The Wizard of Oz — Page 2

I have seen his Miss Gulch Returns CD before and I have always wanted to purchase it!

mikey-
The Jitterbug was originally in the film, however, there was a popular dance at the time by the same name, and the producers were afraid it would date the film. It is included in both MUNY and RSC adaptations, in the MUNY it's in place of the poppies, and in the RSC it falls before the flying monkeys (as it would have in the film). Directors are haphazard in including it with the RSC, partitally due to film recognition and partially for time. There is also the cut reprises of "Over the Rainbow" and "Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead" that come in or out depending on the director.

Kyle-
"Miss Gulch Returns" is HYSTERICAL and brilliant, I HIGHLY reccomend it.

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"How does everyone feel about having a person play Toto?"

That would be akin to casting an actress as Tinker Bell (PETER PAN).

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Furthermore, I thought casting an actor in a suit as Milky White in the INTO THE WOODS revival was a bad idea. It looked so stupid (almost laughable), the way he moved and everything. I preferred the prop in the original.

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I love that we have innocently enough hijacked this thread. I love that it is still going. Lets keep it going.

Anyone else who has been in an OZ production have stories to share?
Anyone else seen an amazing production of OZ onstage that they would like to talk about?

I know there have been wonderful Oz threads in the past, but there is no reason we can't start another. It has been a little while since the last one. :)

The most AMAZING production I saw was several years back, and it was...wow. They went with a lot of film-esque things but the scenery and effects were dazzling. They had a turntable built into the set, and they used it in several places. The first being, naturally, the tornado. The house sat on the turntable, and they moved everything else around it. Them, in Oz, they laid down sections to be the Yellow Brick Road, and to facilitate changes between the Scarecrow/Tinman/Lion Scenes. For the Poppyfield they had a cricular platform with a wall cutting it in half. One side was Poppies, the other was the tower for the Wicked Witch. And it spun back and forth for the varying moments. Then for the final moment, Glinda had floated on and was suspended partially above the Poppies/Witch Castle, the poppy side was facing the audience, and the wall bled through (it was a scrim), and as the Witch rose into the air on her broom (Similar to the "Defying Gravity" minus the cherry picker), the unit split and Emerald City rose up from behind it. The flying monkeys (aside from Nikko and two others) were on roller skates, and had a series of ramps to play on. For the return to Kansas, Dorothy stood on the platform, and it slowly spun, with the varying leads on it, and they quickly exited behind a black curtain to do the costume changes.

The worst I saw was a High School production. Some of it's "highlights" included:
Dorothy wearing black heels in Kansas and sheer pantyhose...no socks
Toto skipping with the Four Friends
No Poppyfield
A Pink and Orange Emerald City (NO GREEN PERIOD)
And FAR too much dry ice smoke.

Anyone else?

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I'll post mine later tonight when I have time!! :)

Lightguy-
My big complaint to it is this:
Dorothy spends the entire movie trying to get back home, specifically her concern is placed on "Aunt Em." Notice, she never has a worry about Hunk, Zeke or Hickory, because they are with her She never worries about Mrs. Gulch becuase she too is there. In fact, the reason she doesn't need to ask about her on her return home in the film is because she has conquered her not once, but twice. If Aunt Em is in Oz as a central figure then there is no real need for Dorothy to return. The reason her subconcious did not create Aunt Em as Glinda is because that makes the need to get home stronger. Does that make sense?

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That would be akin to casting an actress as Tinker Bell

We did that in a production of Peter Pan I was in, and it actually worked pretty well.

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It was Peter Pan.
An actress played Tinker Bell live onstage.
It worked.


Is there really much more to say?
Do you want diagrams?

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Sean, wonderful work on your website! Your designs are beautiful! I went looking for photos of your Oz designs. Got any of those on your computer you would be willing to share?

B3TA07, if you don't have anything constructive to add to this thread there is no need for you to post. No, I'm not telling you what to do. But seriously.

I've been in the 1940s version twice (once as a lullaby-leager and once as Dorothy).

The script follows the books very closely and includes book characters as well as different placements of songs. There is also no Toto.

Also, instead of ruby slippers, Dorothy gets the "sorceror's mark on her forehead. i felt pretty dumb with a sticker on my head.