Bear River’s choir students followed a yellow brick road to a world of pure imagination during a very special rendition of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

On May 16th and 17th, Bear River’s Choir Program put on the annual production of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Every year, the performance has a different theme. This year showed the conglomeration of two beloved classic stories, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” titled “Twisted Wizard.”

The first act of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” consisted of performances of older songs as well as specialty acts, encompassing all forms of choir at Bear River. Fantastic signing came from all areas of the choir program.

As always, the speciality acts varied from night to night. Friday had Seniors Shelby Beghetti and Evan Waters performing “Thousand Highways” with Cal Wilson accompanying on acoustic guitar. Despite technical difficulties, the duo made the best of their performance and came out with cheers from the audience.

Saturday night attendees saw Junior Brendon Le performing the famous song Bohemian Rhapsody, both on vocals and guitar. One heartwarming specialty act stayed the same over the two nights however, was the performance of “I Love You” done by siblings Cal Wilson on piano and Cadyn Wilson on vocals.

The second act saw the beginning of this year’s story’s theme, twisting the two stories together beautifully. Accompanied by the hilarious narrator, played by Scout Pettitt, the show casted Dorothy and Charlie as friends and brought the duo to a sweeter version of Oz.

We followed Dorothy and Charlie on their way through Oz, seeing them meet all of the members of the kingdom of Oz. With special appearances of classic characters in both stories, specifically the Wicked Witch, Glinda the Witch, Mr. Salt, and Willy Wonka, it brought a whole different level of humor and fun to the show. The hilarious subplots of trying to make the Wicked Witch more likable and “popular,” or Toto getting encased in gobstoppers, kept with the amazingly bizarre theme.

The songs during the second act fit in perfectly into the theme. Starlite band made appearances in two songs, specifically “Ease on Down” and “Pinball Wizard.” Moreover, a few classic songs were blended together to align with the Oz-Wonka mashup, which gave the show a whole lot more humour.

The atmosphere of the show was a major part of what really brought the whole night together. Fantastical displays of lighting and loud upbeat melodies kept the show on par.

Overall, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” was a good way to spend the night. The story was eye- (and ear) catching, funny, and, overall, interesting. Bruins rocked the stage with their singing, and kept me, as an audience member, completely engrossed in the show. There were a few times when the singing quieted out or got mixed up, but it was recovered by the singers quite quickly and professionally. The technical issues were also very minimal, which kept me in the show even more. The singing was wonderful, and, overall, the show was superb.