Toto, She’s Not in Maryland Anymore

On stage, she has adopted many personalities: ill-fated Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” loyal Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Crucible’s” villainous Abigail Williams, among others. But behind all of the stage makeup and costumes is Sarah Lasko ’13, an actress fulfilling her childhood dream of playing Dorothy in the national tour of “The Wizard of Oz.”

“I grew up with the show and truly looked up to Dorothy,” she says. “I’m so excited because I get to be that for some little girl out in the audience.”

Before she donned the iconic blue gingham dress on opening night in December, Lasko has been in more than 20 shows since her training began at age 13—from “Cabaret” and “Dear Albert Einstein” to “Double Trouble,” the musical adaptation of “The Parent Trap.” But for Lasko, performing is in her blood.

Her parents, both active in musical theater in college, filled the home with sounds of Sondheim since as early as she can remember. For Lasko and her two brothers, who are also musicians, she says, “there was really no getting around it.”

Unlike her parents, who went on to careers outside the theater world, the Rockville native decided to pursue it for a living when she was 14. Her first professional role came two years later when she sang and danced in the National Symphony Orchestra’s “Christmas Pops with Marvin Hamlisch” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

To become Dorothy, Lasko memorized more than 40 pages of scenes in a six-round audition that spanned all of May 2015. Now, she’s performing in eight shows a week through July. The eight-month tour will visit 20 cities around the country—from Atlanta, San Antonio and Denver to New York—as well as three in Canada.

“The combination of singing and acting is exhilarating,” she says. “There’s just nothing quite like knowing there’s a 20-person orchestra behind you while you’re doing what you love.”

The show puts a modern twist on an American classic, with fresh songs and a virtual rainbow that arched over the set. Critics have praised Lasko as a convincing Dorothy, with one noting how she seamlessly sang on when Toto tried to steal the spotlight with adorable wags during “Over the Rainbow.”

“She’s feisty but sweet, perfectly cast as the naïve farm girl bravely trying to find her way home—even if her four-legged co-star did get the most applause on opening night,” says Laura DeMarco, arts reviewer for Ohio’s largest newspaper, The Plain Dealer.

When selecting colleges, Lasko gravitated toward the University of Maryland for its strong communications program and proximity to Washington, D.C.’s performing arts world. Lasko took theater and stagecraft classes and honed her acting skills as a member of the Terrapin Theatre Troupe, where she starred in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

“She’s one of those students who you’d give a suggestion to and then they’d come back having mastered it with even better ideas,” says Scot Reese, professor in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. “Her fearlessness and willingness to take risks made her grow more than you could ever imagine as a performer.”

Acting professionally, Lasko says, requires thick skin and constant auditioning for new roles—and being rejected for most.

“It’s like doing job interviews over and over and hearing ‘no’ every time. You get so discouraged after 100 auditions to get just one role. But it’s that one that makes it all worth it and keeps you doing what you love,” she says.

The show’s tour will visit the District’s National Theatre in May, where Lasko will take a brief break to teach a master class with Reese at UMD.

One of the most integral parts of acting she hopes to convey is the importance of getting into character. For her, it’s all about honesty.

“If I don’t stay true to that, if I’m not present in the moment, if I end up just reading lines, the audience will feel that and then the magic is lost,” she says. “But as long as I, Sarah, am on stage being real with the other actors and fully committing to the role, people will see Dorothy.”