After she was cast as Dorothy, the actress not only had to master every nuance of her performance, but also trained to work as a dog handler — because it is she who gives Nigel and Loki, the two adorably talented cairn terriers that play Toto, their commands onstage.
Watch closely and you’ll see subtle interaction between Dorothy and Toto.
Lasko says she could not have asked for better canine friends and co-workers.
“It’s been fun learning how to be a dog handler onstage,” she says. “It’s definitely a challenge having a live animal onstage, but it’s also been really quite easy because they’re so good at what they do.
Nigel, the main Toto, and Loki, the understudy, have even bonded with Lasko off the stage.
He was in an animal shelter there. I found him online and I called and adopted him sight unseen.
These dogs’ tales — from hardscrabble early lives to stardom — are classic showbiz success stories. They are both rescue animals, given their second chances because Bill Berloni, their guardian/trainer, saw something extraordinary in them.
In addition to the current North American tour of The Wizard of Oz, which began in December, Nigel has appeared as Toto in The Wiz alongside Ashanti on the New York stage, and co-starred with Marcia Gay Harden in the 2011 movie Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You.
Loki’s first production of The Wizard of Oz was as the understudy in the 2009 national tour. The next year, he took over as the lead Toto on that tour.
Nigel is basically a hero dog. He’s not afraid of anything ... Loki is more of a snuggler ... He could lay in your lap or in your arms forever.
They have distinctly different personalities.
“Nigel is basically a hero dog,” Lasko says. “He’s not afraid of anything. He’s my protector. If we are out in public and there’s another dog, he’s always ready to make sure that I’m safe.
Those traits show up on stage, too.
“Onstage, Nigel is always ready to do anything,” Lasko says. “He would jump through hoops on fire. He’s kind of fearless. Loki is more the kind who’s ready for you to take the lead.
Toto is a very demanding role for a dog actor: people onstage and backstage running in all directions, bright lights, loud noises, people in the audience.
“It is one of the most complicated shows for an animal performer, because in our story Toto is with Dorothy pretty much in every scene,” Berloni says. “So we do give him rest breaks throughout the show.
“But believe it or not, out of all the things he has to do over the course of the evening, the hardest of all is simply sitting still when Dorothy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Beloni is legendary within his industry. The first dog he trained for stage work was for the role of Sandy in the original Broadway production of Annie in 1977.
That dog was a rescue animal — and every one that Berloni has trained since has been a rescue, as well.
When Berloni’s animals aren’t on tour or working in film or TV, they get to kick back on his 90-acre farm in Connecticut.
“We currently own 34 dogs,” he says. “There are young ones in training, there are the ones who do the work and there are the ones who have retired and are living out their lives with us.
“The active ones can work until they get arthritic — and even then, they can have careers in films playing old dogs.
“When they’re not working, they live with us. They eat, they sleep, they go outside and hang out, all of them grouped in appropriate play groups — and they just have regular dog lives.
Does your pet have what it takes to be a star like Nigel and Loki?