9. Dramatic presentations of Oz
+ 9.1. Was The Wizard of Oz or any other Oz story ever performed as a play?
9.2. Our school/local community theater group wants to put on The Wizard of Oz. Where can we get a script and the rights to do it?
9.3 How can we make sets, costumes, and so forth for our production of The Wizard of Oz?
* 9.4. Who are Gloria, Lord Growley, and Tibia? I don't remember them from The Movie. What can you tell me about them?
* 9.5. What can you tell me about Wicked?
+ 9.6. Have there been any Oz movies?
9.7. Why doesn't Hollywood make more Oz movies?
+ 9.8. I've heard about a new Oz movie being made. What can you tell me about it?
* 9.9. Hey, am I missing a scene in the 1914 silent version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz? Where is it? What happens in it?
9.10. I hear there's a big scene with lots of other Oz characters in Return to Oz. Where is it, and who's in it?
* 9.11. Will there ever be a film version of Wicked?
* 9.12. Was there ever a movie called The Wizard of Oz 2?
9.13. Was there ever an Oz radio show?
+ 9.14. Have there been talking book versions of any of the Oz books?
+ 9.15. Has there ever been an Oz TV show?
+ 9.16. I remember an Oz cartoon, can you tell me more about it? It had a catchy theme song that started out, "They're three sad souls, Oh me, oh my..."
9.17. Where can I find The Dreamer of Oz on home video?
+ 9.18. Have any Oz productions been directly released to home video?
9.1. Was The Wizard of Oz or any other Oz story ever performed as a play?
Most certainly! In fact, almost as soon as it was published, there was talk of turning it into a play. Under the guidance of stage manager Julian Mitchell, The Wizard of Oz debuted in Chicago in 1902, and a year later it was playing on Broadway, where it racked up one of the longest runs of its day. Touring productions of the play were on the road as late as 1909, and regional theaters were putting it on as late as 1918. Its original stars, Fred Stone and David Montgomery, who played the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, went on to become successes in other shows. Despite bearing little resemblance to the book — Dorothy's pet dog Toto became her pet cow Imogene, for instance, other characters were added, there was no Wicked Witch of the West, the Lion's part was greatly reduced and he couldn't talk, and many musical numbers that had nothing to do with the plot were thrown in — it was a great success which Baum tried to duplicate twice. His first attempt was The Woggle-Bug in 1905, a dramatization of The Marvelous Land of Oz, which "failed to woggle," as one observer put it. The critics said it was too similar to The Wizard of Oz, and not as good, and it failed to draw an audience. It only played a few weeks in Milwaukee and Chicago. In 1913, Baum tried again with a dramatization of the third Oz book, Ozma of Oz, but he made enough changes to make an entirely new story called The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Although successful in its Los Angeles and Chicago runs, it never made it to Broadway, and so Baum used the story instead as the basis for his next Oz book, where it became Tik-Tok of Oz.
With the exception of the 1928 Jean Gros marionette show The Magical Land of Oz, which was an adaptation of Ozma of Oz written by Ruth Plumly Thompson, and the Junior League adaptations of several Oz books in the 1920s and 1930s, for the most part that was it for Oz stage shows for some time. The success of The Movie, however, changed that, and in the 1940s the St. Louis Light Opera put on a version of The Wizard of Oz, adapted by Frank Gabrielson and with songs from The Movie. It was successful enough that other regional theaters put it on as well, and are continuing to do so to this day.
In 1974, producer Ken Harper put on a new staging of The Wizard of Oz with all new music and an African-American cast. The storyline of The Wiz stayed fairly close to the original book, and after out-of-town tryouts, it opened on Broadway in 1975, where it picked up seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director of a Musical. It has been revived, performed in community theaters, and loosely adapted into a movie.
