by Frank Burd

According to a review by Hugh Hunter in the Dec. 12 Local, Leigha Kato, now starring as Dorothy in L. Frank Baum’s classic, “The Wizard of Oz” at Quintessence Theatre in Mt. Airy, is “a winsome presence, sometimes fearful and imploring, sometimes aglow with wondrous joy.

It is over 10 years since Kato, 29, first arrived here from Orange County, California, to attend the University of the Arts to study musical theater. She had wanted to come east after a trip to New York when she was 16. U Arts was on her very short list of schools that interested her. She performed widely then. She met Lee Cortopassi, who was also attending the school. Before she left, they would become partners, though the day after she graduated, she was off to New York City to realize her dream. To this day they maintain a place in New York and in Philadelphia. A director and writer, an artistic associate at Quintessence, Cortopassi directed Leigha in “Wizard.”

“I met her before one of her shows,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine that this beautiful young woman wasn’t the center of attention growing up.”

“I was never part of the popular crowd,” she told me. “I lived for the after-school rehearsals for the many plays we did.”

Kato spent five years in the Big Apple but has regularly returned to Philly with roles at the Arden, Theatre Horizon, Philadelphia Theatre Co. and Quintessence. She earned her Actors Equity Card doing “Metamorphosis” at Arden. At Quintessence, she’s portrayed Joan of Arc in “Saint Joan” and Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.” What I found amazing was how easily she could step into the role and portray the young Dorothy.

“The Wizard of Oz” was written in 1900 about a 13-year-old girl. When it was transformed into the movie we know, the powers-that-be sought to get Shirley Temple (who was 13 at the time in1939) for the lead. When she was not made available by the studio, they had to settle for an older, bigger kid in Judy Garland. Of course, the rest is history. The production at Quintessence is not an exact remake of the movie, though all the songs are there. It is based on the 1985 adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The lines are mostly the same; the character is closer to the character in the original novel. And Leigha Kato IS that girl.

She has thoroughly researched the story from its beginnings through its 2011 reincarnation by Andrew Lloyd Webber. She explained to me that the original story, entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” had Dorothy landing in Oz where she was met by not a town full of munchkins but just three. And the slippers weren’t ruby red but silver. Hollywood, which was expanding into brilliant color, made the change, just as they changed the umbrella from the original to a broomstick.

There is never a moment when watching her perform that I didn’t believe I wasn’t watching a kid. Her father is Japanese and her mother part Spanish, part Mexican. And Leigha is American as can be!

When I asked her what plays she’d like to do in the future, she responded with several: “Hadestown, Light in the Piazza, Oklahoma, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. There are great leads in each.”

After the show closes on Jan. 5, she will return to New York to continue the arduous task of auditioning. She is certain to land many fine roles, and we can only hope Leigha will return regularly to Philadelphia to grace our stages with her presence.

Quintessence Theatre is located at 7137 Germantown Ave. For ticket information, visit QuintessenceTheatre.org or call 215-987-4450.