Directed by Judith Howe
February 12, 13 & 14, 1998

Farmhands
Malcolm Bentote, Pam Brown, Iris Castles, Estelle Dunham

Munchkins
Bridget Allen, Dorothy Bentote, Pat Harper, Robin Howe, Emily & Callum Hennessey, Ann Sykes, Tag, Blair Taggart, Lauren Waller, Sarah Waller, Philip Waller, David Williams

Jitterbugs
Vicki Doolin, Alison Higgs, Katherine Plummer, Amy Williams

Programme Notes        [ Photographs ]

L. FRANK BAUM - The Wizard of Oz
Born in Chittenango in upstate New York on May 15, 1856, Lyman Frank Baum was the son of wealthy parents. He hated his first name and was known as Frank all his life. He was a dreamer and for a while was not much of a success at anything. He tried acting, selling crockery and machine oil, managing department stores, newspaper editing and reporting - none of which held his interest for long. Baum started writing after being encouraged to set down the tales he had been telling his four sons for years. Having initially had trouble finding a publisher, his works eventually caught the fancy of the public and he managed to make a decent living. He was a prolific writer, The Wizard of Oz was only one of his works. Writing under both his name and many pen-names, Baum wrote fantasy, non-fantasy, adventures, poetry and short stories until his death on May 6, 1919.

The Wizard of Oz, as it was to become, started off as just one of the stories Baum made up for his sons. Having been persuaded to write the story, his friend W. W. Denslow agreed to illustrate it. At the time, publishers were only interested in publishing children's stories from European writers. Finally, Baum and Denslow made a deal with their previous publisher and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (it's full title) was published in May 1900, becoming the biggest selling book that year. The Wizard of Oz is the first, the most well known and most successful of the fourteen Oz novels.

They are many stories that tell of how Baum came up with the names in the story. Dorothy may have been named after his niece who died in infancy. Oz is said to have come from Baum's filing cabinet whose two drawers were labelled 'A-N' and 'O-Z'. It could just be, however, the abbreviation for 'ounces'.

Almost as soon as it was published there was talk of turning The Wizard of Oz into a play. It debuted in Chicago in 1902 and a year later was moved to Broadway, where it played for one of the longest runs of its day. In 1956 the St. Louis Light Opera produced a version of The Wizard of Oz, with songs from the famous movie. It was successful enough that other regional theatres put it on as well. It's still the version most frequently staged today, especially by amateur dramatic societies.

Until 1937 Hollywood rarely made fantasy movies - it was thought the public would not accept them. Following the success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the other studios took notice and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it's full-colour special effects spectacular. The Wizard of Oz was first seen in mid-June 1939, where it was sneaked into cinemas in the Los Angeles area to gauge audience reaction. This version was not completely edited and it was after a sneak preview in either Santa Barbara or San Bernardino that 'The Jitterbug' was cut. The official premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, 1939 attended by most of the cast and crew and a number of Hollywood celebrities. The first European release was in December of 1939 in Great Britain.

There are many differences between the original text, the various plays and adaptations and the famous film. Probably the most obvious, apart from Toto, is the colour of the slippers. Baum's slippers were silver, as they are in this musical. Wanting as much colour in their 'spectacular', MGM made them ruby. Which ever version you remember, the messages are the same. All you need do is look inside yourself to discover the brains, the heart and the courage you had all the time. The other, of course, is that there really is no place like home.