Since then, most of the major stage productions have been tied in with The Movie. A lavish arena show toured much of North America in 1989, and in 1995 a one-time show, The Wizard of Oz in Concert, emphasizing the music, was presented in New York City with an all-star cast to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The latter was recorded and broadcast on American cable channel TNT, and has been released on videotape and reshown on PBS stations and VH1. In Great Britain, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged The Wizard of Oz, a closer adaptation of The Movie than the St. Louis Light Opera show, for several Christmas seasons beginning in the 1980s, and this version has now been performed on both sides of the Atlantic, and is available for companies to put on. The Wizard of Oz on Ice toured a number of North American cities in the 1990s, and there were also Oz productions in many earlier editions of the Ice Follies and Ice Capades. And a major production, produced by Madison Square Garden and featuring Mickey Rooney as the Wizard, toured throughout the United States and Canada.
In 2003, a new show opened on Broadway after a successful tryout that summer in San Francisco. Wicked, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, is the story of what happened in Oz before Dorothy dropped in, and focuses on the relationship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, who became the Wicked Witch of the West. It opened to mixed reviews, but the audiences were enthusiastic, and Wicked went on to become one of the biggest recent success stories on Broadway. It won many awards, including one for Best Actress in a Musical for Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba. Also, the cast album won a Grammy. As of this writing (December 2005), there are three Wicked companies: Broadway, Chicago (both with open-ended runs booked well into 2006), and a touring company that has dates booked throughout the United States and Canada into at least 2007. There will likely be a West End production in London, a European tour, or both in the near future.
There have also been several school, community, and children's theater stage productions of not only The Wizard of Oz, but also The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, The Yellow Knight of Oz, Merry Go Round in Oz, and probably other books as well, over the years, as well as the Oz-themed novel Was and new Oz stories written especially for the stage. Volshebnik Izumrudnovo Goroda (see question 2.15) has also been performed on stage in Russia.
9.2. Our school/local community theater group wants to put on The Wizard of Oz. Where can we get a script and the rights to do it?
The current source for the amateur stage rights of The Movie is Tams-Witmark. You must go through Tams-Witmark and pay their royalties if you want to use the music from The Movie, even if you don't use their script. They have two different versions, one based on the 1940s St. Louis show (http://www.tamswitmark.com/musicals/wizard.html), and one based on the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation (http://www.tamswitmark.com/musicals/wizardrsc.html). They can be reached on the WWW at http://www.tamswitmark.com. Music Theatre International also has a musical version of The Wizard of Oz available to theater companies, but the music is not that from The Movie. They are on the WWW at http://www.mtishows.com/default_home.asp, and they have a web page about their version of The Wizard of Oz at http://www.mtishows.com/show_home.asp?ID=000028. The MTI website includes contact information, including for countries outside North America, at http://www.mtishows.com/contact.asp. Another version is available through Classics on Stage (http://www.classicsonstage.com/scriptswizardofoz.html), and Pioneer Drama Services (http://www.pioneerdrama.com/headings/catalog.html) has five (!) different versions available. Yet another version (http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/4326 — this is the non-musical Junior League version from the 1920s), along with The Wiz (http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/2772) is available through Samuel French (http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/). Still more versions of The Wizard of Oz and other Oz scripts can be found at Dramatic Publishing (http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/). A number of scripts for The Wizard of Oz and other Oz shows are available for sale through (TMOHH) the WWOOW's bookshop, aisle 10 (http://thewizardofoz.info/aisle10.html), and these generally contain performance and royalty information. If you are willing to forego the famous songs from The Movie, the story itself is in public domain, so you can always write your own script, as long as it's not a direct rip-off of The Movie or any other script. Wicked is not yet available for local productions yet, and likely won't for some time yet. And no, there's no readily-available version of the 1902 stage play, either, and I don't know why.
