The Wizard of Oz movie- Page 6

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:16am

"In high school, I literally forced my boyfriend to watch it, because he had never seen it and that was completely unacceptable."

LOL! I agree wholeheartedly, skittles! When the movie was given a theatrical release in the fall of 1998, I also forced a friend to watch it with me because she hadn't seen it. I don't understand. How can you go through your entire childhood and not be exposed to this glorious movie? What kind of parents are these?!? Anyway, she enjoyed it very much. Can the same be said about your (ex-)boyfriend?

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 2:36am

Well, I've fired off an email to a few people (in the know). I'll get back to you with how it goes...

But, yes, I will check into it. Basically we've done the songs, and still working out a fluid storyline. It loosely combines the very first sequels that Baum wrote for the stories, Land Of Oz, Dorothy & Wizard In Oz and Emerald City Of Oz. The design concept for the piece is a tribute to J. R. Neill's gothic illustrations in the original books, with no relation to the MGM movie.

If there are, at any point, any MGM "issues" I talked to the (potential) producer about a) phasing them out completely or b) actually getting MGM involved or c) getting their express permission. For example, in our show the slippers are "silver". They are not ruby (that concept belongs to MGM). Disney had this issue with "Return to Oz" and had to pay off MGM in order to use several of their concepts...

Thanks for pointing this out. I was aware of some of these issues, initially, but now I'm MORE aware & that's better than what it was before.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 8:00am

Roquat, thanks for clearing up the facts about Princess Langwidere. That character fascinated me as a child. "Ozma of Oz" is my favorite of all of Baum's Oz books.

As to Neill's illustrations for all of Baum's Oz books except for "The Wizard of Oz", I would describe them as Art Nouveau (like the murals in the New Amsterdam Theatre) rather than "Gothic". Are they copyrighted, too? I prefer them to W.W. Denislows (sp.?) illustrations which are more cartoon like than Neill's elegant drawings. Baum always took great pains to describe in detail the clothes worn by his characters.

Updated On: 10/27/06 at 08:00 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/27/06 at 9:18am

Yes, roquat, my apologies. It's been a great while since I've read Ozma of Oz... and the Princess Langwidere is ruling over Ev at the time of Dorothy's encounter, but she is not the Queen of Ev, as I had said earlier.

I recently watched the Shirley Temple "Land of Oz." It's cute, if not inspiring. I was excited to see Agnes Morehead as Mombi, but it wasn't as clever a performance as I'd hoped for. She (for reasons unknown) decided Mombi was Cockney. And Jonathan Winters was fun as "General Nikidik," another hybrid character. I was surprised that it was shot on video IN COLOR for a 1960 airing... when NOTHING was shown on TV in color.

And I like (very much) the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis' production of The Marvelous Land of Oz, and I would recommend it to any Oz fan... yes, despite that semi-creepy kid performance as Tip/Ozma. Come to think of it... a "child sex change" is going to be creepy no matter WHAT young actor attempts it. The Mombi in that production is excellent. You can find used copies of this VHS on eBay or Amazon quite often, and they're not expensive.

Updated On: 10/27/06 at 09:18 AM

[jess20882]

Posted: 11/10/06 at 11:53am

just a heads-up...'the wizard of oz' is going to be on tv tonight 8pm on TBS
Updated On: 11/10/06 at 11:53 AM

[Emcee4ever]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 1:15pm

Another thing that scared my dad was when Auntie Em's face in the Witch's hourglass faded away and turned into the Wicked Witch of the West, and she looked right at the camera.

[Emcee4ever]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 5:59pm

I wrote an essay for school about this movie ^_^ It was a compare and contrast essay, comparing the movie and the book by L Frank Baum. They really are quite different...

[misschung]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 7:51pm

They are totally different - I like the movie ending much more

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 9:48pm

Misschung-
Why? In the film Oz is a dream, whereas in the book it's REAL and she can go back, and does, and eventually moves there...how is that a worse ending?

[HollyImposter]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:43pm

I didn't like this movie THAT much as a kid until I played Dorothy in my senior year of High School.

It just never caught my interest.

And I hated Somewhere Over the Rainbow, to the point where I could not listen to it until I did the show.

I love Judy Garland so much now.

[kyle.]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:48pm

Rockfenris2005, why do you have a website about your show when you don't want people to see it?

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 10:54pm

I adore this movie with all my heart. I've seen it far too many times to count. My experience is sort of the opposite of HollyImposter's... we did the musical my senior year of high school and I'm not much of an actress, but I had seen the movie so many times that I had Billie Burke's vocal inflections down to a T, so I got the part of Glinda.

[zepka102]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 11:01pm

oh my gosh b12b! i'm SO GLAD this thread got bumped up... i remember havin the video of that production from the children's theater of Minneapolis! i was going crazy... no one in my family remembers it that i've mentioned it to, so now i have proof it exists!

[misschung]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:48am

Why? In the film Oz is a dream, whereas in the book it's REAL and she can go back, and does, and eventually moves there...how is that a worse ending?

I wouldn't say that the book has a bad ending, but there are certain lines in the film that I like that weren't in the book, like when Dorothy says "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with"

The book is just different - I mean Oz is a real place and Dorothy can go back and visit. But in the film, the tension, drama and I think what makes it moving is that everyone assumes that Dorothy was dreaming, but she thought it was real. She has this experience and then shes thrown back into black and white Kansas, but the experience will always be with her and it inevitably changes the way she looks at her little, simple life.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:25pm

You're not crazy, zeppy. It does exist.


...well, maybe you ARE crazy...

[landryjames2]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 12:38pm

No matter that MGM tried to present Oz as a dream in their spectacular and incomparable musical fantasy--I never doubted Judy Garland's Dorothy for one moment when she said that she had really been there, and that it was and is a real, live place.

[misschung]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 1:28pm

totally

[zepka102]

Posted: 3/13/07 at 5:09pm

well, b12b, yea...

[Emcee4ever]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 6:38pm

You know what I realized? I think the Wicked Witch of the East is the most powerful witch cause she had the ruby slippers. Course, their transportation powers couldn't save her fom a falling house :P

[antonijan]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 7:04pm

Have they made a revival of the Wizard of Oz yet?

[misschung]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 7:06pm

on Broadway, you mean?

[antonijan]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 7:13pm

this may sound stupid...but

yeah...Wizard of Oz the Musical in Broadway....and if not or if it hasn't been done yet...why aren't they making it into one yet?
Updated On: 5/14/07 at 07:13 PM

[antonijan]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 7:51pm

to answer my own question...I searched and found this:

IBDB:
https://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=9434

I think it's time that they revive WOO in broadway again!!!

Another Oz thread
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=922710&dt=64

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 10:18pm

Well, first of, the movie is technically fantastic, a lot of the makeup still looks good, and Hamilton, Morgan, and of course Haley, Lahr, and Bolger are perfectly cast.

However...

I hate this movie. The script takes every character Baum created and just ruins them. The morals are hokey, the songs are cute and occasionally clever, but shallow, and Judy Garland is far too old. The 'only a dream' angle is lame. Characterizations are shallow at best. And disjointed though the book was, it could have been streamlined much better.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/14/07 at 10:23pm

There was a tour of The Wizard of Oz that played MSG and came through Philly here. That was the first show I ever saw, when I was 7. It starred Jessica Grove as Dorothy, Mickey Rooney as The Wizard, and Lilaine Montevechhi as The Wicked Witch. I loved it.