The Wizard of Oz (stage)
From Oz Wiki
The Wizard of Oz was a musical stage production based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It opened at the Grand Opera House in Chicago on 16 June 1902, and moved to Broadway early in 1903.
It was produced by Fred R. Hamlin and directed by Julian Mitchell, with book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum, music by Paul Tietjens, and with scenery, costumes, and special effects designed by W. W. Denslow. Or that, at least, was the original plan: Mitchell replaced all but eight of the Baum/Tietjens songs with twenty songs by others. Additional costumes for the show were designed by Caroline Siedle.
After fourteen weeks in Chicago, the show toured the West and Canada, then moved to New York. It ran at the Majestic Theater on Broadway for 293 stage nights from January to October 1903. It returned to Broadway in 1904, where it played from March to May and again from November to December. It successfully toured the United States with much of the same cast, as was done in those days, until 1911, and then became available for amateur use.
The stage version starred David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone as the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow respectively, which shot the pair to instant fame. The stage version differed quite a bit from the book, and was aimed primarily at adults. Toto was replaced with Imogene the Cow; Tryxie Tryfle (a waitress) and Pastoria (a streetcar operator) were added as fellow cyclone victims. The Wicked Witch of the West was eliminated entirely in the script, over which Baum had little control or influence. Jokes in the script, mostly written by Glen MacDonough, called for explicit references to President Theodore Roosevelt, Senator Mark Hanna, and oil magnate John D. Rockefeller.
In the play, Baum's characters escape the deadly poppy field when a snowfall suppresses its soporific odors. This was the one element in the play that was reproduced in the 1939 MGM film of the book.
This stage version was the first to use the shortened title "The Wizard of Oz". Most subsequent versions of the story, including newer editions of the novel, have been titled "The Wizard of Oz", rather than using the full, original title.
The three partners, Baum, Tietjens, and Denslow, quarreled over the division of the royalties even before the show premiered. The original arrangement called for an equal three-way split; Baum and Tietjens thought Denslow was overpaid for his limited contributions, while Denslow thought he deserved half. The dispute led to the end of Denslow's partnership with Baum.
The success of The Wizard of Oz inspired a range of imitations, one of which, Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland (1903), proved vastly superior to its inspiration and became a recognized classic.