9.3 How can we make sets, costumes, and so forth for our production of The Wizard of Oz?
That's a very big, long question, and difficult to answer in a document of this type. Let's just say that it all depends on your performance area, budget, available materials, what crafts people you have available and what they can do, and what the director wants. You'd be better off looking for information on stagecraft rather than trying to get answers here. Some Oz-specific suggestions can be found, however, at http://www.beyondtherainbow2oz.com/stagethewizard.html. Some sketches, plans, and scene designs used by the St. Louis Municipal Light Opera are available at http://www.trinity.edu/sgilliam/sd/oz.html. And the approach of a British school show touring Germany is detailed in an article beginning at http://www.schoolshows.demon.co.uk/resources/articles/oz.htm. Moonstruck Dramatic Books has pages on their site devoted to both The Wizard of Oz (http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm6.htm) and The Wiz (http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm59.html). Information on Oz costumes and costume patterns can be found in question 19.7. Good lu... — er, I mean, break a leg!
9.4. Who are Gloria, Lord Growley, and Tibia? I don't remember them from The Movie. What can you tell me about them?
All three are new characters created for the St. Louis Light Opera's script for The Wizard of Oz. Lord Growley is the prime minister of the Emerald City. He serves the same role in that show as the Soldier with the Green Whiskers does in the book, or many of the characters played by Frank Morgan in The Movie. Gloria is his daughter, who shows Dorothy the sights. Gloria, some of her friends, and Dorothy have a song in the show that is not from The Movie. (This Gloria is not the same character as Princess Gloria, from Baum's The Scarecrow of Oz.) Tibia is a live skeleton who acts as the Wicked Witch's butler and henchman. Since none of these characters appear in The Movie or any other version or adaptation of Oz, actors playing these roles are free to interpret them in any way they care to.
9.5. What can you tell me about Wicked?
Right now, not much, as I haven't seen the show yet. As of this writing (late 2005), this musical show is playing on Broadway and Chicago, with a North American touring company booked well into 2007, and rumors of a West End (London) production opening in late 2006. I do know it is based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, which is one of those Oz books that's not really written for children. Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, a young woman with green skin and a strong independent streak, how she becomes friends with Galinda (who later shortens her name to Glinda and becomes a good witch), and how she eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. The novel is very dark, which has surprised some of the younger fans of the play when they seek it out. I understand the play, while following the basic storyline, is lighter. For more details about the show, take a look at the Wicked pages on the website of the composer, Stephen Schwartz, at http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm.
9.6. Have there been any Oz movies?
Oh, yes! Thanks to television, and now home video, for many people Oz is a movie, shown annually on American television and one of the most famous, beloved, and watched films of all time. Yet from the earliest days of filmmaking there have been Oz movies. In 1911 the Baums moved to a sleepy little suburb of Los Angeles called Hollywood, and Frank got caught up in the fledgling movie industry there, going so far as to organize his own film studio. Here is a partial, annotated list of Oz movies that have been made over the years:
The Fairylogue and Radio Plays. This was an elaborate multimedia show that toured the midwestern and eastern United States in 1908, and L. Frank Baum himself presented it. Using hand-tinted films, slides, live actors, and a full orchestra, Baum presented dramatizations of The Wizard of Oz, The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and John Dough and the Cherub, and a preview of his then-forthcoming new book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. No film from this show is known to exist, but the slides and scripts do.
Return to Oz. This 1985 film was Disney's attempt to get in on Oz. (An elaborate Oz production number, starring the Mousketeers, was shown on the Disneyland television show in the 1960s as a preview for The Rainbow Road to Oz, which was never made.) Loosely based on The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, it was too dark and gloomy for many, and critics unfamiliar with the books made unfavorable comparisons to The Movie. It has been released on home video and DVD, and been shown on the Disney Channel, the Family Channel, the Hallmark Channel, and premium movie channels on cable, and independent television stations around America.
Oz and Ozian themes have also been a part of other films, most notably Zardoz, Wild at Heart, and Under the Rainbow, a poor Chevy Chase comedy about Nazi spies infiltrating Hollywood during the filming of The Movie. Oz jokes and references, usually referring to The Movie, often pop up in other films, such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Batman (1989), Kentucky Fried Movie, Top Secret, and One True Thing, to name but a few. And if you look carefully, you can see Oz books in Rambling Rose, You've Got Mail, and perhaps other movies.
