Meghan Renee Wombles stars at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Judy Garland originated the role in the 1939 movie. Her daughter, Liza Minnelli, was Dorothy’s voice 33 years later in the cartoon “Journey Back to Oz.” Diana Ross played Dorothy in “The Wiz.”
And Rilyn Dick will wear the ruby slippers for Broadway Palm should Meg Wombles be unable to take the stage for any reason.
She’s the understudy.
“I got a message from our casting director and he asked if I wanted to come back to ‘Oz’ because I did the most recent production of ‘Oz’ here, which was in 2022,” said Dick. “He just asked me to send him some materials for understudying Dorothy. I did and then he let me know that that would be my contract.”
Understudies are the unsung heroes of the stage, standing in for sick or injured actors at a moment's notice. It happened to Rilyn when she last appeared in “The Wizard of Oz” at Broadway Palm.
“Our last ‘Wizard of Oz’ was during the second wave of COVID and we had a point in time where our Dorothy and our Tin Man went out and then our Scarecrow got sick,” Dick recounted. “And so all understudies and all swings were on. And we had these safety rehearsals … they're called put-ins … where we have to rehearse the tracks with the new people, and it was absolutely insane.”
The insanity — Dick calls it a moment of panic — starts the instant the cast receives the text notifying them someone can’t go on.
“It's like, oh my gosh, really? And you're thinking in your head, oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? But our stage manager, Sean, and all the stage managers I've worked with in the past, are excellent at keeping everything under control,” said Dick. “We have understudies that are really prepared for this reason. We have amazing swings … who are ready to go on at a split-second notice.”
When the lead goes down, the success of the show falls squarely on the understudy’s shoulders. Every cast member from the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion to the Munchkins and the citizens of Oz, take their verbal and visual cues from Dorothy. That’s equally true of the conductor and, derivatively, every member of the orchestra.
“I want it to be as seamless as possible for the rest of them if I do have to go on,” Dick noted.
Seamless means identical in every way to Meg Wombles.
It is the job of the understudy not just to perform the role. She has to perform the role exactly as and where Wombles does. Any deviation … any deviation at all … in how she delivers her lines, how she moves in relation to her castmates and how she sings each of the musical’s iconic numbers, could throw everyone off – from her co-stars to ensemble members to the orchestra to Toto.
“Actually a lot of it is just sitting and watching,” Dick noted. “I want to be as close to what she's doing as possible and like not only for safety reasons, but just to keep the show consistent. I wouldn't want to throw like an oddball delivery of a line or something at them.”
The relationship between NFL quarterbacks and their backups is notoriously awkward. That’s not the case with Dick. She reveres Wombles.
“She is literally one of the sweetest people that I've met,” Dick said. “I'm so happy that she's in this cast. Her and I got our meals together. We go get coffee together. We both love our Dunkin' and our mochas and it is so nice to be able to work with her.”
Still, it is a fact that something bad has to happen for Rilyn to ever perform as Dorothy onstage.
“Personally, I find the joy in even being considered to work underneath somebody as amazing as Meg, and being able to practice and still learn a principle track without the pressure of doing it eight times a week, 50 times,” she said. “So it's a unique role. It's more of like an educational experience.”
Yet, some understudies have gone on to enjoy great careers in their own right.
Shirley MacLaine replaced Carol Haney in “The Pajama Game” and went on to star in "The Matchmaker," "Can-Can" and "Sweet Charity.”
Bernadette Peters, the Dainty Jane understudy in “Gypsy,” achieved success onstage and in film, winning Tony Awards for “Song and Dance” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”
And Sutton Foster, originally hired as the understudy to Millie Dillmount in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” is one of Broadway’s brightest stars.
Rilyn’s goals are less lofty. She starts her sophomore year at Florida Southern College next month.
“We have an excellent season coming up,” said Dick. “They're doing ‘Sister Act,’ ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,’ ‘The Dollhouse’ play, and ‘Wait Until Dark.’ So I'll be auditioning for that season and see what comes of it. During my summers, I hope to be here or at the sister theater or working for anywhere that will take me. And just boosting up my craft and building that resume.”
Still, Dick would relish the chance to sing “Over the Rainbow” just once for a live audience.
