Wizard of Oz Tickets
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The Wizard of Oz on Tour
Audiences have been going off to see The Wizard of Oz since 1902, when the first musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel premiered at the Chicago Grand Opera House.
Published to general acclaim in 1900, Baum's children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz sold more than 3 million copies and introduced readers to Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch of the East, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wizard himself. After writing "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale," as the Library of Congress characterized it, Baum went on to write 13 Oz sequels.
When he wrote his 1902 musical adaptation, Baum replaced Toto with a cow named Imogene, introduced new characters (including the waitress Trixie Tryfle and the loopy Cynthia Cynch), and deleted the Wicked Witch of the West – who reappeared in a 1910 silent-film adaptation of Baum's book before starring in her own hit stage musical some nine decades later.
One of the greatest movies ever made, the 1939 MGM Technicolor musical version of The Wizard of Oz was directed by Victor Fleming (who left mid-production to take over Gone With the Wind) and starred Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins. It won Academy Awards for Best Music and Best Original Song ("Over the Rainbow"). Garland, 16, garnered a special honorary Academy Juvenile Award for her unforgettable portrayal of Dorothy Gale.
The Wizard of Oz became part of America's cultural DNA between 1956, when it was first broadcast on network television, and 2005, which marked the last nearly annual network broadcast before it moved exclusively to cable.
There have been plenty of other notable Wizard of Oz musical adaptations. A 1959 Holiday on Ice rendition. The Afrocentric 1975 musical The Wiz. The Royal Shakespeare Company's 1995 concert performance featuring Jewel as Dorothy, Roger Daltrey as the Scarecrow, and Jackson Browne as the Tin Woodman. And of course Wicked, which has dazzled Broadway audiences since 2003.
But never fear: A magical time is guaranteed no matter which musical version of The Wizard of Oz you're off to see.