9.7. Why doesn't Hollywood make more Oz movies?
In a nutshell, it's already been done. The Movie is so well known that studio executives are generally reluctant to even consider another movie based on the Oz books. The generally poor reception of The Wiz and Return to Oz only adds to the perception. Plus, Oz just doesn't seem to fit into the current Hollywood movie-making climate, which expects lots of aliens, laser battles, car chases, and the like for a movie — at least one that would cost as much as a live-action Oz film — to be even considered for production.
9.8. I've heard about a new Oz movie being made. What can you tell me about it?
It looks as if enough time has passed since The Wiz and Return to Oz for Hollywood to think about Oz movies again, because several potential Oz movies have been rumored to be in the works. One was entitled Somewhere, and was to feature Elizabeth Taylor playing Dorothy, now a grandmother, returning to Oz. Another project, overseen by Drew Barrymore, was called Surrender, Dorothy, and would feature Barrymore playing Dorothy's great-granddaughter, who went to Oz and faces the Wicked Witch's granddaughter. And Pamela West has been mentioned, which would make the Witch the heroine and Dorothy the evil interloper. One may note that at least some of these projects appear to be sequels to The Movie, rather than based on the books or any other version of Oz. It must be emphasized that, as of this writing (December, 2005), none of these films has actually gone before the cameras, and it appears unlikely that any of them will be made. You'll just have to keep watching your local movie listings to see if any Oz movies get made and come to your local theater. For all the latest rumors and updates on Oz movie productions, keep an eye on http://thewizardofoz.info/oznews.html#rumors.
9.9. Hey, am I missing a scene in the 1914 silent version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz? Where is it? What happens in it?
Yes, you are missing a key scene in The Patchwork Girl of Oz — but so is everyone else, as it's missing from the only known original print. Early film stock was fragile, and could rot or fall apart if not properly cared for, which was the case with the first reel of The Patchwork Girl of Oz. You can see the damage creep in as a white blob on the right hand side of the screen, and it progressively gets worse and worse as the reel keeps going. Finally, the key scene of the Patchwork Girl coming to life, and Unk Nunkie, Margolotte, and Danx turning to stone when the Liquid of Petrification falls on them is so badly damaged that I have never seen it intact in any film print or video or DVD release. Oz fans around the world would be extremely happy if another, intact copy of the first reel was to ever turn up.
9.10. I hear there's a big scene with lots of other Oz characters in Return to Oz. Where is it, and who's in it?
Right at the end of the 1985 Disney movie, once the Emerald City has been restored, there is a joyous celebration that leads up to Ozma's liberation and Dorothy returning home. The makers of Return to Oz paid homage to the Oz stories by slipping in many, many characters from the books into the crowds in these scenes, all based on the original Denslow and Neill illustrations. Sharp-eyed viewers can find the Guardian of the Gates, the Shaggy Man, the Patchwork Girl, Polychrome, the Bumpy Man, the Braided Man, Tommy Kwikstep, the Frogman, Rinkitink, and probably a few others as well. And by the way, those short people with the fur hats? Those are the Munchkins, sporting a new design for this film.
9.11. Will there ever be a film version of Wicked?
It's difficult to predict, as Hollywood is fickle. If some executive were to approve a film version of Wicked, there's no guarantee that another executive wouldn't come in, take his place, and cancel it. There are no current plans for a film version of Wicked, but one of the producers of the show is Universal Pictures, and musicals are becoming big at the movies again. So it's not only possible, but likely that there will be a film version. When, however, I couldn't even begin to tell you. It will probably be some time still, however, so that the play can run its course on tour and around the world (the play hasn't even opened outside of North America yet). If anything concrete comes up, I'll put it up on WWOOW's news page (http://thewizardofoz.info/oznews.html).
9.12. Was there ever a movie called The Wizard of Oz 2?
Not by that name, no. But there have been several sequels to The Wizard of Oz made as movies, or released direct to video. The one most people seem to be thinkning of, however, when they ask me this question is the 1985 Disney movie Return to Oz. See question 9.6 for more details on Oz movies.
