Musical Oz

Crash! Sharpay looked around with fright. "Auntie Henrita, Uncle Em?" she called out. She couldn't hear anything at all, just the sound of the wind whistling through the broken windows. The fairly stupid blond haired diva pushed her way through the rubble, looking for her brother and friends. Gabriella climbed out of the ruined chair and helped Sharpay lift a table off Troy. They looked for Ryan but couldn't find him. They went outside and saw him standing on the porch, staring at the freakishly small doorways and houses.

"Who came first, the chicken or the egg?" Ryan asked them.

"Um, Ryan did you bump your head?" Gabriella asked, sounding concerned.

"No, I was just reading the sign," he replied.

There was indeed a sign with those words on it.

"Where are we? All I remember is, like, pink jelly…" Troy said confusedly.

"Yeah, me too!" said Gabriella. "I mean, I was taking some out of the fridge, and then there was a crash, and then we were here…" she trailed off.

Ryan shouted, "Look over here!"

He was pointing at some ruby red slipper clad feet sticking out from under the house.

"No, look over there!" Gabriella shouted. She was looking at the giant parade of very small people singing something that sounded like

"…..It's the start of something new….it feels so right to be here with you….now that the witch is dead….we know in our hearts…. That it's the start…"

"Freaky," said Troy.

One of the people came up to Ryan and kissed both of his feet.

"I'm not worthy to stand in your presence!" the miniature man shouted.

"Wait," Ryan said, "what's this about?"

Another midget shouted, "You have killed our evil dictating witch, and now all of Munchkinland is free!"

"We're not in New Mexico anymore," Sharpay said.

They heard a number of strange sounding pops and realized they were bubbles. They turned around and saw a relatively large bubble heading towards them. Then that bubble popped and standing there was a woman who looked like one of their teachers.

"Look, it's Darbus the Good Witch!" yelled a munchkin.

The four friends stared as they saw a middle-aged woman dressed in numerous shawls and holding what appeared to be a magic wand.

"Yes, it is good to see me, isn't it? Hello, foreigners!"

"Oh my God, that's Ms. Darbus, the drama teacher!" Ryan said, astonished.

"Yeah, Ryan, I think we've figured that out already," Sharpay said.

"Hello adolescents! You are in the land of Oz. I see you know my name already! My name is Darbus, and I am the Good Witch of the North. Let me explain this situation. The evil Wicked Witch of the East ruled over Munchkinland with an iron fist. Your flying house from nowhere landed on this evil tyrant. The citizens of Munchkinland are now free!"

"Wait- I thought witches were all evil and ugly," Sharpay said.

"Not the good ones! The kind witches are beautiful, like me!" Darbus exclaimed.

"Beautiful is the last word I would think of!" Troy said under his breath.

"Do you see those shoes?" Darbus said, "The Wicked Witch of the West wants these shoes for herself. Now- what you two girls need to do is each of you put on one shoe. Then, you must get to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz's palace in the Emerald City. Now, Gabriella and Sharpay, each of you put one one shoe."

"But if he's such a Wonderful Wizard, then lots of people will want to talk to him, too! How will he choose to send us home? How will we get to talk to him?" Troy said stupidly, but with a good point.

Darbus tapped her foot, thinking.

"Oh! I know what you can do! He's having a singing contest, Ozian Idol! The winning couple will get a free talk with the Wizard and a free service from him. The runner-ups get complimentary snow globes of the Emerald City. Well- oh!"

There was a deafening --BOOM-- as an extremely nasty-looking green hag popped into the air.

"I want my shoes, Darbus!" the person screamed.

"That, kids, is the Wicked Witch of the West. Sharpay, there is your evil, ugly witch," Darbus whispered.

"You're not answering my question, Darbus! WHERE ARE MY SHOES?" the witch screamed.

"The girls are wearing them." Darbus said.

"I will get those shoes, no matter how far I have to go. They're mine!!!" the witch said.

"Do not touch these children, hag! They are innocent!" Darbus shouted.

"If this shoe is going to get me killed, then I'm taking it off!" Sharpay said.

"Don't take it off, Sharpay!" Gabriella said reprovingly.

"Fine! I will have those shoes! Maybe not now, but I will have them!" The wicked witch said, and with another resounding --BOOM-- disappeared.

"I've never met anyone so shrill!" Ryan said, irritated.

"I'm sure she can be more than just shrill when she wants to, Ryan," said Gabriella in a hushed tone.

"Okay! Now then - let's continue," Darbus said rather too cheerily in light of the occasion, "Now that you have your slippers on, girls, why don't you start skipping merrily down this road of yellow brick singing the song of your choice?

The four friends took Darbus's advice and started down the yellow brick road singing, "It's hard to believe… that I couldn't see… that you were always right beside me… cause I was alone… with no one to hold… and you were always right beside me… this feeling's like no other… I want you to know…I've never had someone who loves me like you do… the way you do!"

This happy singing continued until the four saw a very strange, sleeping thing on a stake in the middle of the road alongside the cornfields.

"Look!! It's a scarecrow!! And it has an afro, too!" Sharpay exclaimed.

"…yawn… Oh, hi!!! I didn't realize you were here! I'm Chad, the talking scarecrow of Oz, and I love to play basketball," the scarecrow said cheerily.

"NO WAY!!!! I love basketball, too! Do you play defense or offense?" Troy excitedly said.

"I really don't know, I actually don't have a brain. I don't get my head in the game! By the way, I, along with two others you will meet along the way, am judging your vocal competition," Chad said.

"Really? I'm sure you'll let my brother and me win, then, right?" Sharpay said.

"Sorry, wrong. Considering my lack of a brain, I need my two companions to help me judge." Chad said, looking remorseful.

"You know, what I always do to make me feel smarter is sing what you could call our basketball team's theme song," Troy said, "Now if I only had a basketball…Oh well! We'll just pretend we have one in our hands. Okay, follow me and sing along…"

"Oh no, not this song!!!" Gabriella mumbled