Toto Recall : All the Familiar Characters Are in ‘Oz on Ice,’ Opening Tonight at Pond

Kansas farm girl Dorothy is shorter than some of the Munchkins she meets over the rainbow, and the yellow brick road she follows is a lighting effect created by a designer who worked for pop-music stars Janet Jackson and Nine Inch Nails.

But not to worry: The new production of “The Wizard of Oz on Ice,” which begins its Southern California run tonight at the Pond of Anaheim, remains essentially true to the 1939 MGM film classic that is its inspiration.

Dorothy, portrayed by skater Jeri Campbell, sports pigtails and a blue gingham pinafore and meets up with such familiar characters as the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Her faithful companion Toto is a real live Cairn terrier, as in the movie. And her odyssey, with its ultimate realization that “There’s no place like home,” is set to the Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg score.

Still, producer Kenneth Feld, whose other live productions include “Walt Disney’s World on Ice” and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, wanted to present a version of Oz for audiences of the ‘90s, rather than merely re-create a beloved period piece.

“We went back and looked at the movie,” he said. “It doesn’t have the pace of things today. So we took a little bit of a different slant. The integrity of the characters and story line remains, but the musical arrangements have been contemporized a bit, and we took people from rock ‘n’ roll to give it a bit of a high-tech feel.”

Production designer Mark Fisher, for instance, has been a scenic designer for rock group Pink Floyd for almost two decades and counts among his other credits the Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge world tour.

Lighting designer LeRoy Bennett, whose creations for “Oz” turn the ice into a canvas of fanciful shapes and colors, worked for 14 years with the artist formerly known as Prince.

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About the only aspect more reminiscent of the turn of last century rather than this one is the costumes. For some characters, designer Frank Krenz studied the illustrations by W.W. Denslow in the original L. Frank Baum book of 1900.

The musical underscoring makes use of some material cut from the movie. Also reinstated is a rollicking number at the opening of Act 2, “The Jitterbug,” in which Dorothy confronts critters sent by the Wicked Witch to bedevil her and her traveling companions. The enchanted poppy sequence has been expanded into a classical pair turn.

It fell to Robin Cousins, the 1980 Olympic champion from England, to fashion numbers that would best serve the diverse styles of that music.

Said Cousins, who was assisted by Los Angeles choreographer Cindy Stuart, “The skating has to be part of the story, propelling it just as it does in the theater or movies. The story doesn’t stop for people to do [skating] tricks.” The movements also are designed to telegraph emotions to the back row of the arenas the show is playing.

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All the character voices except Dorothy’s--some 53 spoken and sung--are provided by singer Bobby McFerrin. He also supplies most of the show’s sound effects, including that of the tornado. Laurnea Wilkerson, who understudied the role of Dorothy in “The Wiz” on Broadway and starred in that show’s national touring company, is the voice for Dorothy in this show.

Hiring McFerrin was the idea of director Jerry Bilik, who also adapted the script and adapted and produced the music.

“I saw Bobby a few years ago at a concert at Kennedy Center, where he did a six-minute version of ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ” Bilik said. “I was on the aisle, and I actually fell out of my seat, laughing.” McFerrin recorded his parts for this version in four days.

For Jeri Campbell, an alternate to the 1988 Olympic skating team, portraying a character made famous by Judy Garland was, she said, “kind of nerve-racking at first.”

But, Campbell, 25 said she loves working with Toto. “He lights up the whole show. He runs on the ice and slips and slides. The audience loves it.”

* “The Wizard of Oz on Ice” opens tonight at the Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave. 7:30 p.m. $10.50--$16.50. Through Sunday. (714) 704-2500.