9.13. Was there ever an Oz radio show?
Yes. Back in 1933, Jell-O sponsored a fifteen minute Wizard of Oz radio show on NBC's red network, which was broadcast Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. It ran for six months, but then Jell-O decided to switch their sponsorship to Jack Benny instead, so that was it for Oz. The series pretty much followed the books, getting as far as The Emerald City of Oz, with some allowances made for radio, and lots of songs and advertisements for Jell-O thrown in. No episodes of this series are known to survive, but NBC's archives still hold the scripts. Also, there exists two episodes of an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz from the same era, broadcast on CBS, but nobody's been able to find out any more about them. More recently, the BBC produced its own version of The Wizard of Oz for British radio in the 1990s. This is currently available in Great Britain on two cassettes under the BBC Radio Collection imprint. And during the holiday season in 2000, many public radio stations in the United States broadcast a new radio adaptation of The Wizard of Oz with an all-star cast, including Michelle Trachtenberg as Dorothy, Harry Anderson as the Wizard, Rene Auberjonois as the Scarecrow, Nestor Serrano as the Tin Woodman, and Robert Guillaume as the Cowardly Lion. This production is available as a four-CD set from LodesTone Audio Theatre, http://www.lodestone-media.com/wizard.html, and other outlets. Mention should also be made here of the Colonial Radio Theatre's audio adaptations of the first five Oz books. Although never actually broadcast on radio, they're presented, on ten audio cassettes, as if they were. You can find information about this set, and hear some samples, at http://www.colonialradio.com/titles.html#ozbox.
Two Oz-related episodes of radio shows also need to be mentioned here. An installment of the Maxwell House Good News show broadcast in June of 1939 was devoted to a sneak peek at The Movie, which was due to be released later that summer. It featured Judy Garland, Frank Morgan (a regular Good News cast member), Ray Bolger, and Bert Lahr, and was the public debut of the songs from The Movie. It featured many behind-the-scenes vignettes (mostly made up for the show), a "Baby Snooks" routine where her Daddy reads the story to her, and an appearance by Fred Stone, who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 stage play. (A snippet of this show can even be heard in the opening audio montage of the science fiction movie Contact, as it's one of the few examples of radio from that time period that's been preserved.) The CD version of the Good News episode includes the original commercials, and MGM's Wizard of Oz edition of Leo Is On the Air, an extended radio advertisement. Both shows are also available as audio-only tracks on the current American DVD release of The Movie. On Christmas Day, 1950, Judy Garland recreated her role as Dorothy for an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz on The Lux Radio Theatre. Garland was the only original cast member, but her then-four-year-old daughter, Liza Minnelli, makes a cameo appearance at the end. Both of these radio episodes have been released on record, audiocassette, and CD, the latter available from Radio Spirits at http://www.radiospirits.com/. The Lux Radio Theatre production is also available as part of the 2005 DVD release of The Movie.
9.14. Have there been talking book versions of any of the Oz books?
Yes, quite a few. Most have been adaptations of the story for very young children of The Wizard of Oz, many of which are still available today. One, from Caedmon, was read by Ray Bolger, who also read adaptations of The Land of Oz, Queen Zixi of Ix, and some of the "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz" comic stories. These are currently available on cassette in a boxed set as The Oz Audio Collection. Another notable version came out from Columbia Records in 1969, with the entire book recorded on seven records, read by George Rose and Mildred Dunnock. More recently, Piglet Press has put out large cast readings of The Wizard of Oz and The Emerald City of Oz on cassette. In the 1960s, Disney put out book-and-record editions of The Wizard of Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz (narrated by Ray Bolger), The Tin Woodman of Oz, and a new story called The Cowardly Lion of Oz — not to be confused with the Ruth Plumly Thompson story of the same name, despite the claims of the album notes that it is an adaptation. And there have been many other audio adaptations of The Wizard of Oz on records, cassettes, CDs, and now CD-ROM. Gregory Maguire's novels Wicked and Son of a Witch, and Stuart Kaminsky's Murder on the Yellow Brick Road have been recorded as audiobooks.