“I did get to sing it once with the orchestra during our tech because they were all so busy onstage and I was just sitting here waiting to go on,” she said. “So they pulled me over and had me sing with the orchestra so they could get the timing of the song and stuff. And it is just really a magical song. Dorothy's such a magical character and all of the show is just wonderful, magnificent. It's so magical. It's so lighthearted and fun, but also like punchy and spunky at the same time.”
“The Wizard of Oz” is on the main stage at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre through Aug. 8.
Even if she doesn’t appear in the role of Dorothy, you’ll see Dick in the ensemble. She’s a Munchkin, a snowflake, an Ozian and one of the flying monkeys.
MORE INFORMATION:
Rilyn Dick is a dual musical theater/computer science major at Florida Southern College. A sophomore, she has performed in 49 shows locally since the age of 4. Her extensive stage credits include:
“The Wizard of Oz” represents her eighth Broadway Palm production. She was also in “The Little Mermaid” (teen ensemble, 2023), “The Wizard of Oz” (teen ensemble, 2022), “Annie” (Holly, 2018), “A Christmas Story” (Susan, 2017), “Rapunzel” (Young Rapunzel, 2017), “101 Dalmatians” (Pepper, 2016) and “It’s a Wonderful Life” (Zuzu, 2015).
She was also in two Disney pilot programs at Melody Lane Performing Arts Center under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Dana Alvarez: “Finding Nemo” (Gurgie, 2019) and “Frozen” (Young Anna, 2018).
Her community theater credits include “Spring Awakening” (Anna, Arts Bonita Youth Theatre, 2024), “Bring It On” (Campbell, The Belle Theatre, 023), “13 the Musical” (ensemble, Alliance Youth Theatre, 2022), “Heathers” (perverted geek, Wolf Creek Collective, 2022), “Rapunzel” (Glumwart, Wolf Creek Collective, 2021), “And the Nominees Are” (featured soloist, Cultural Park Theatre, 2021), “On Stage Places Please” (featured soloist, Cultural Park Theatre, 2020), “Christmas Spectacular” (featured soloist, Cultural Park Theatre, 2019), “Matilda” (Alice, Florida Repertory Theatre, 2019), “Christmas Spectacular (Clara, Cultural Park Theatre, 2018), “Lion King” (Shenze, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center, 2018), “The Wizard of Oz” (barrister, Cultural Park Theatre, 2018), “Standing O” (featured soloist, Cultural Park Theatre, 2018), “Seussical the Musical” (young kangaroo, Cultural Park Theatre, 2017) and “Christmas Spectacular” (Angel, Cultural Park Theatre, 2016).
Dick is a product of Janelle Laux’s musical theater program at North Fort Myers High School, where she appeared for Red Knight Theatre in “Frozen” (Olaf, 2025), “Pippin” (Fastrada, 2025), “Six the Musical” (Anne Boleyn, 2024), “All Shook Up” (ensemble, 2024), “Finding Nemo” (Nemo, 2023), “Beauty and the Beast” (Lefou, 2022), “Something Rotten” (ensemble, 2022) and “Knight on Broadway” (featured soloist, 2021).
Among her many accomplishments, Dick was the “Best Overall Scholarship Winner” and “Best in Room” at the 2025 Florida District Competition, and a “Small Group Musical” winner at the 2024 Florida District Competition.
While she has been in more than 50 theatrical productions, Dorothy is the first time she has understudied the lead in any show.
“It's a bit of a big responsibility, so I Googled how to understudy because I'd seen other people do it,” she noted.
While she’s been a keen observer of Wombles’ onstage interactions with the other “Oz” cast members, interacting with the two dogs who play Toto is easiest of all.
“I love our dogs, Luna and Kobe, and I was able to be in the room when they did the whole dog training, getting comfortable and stuff, and I got to meet the dogs. They are a piece of cake. They are so sweet, so loving, so affectionate. Like, clicking with them is absolutely not an issue, and if there's ever a moment where the dogs are too scared, Dorothy actually has some treats that she can give to the dog, and that wins them over every single time.”
Dick realizes she may never see the stage as Dorothy. In fact, she hopes that is the case out of respect for Wombles. So she treats the job as a learning experience and hopes that her approach proves to cast, crew and directors that she is reliable and accountable as a performer.
