tickets for “The Wizard of Oz” are $13 for adults, $11 for seniors and students with an ID and $6 for children under 12.

The July 31 and Aug. 2 and 3 performances start at 7:30 p.m. The July 28 and Aug. 4 performances start at 4 p.m.