"Ease on down, ease on down the road..."

 

The Wizard of Oz: On Stage

The Wizard of Oz as an Operetta

In 1902, The Wizard of Oz premiered in Chicago, before opening on Broadway in 1903 and running for over 300 performances. The Broadway cast included Anna Laughlin as Dorothy, Fred Stone as the Scarecrow. David C. Montgomery played the Tin Woodsman and Arthur Hill played the now bit role of the Cowardly Lion. The original cast proceeded to take the Wizard of Oz on tour after it closed on Broadway. Frank Baum penned the script himself, although producer Fred Hamlin and director Julian Mitchell made their share of edits to his vision. The advertising poster shown at right is promoting the work of Hamlin, although it more often mis-credited as advertising for 1939 film.

The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz
The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz Giclee Print
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The Wizard of Oz Goes to St. Louis

The Municipal Theatre of St. Louis, a non-profit theatre, presented as part of it's 1945-1946 season, a musical adaptation of the MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. This version is still available for performance and is often performed by high schools around the country. It is most often commonly known as the "rocket-ship" version, due to the fact that it's plot has been adapted from the motion picture for use on stage.

Interesting Fact :In 1996 The Lincoln Center had a benefit Wizard of Oz concert to perform the music from the 1939 movie. Joel Grey played the Wizard of Oz - a role he would reprise in the Broadway musical Wicked.

The Wizard of Oz meets Shakespeare

The MGM movie version of the Wizard of Oz was adapted again for use with the Royal Shakespeare Company. This second version of The Wizard of Oz with book adaptations by John Kane, which follows the famous motion picture even more closely than the St. Louis version, was presented at the Barbican Centre in London in 1988.

The Wiz

1975 brought The Wizard of Oz back to Broadway with an all African American cast. The Wiz opened at the Majestic Theater and ran for over 1600 performances. The Wiz won 7 Tony awards, including best Musical.

Wicked

Wicked is the prequel to the Wizard of Oz and the untold story of the three witches. Now named Glinda, Elphaba - the Wicked Witch of the West, and Nessarose - the Wicked Witch of the East, the three witches are young girls growing up at Shiz university. Wicked opened at the George Gershwin Theater on Broadway in 2003. March, 2006 marked it's 1,000th performance. It was nominated for 10 Tony awards, and won 3, along with a Grammy for best Musical Show album. The cast recording went platinum, selling over 1 million copies.

Other Wizard of Oz Productions

While it seemed logical that the Dorothy and the Scarecrow might dance and sing down the yellow brick road, there are several non-musical productions of the Wizard of Oz available in script format. Note: although the L. Frank Baum text is in public domain, scripts themselves may be copyrighted and have production royalties.