“I think it just proves that you can count on me,” she said.
Understudy is just the latest way Dick is expanding her repertoire of theater skills.
During her freshman year at Florida Southern College, she worked backstage on performances of “Legally Blonde” and “Carousel,” learning lighting.
“And I worked backstage for the dance show, which was amazing because I have always struggled with dance,” Dick related. “The dancers were so sweet and they would help me learn my steps because I had ballet and jazz that I was taking outside of in-class time. It was really nice to see the dance shows. I'd only ever seen the theater side, so seeing the dance shows was really cool.”
In fact, Dick cites ballet as the area in which she’s improved most over the past year.
“I have the most lovely ballet teacher, Olivia McCartney. I really was bad at ballet. Like you would laugh. You would laugh out loud. And she was willing to work with me at such a low level and get me up to a place where I was comfortable enough to send in a ballet audition for this show.”
It worked. Dick is in the snowflake number, which is contemporary ballet.
“Another benefit to my craft from Florida Southern would be my vocal lessons,” said Dick. “We all get private vocal lessons, and I had the pleasure of working with Dexter Morgan, who is no longer at the school with us. He's transferred to bigger, better things. But he is absolutely phenomenal. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he allowed me to feel confident enough in myself to submit for this and then eventually book it.”
At Florida Southern College, she is on the presidential scholars list with a 4.0 while double majoring in musical theater and computer science with a concentration in cyber security and AI. Since high school graduation, she has received a number of scholarships, including the Linda L. Mann Scholarship, Ellen Sheppard Humane Scholarship, George E. Judd Scholarship, Pfeiffer Scholarship, Christoverson Scholarship, Bright Futures Scholarship, Musical Theatre Scholarship and Southern Experience Scholarship.
Understudies who made good in their own right
When it comes to understudies who’ve gone on to fame and fortune, Shirley MacLaine’s success story is unparalleled. It even became a lyric in “Applause,” the "All About Eve" musical that tells the story of the ever-opportunistic understudy Eve Harrington. MacLaine was understudy to Carol Haney in “The Pajama Game.” After Haney was injured, MacLaine went on for her for several weeks while Haney recuperated. But after she returned to the lead, Haney injured herself a second time. It's during this second stint in the role that a famous producer by the name of Wallis caught MacLaine in “The Pajama Game” and signed her to a contract with Paramount. MacLaine, who went on to become a star and household name, appearing in such films as "The Matchmaker," "Can-Can," "The Apartment," "Irma La Douce," "Sweet Charity" and many others. She continues to work today.
If Shirley MacLaine is history's most prominent understudy, Sutton Foster is certainly the most famous from recent memory. She was understudy to Erin Dilly in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (a role that Kristin Chenoweth turned down in favor of a sitcom deal). When Dilly left the show because of creative differences, Foster took over the lead and went on to win a Tony Award for her performance. Now one of Broadway's brightest stars, Foster has gone on to head up the companies of “Little Women,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Shrek the Musical,” “Anything Goes” and “Violet,” and has also appeared in “Grease,” “Les Misérables,” “Annie” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”
Petina Miller was in the ensemble of “Sister Act” and understudied the part of Deloris. When the show was rewritten and workshopped for a London opening, Miller moved up to the leading role full time on London's West End and Broadway as well. Miller went on to play the Leading Player in the last revival of “Pippin,” winning a Tony Award for her performance. She's also had success in film and television, appearing in "The Hunger Games" series and "Madam Secretary."
Other understudies who became Broadway luminaries include Cheyenne Jackson, who understudied the roles of Trevor Graydon and Jimmy Smith in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and Radames in “Aida” before originating the role of Chad on Broadway in “All Shook Up,” winning a 2005 Theatre World award for his performance before going on to leading roles on Broadway in “Finian's Rainbow” and “The Performers” and appearance in "United 93" and "30 Rock"; Elaine Stritch, who understudied Ethel Merman in “Call Me Madam” even though there was a 17-year difference in their ages before becoming one of Broadway's most iconic performers; and Vivian Vance, who understudied Ethel Merman in “Anything Goes” before being “discovered” by Desi Arnaz, who hired her to play Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
