The real-life munchkins of St. Mary Gate of Heaven School are officially forming a lollipop guild, hoping to raise thousands of dollars this weekend by performing "The Wizard of Oz" in the 105th St. school's gym.

Students from kindergarten through eighth grade - plus some St. Mary grads now in college - have been rehearsing since January for what principal Patrick Scannell says is the 37th annual school show.

"The question is always, 'Aren't we the best ever?' and the answer is, 'It's a very good show,'" he said with a laugh.

The student-actors practiced four nights a week for four months, and suppressed yawns to appear on Fox's "Good Day New York" at 6 a.m. Monday.

Hundreds of heel clicks later, they'll take to the stage for the real deal at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night. Tickets are $8.

Whipping the kids into Great White Way shape wasn't easy. Just ask 22-year-old Melissa Planty, who graduated from St. Mary in 1999 but came back to help choreograph the show's dance scenes.

"It's a lot of hard work," admitted Planty, 22, who said she has to remind the children to smile even when they're tired. "But once you see how the kids react to it and how their parents react to seeing them on stage, it's a totally gratifying experience."

Planty, who will graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology next week, said she hopes to help with the school show every year as long as she's not too busy.

The show's director, Frank Gulluscio, could be her inspiration.

An English teacher at St. Mary in the 1970s, Gulluscio left the classroom almost 30 years ago and is now the district manager of Queens Community Board 6. But he still organizes and relentlessly promotes the show.

This year, one of Gulluscio's main selling points is the set. As in the movie, the show raises the audience's eyebrows when Dorothy lands in Oz, making use of a "flat" that rotates the stage from black and white Kansas to colorful Oz.

"It's become a community event because of its professional staging, scenery, lights and acting," Gulluscio said. "It's not a little school show. It's Broadway in Ozone Park."