Here’s all you need to know about "The Wizard of Oz" that opened over the weekend at Skylight Theatre.

After two and a half hours, Dorothy picked up a pail filled with sparkling paper and threw it onto the Wicked Witch of the West, who melted away, sank into the ground and disappeared.

Molly Flynn Smoko, my 6-year-old granddaughter applauded. So did a majority of the adults in the theater. They clapped, even though I’d be willing to bet that each and every one of them knew this moment was coming. Still, they clapped.

The story of the little girl from Kansas who, with her faithful companion Toto, swirls into a world filled with wonder is an old story. Who hasn’t seen this movie? Still, everything was there, and nothing was scrapped from the story. We had the tornado and the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. We had the Wizard and the munchkins and the songs.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a wonderful song when you hear it on the radio or see someone sing it at a concert. But when this little girl sings it in the context of her life pre-tornado, full of hope, promise and determination to soar like an eagle, the song gives you chills.

Part of the wonder of this production rested in the hands of a woman who may well be one of the most creative and imaginative women working in Milwaukee theater, Pam Kriger.

Kriger is a director and choreographer and took care of the dancing in this show. It was some of the most unexpected and smile-inducing dancing I’ve ever seen.

A major issue for "The Wizard of Oz" on stage is how do you portray the munchkins without hiring dozens of real little people. There have been any number of solutions but nothing like you will see in this production.

Kriger, along with costume designer Kristy Leigh Hall, put the munchkins on rolling stools, clad them in tent-like costumes and let them roll around the floor, dancing and singing. It’s a moment of theatrical magic that exemplifies the brilliance Kriger brings to any show.

The dance in the second act with a dozen tap dancers moving across the stage with the sound of caps firing in a kid’s pistol brought the entire audience to the edge of their seats, and you could see heads bopping all over the theater.

The movie – with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley – is an iconic memory that is impossible to equal on a live stage. The miracles of cinematic trickery are impossible to duplicate on a stage.

Instead of trying to create a reality that’s out of reach, director Linda Brovsky tapped into the idea of letting our imaginations run free as we watched the story play out just feet from where we sat.

The sets and lighting designed by Peter Dean Beck are evocative rather than an attempt to recreate an Emerald City in the middle of the Cabot Stage. The decision was made somewhere along the way that, for the eye at least, less is more, a choice that reaped enormous benefits. There was never any wonder about a scene and that allowed for unencumbered focus on the charm of the story.

Perhaps the single most critical thing when you put "The Wizard of Oz" on stage is to find an actor who can do justice to Dorothy. Comparisons to Garland are inevitable, and nobody is going to reach that level.

Susan Wiedemeyer has a lovely voice, but more than that, she has the chops to let her voice be a moment of theater, not just a songstress. She has the innocence of Dorothy the farm girl and the steel of the "let’s get the hell out of this place" Dorothy in search of the wizard.

This production is perfect for the holiday season and, while a bit long at just under three hours, it is a great story for children from six or seven on up.

"The Wizard of Oz" runs through Jan. 4 and information on tickets and showtimes is available here.