9.15. Has there ever been an Oz TV show?
Yes, quite a few now. Again, here's an incomplete checklist of what's been shown:
You can find more information about these and many other Oz and Oz-related television shows at Scott Andrew Hutchins' Oz Filmography website at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh/OZFILMS.HTM.
9.16. I remember an Oz cartoon, can you tell me more about it? It had a catchy theme song that started out, "They're three sad souls, Oh me, oh my..."
"No brains, no heart, He's much too shy..." Yes, I'm familiar with that song. That's the theme song for Tales of the Wizard of Oz (see question 9.15 for more information). Despite what many people think, it's not a Canadian show, but American, produced by Rankin-Bass in the United States in the early 1960s. It just seems to have been shown in Canada a lot in the 1980s and '90s. The complete theme song lyrics are:
They're three sad soulsMore information about Tales of the Wizard of Oz can be found on the WWW at http://www.toonarific.com/show.php?show_id=3584. If you'd like to download the theme as a Real Media file, go to http://www.toontracker.com/realaudio/ttra60-1.htm and scroll down about a third of the way. Or you can just listen to it by going to http://www.toontracker.com/waves/waves.htm and finding the show's name on the second page.
Oh me, oh my,
No brains, no heart,
He's much too shy.
But never mind you three,
Here's the Wizard as you can see.
He'll fix that one, two, three
In that funny place called the world of Oz.
Oh the world of Oz is a funny, funny place
Where everyone has a funny, funny face.
All the streets are paved with gold,
And no one ever grows old.
In that funny land lives the Wizard of Oz.
9.17. Where can I find The Dreamer of Oz on home video?
Trust me, I wish someone would release it so I could give you a positive answer! But unfortunately, it has yet to happen. There has been no American home video or DVD release of The Dreamer of Oz, the 1990 television movie about L. Frank Baum. (The rights holder to this could make a lot of money if they found out how often I am asked this question!) However, there was apparently a short-lived Australian release, available only for rental from Southern Star Video. If you can find an Australian video dealer who has a copy and is willing to sell it to you — and your VCR and television can handle the PAL format — you might be able to get a copy for yourself.
9.18. Have any Oz productions been directly released to home video?
A few animated versions of The Wizard of Oz, and one of Ozma of Oz, have been released straight to video. These are of varying quality, from so-so to all right, with some being straight adaptations and some a little more irreverent. One of the most notable of these is a Japanese version of The Wizard of Oz, which was released on home video in North America with a dubbed English soundtrack, featuring Aileen Quinn as Dorothy and Lorne Greene as the Wizard. A series, The Oz Kids, was also released straight to video, from Paramount, although it has been shown on television in other countries. The main characters are the sons and daughters of the familiar Oz characters (Dorothy's children Dot and Ned, Scarecrow Jr., Tin Boy, and so on), but the stories are based on Baum's books, including some of his non-Oz writings. Characters from later books — or rather, their children — appear, such as Jackie Pumpkinhead, Nome Prince Otto, and the Patchwork Baby. The videos are available through Paramount Home Video, and the titles are Toto, Lost in New York, The Nome Prince and the Magic Belt, Virtual Oz, Who Stole Santa? Christmas in Oz, Journey Beneath the Sea, Underground Adventure, The Monkey Prince, and The Return of Mombi. The two Christmas stories were also released on DVD in Great Britain. A play was recorded and released on video, the 1981 Minneapolis Children's Theater production of The Marvelous Land of Oz. Also, two documentaries were released on video in 1997, Oz: The American Fairyland and Charles Santore Illustrates The Wizard of Oz. Both were produced by Leonard A. Swann and released by Sirocco Productions, Inc. Those interested in these videos can check out their website at http://www.siroccovideo.com.
Besides movies and television, Scott Andrew Hutchins' Oz Filmography website at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh/OZFILMS.HTM also has information about Oz and Oz-related direct-to-video releases.
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