All Topics  
The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)
 
 
  Topics The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play) Topic Home

The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical play extravaganza
Extravaganza

An extravaganza is a literary or musical work characterized by freedom of style and structure and usually containing elements of burlesque , pantomime, music hall and parody....
 based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's literature novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. It was originally published by the George M....
 by L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an United States author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker, best known today as the creator, along with illustrator W....
, which was originally published in 1900. It premiered in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
 and later moved to Broadway in 1903, where it ran for nearly 300 performances from January 21, 1903 to December 31, 1904, followed by travelling tours of the original cast. It starred Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale

Dorothy Gale is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of the Land of Oz novels by United States author L. Frank Baum and best friend of Oz's ruler, Princess Ozma....
, Fred Stone
Fred Stone

Fred Andrew Stone was an United States actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, he went on to act on vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway theatre....
 as The Scarecrow and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman
Tin Woodman

The Tin Woodman is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and reappeared in many other The Oz Books....
 (who is called Niccolo Chopper in the play).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)'
Start a new discussion about 'The Wizard of Oz (1902 stage play)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical play extravaganza
Extravaganza

An extravaganza is a literary or musical work characterized by freedom of style and structure and usually containing elements of burlesque , pantomime, music hall and parody....
 based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's literature novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. It was originally published by the George M....
 by L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum was an United States author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker, best known today as the creator, along with illustrator W....
, which was originally published in 1900. It premiered in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
 and later moved to Broadway in 1903, where it ran for nearly 300 performances from January 21, 1903 to December 31, 1904, followed by travelling tours of the original cast. It starred Anna Laughlin as Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale

Dorothy Gale is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of the Land of Oz novels by United States author L. Frank Baum and best friend of Oz's ruler, Princess Ozma....
, Fred Stone
Fred Stone

Fred Andrew Stone was an United States actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, he went on to act on vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway theatre....
 as The Scarecrow and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman
Tin Woodman

The Tin Woodman is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and reappeared in many other The Oz Books....
 (who is called Niccolo Chopper in the play). Arthur Hill (no relation to the Canadian film, theatre and TV actor) played the Cowardly Lion
Cowardly Lion

The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum. He is a lion, but he talks and interacts with humans....
, but in this version, his role was reduced to a bit part. An element from the show — the snowfall caused by the Good Witch which finally kills the spell of the poppies that had put Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion to sleep — was later used in the famous 1939 movie
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 in film Cinema of the United States musical film-fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 Children's literature novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L....
.

Production

The play was written by L. Frank Baum himself, though after producer
Theatrical producer

A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a Theatre. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process....
 Fred R. Hamlin and director
Theatre direction

A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production by unifying various endeavours and aspects of production....
  Julian Mitchell rejected his 1901 spec script
Spec script

A spec script is a "speculative" screenplay, one that the Variety slanguage dictionary defines as being "shopped or sold on the open market, as opposed to one contract by a studio or production company."...
, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which held close to the novel, he wrote a completely new script based on their desires. He hired the librettist of Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland (operetta)

Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough , which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza....
, Glen MacDonough to add topical humor he felt himself incapable of writing. Most of the original songs were written by Paul Tietjens
Paul Tietjens

Paul Tietjens was an American composer of the early twentieth century. He is best known for composing music for the 1902 stage adaptation of L....
 on Baum's lyrics, but three, "The Guardian of the Gate" which was cut after only a few performances, "The Different Ways of Making Love" (which sounded less risqué at the time), and "It Happens Every Day" were composed by Nathaniel D. Mann, who later wrote the score for Baum's 1908 film/theatrical presentation, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays

The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays was an early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the motion picture screen. It was a mixture of theatre actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film....
. Most of Baum's songs related to the story in some way, as in operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
, but as performed, the play was more like Vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
, and new songs by other songwriters were frequently substituted. In fact, the first song interpolated into the musical was "The Traveler and the Pie", a major number for the Scarecrow, a song Baum and Tietjens had intended for a play called The Octopus; or the Title Trust, which was never produced and possibly never completed. This was to be an exception in that it was written by Baum and Tietjens, but it was a classic of the time and stayed in the show. James O'Dea and Edward Hutchinson wrote one of the show's most celebrated songs, "Sammy", which was sung by Tryxie Tryfle about a lost love before Pastoria, though the only contemporary recording of the piece was sung by a man!

The witches are largely absent in this version; The Good Witch of the North appears, named Locasta, and The Wicked Witch of the East is a special effect. The Wicked Witch of the West does not appear, and Glinda
Glinda

Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful Magic of Oz, although a fairy in later books, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma....
 appears to have been written out, as she does not appear in the Broadway cast list, although she does appear on another one. Toto, Dorothy's dog, has also been replaced, by a cow named Imogene.

New characters in the script include King Pastoria
Pastoria

Pastoria is a fictional character mentioned in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and a major character in The Lost King of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson....
 II, Oz's true king working as a Kansas motorman and his girlfriend, Trixie Tryfle, a waitress. His return takes up a bit more of the story than Dorothy's desire to return home. Another subplot includes Cynthia Cynch, the Lady Lunatic, a prototype for Nimmie Amee
Nimmie Amee

Nimmie Amee is the Munchkin girl whom the Tin Woodman once loved in L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.She was not named until Baum's 1918 novel, The Tin Woodman of Oz, as Nick Chopper never went to find her after the Wizard gave him a "kind" but not a "loving" heart until that novel's protagonist, Woot the Wanderer,...
, in that she is the Tin Woodman's girlfriend. Niccolo Chopper was renowned for his ability to play the piccolo
Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....
, which was the subject of one of her songs, and he is shown playing a piccolo in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input....
, which, the first Oz film made without Baum, was highly influenced by the popular play. The Wizard was presented as various ethnic stock character
Stock character

A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics....
 stereotypes, depending upon who played him. He was assisted by Sir Wiley Gyle and General Riskitt. David L. Greene and Dick Martin
Dick Martin

Dick Martin may refer to:*Dick Martin , American illustrator, particularly associated with the Land of Oz*Dick Martin , co-host of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In...
 erroneously captioned a picture of General Riskitt as "Sir Wiley Gyle" in The Oz Scrapbook, and Donald Abbott carried this mistake over into his illustrations for How the Wizard Saved Oz.

The animals in the play, including the Cowardly Lion, did not speak, based on pantomime
Pantomime

Pantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar and Republic of Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season....
 tradition. Although the lion costume was realistic, far more so than Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr was a American of German-Jewish heritage Tony Award-winning comic actor and vaudeville comedian....
's in the MGM film, his main purpose was a bit of comic relief and scaring off the villains on occasion. His quest for courage is completely omitted, much as the other characters' quests are deemphasized in favor of various comic routines. Ultimately, though, their desire to seek the Wizard's aid gets them caught on the wrong side of the revolution, jailed and ultimately scheduled for execution. In a deus ex machina
Deus ex machina

A deus ex machina is a plot device in which a surprising or unexpected event occurs in a story's plot, often to resolve flaws or tie up loose ends in the narrative....
, another tornado arrives to sweep Dorothy home from the chopping block.

Many new plot twists are virtually pointless. In addition to a kiss of protection, Dorothy gets three wishes, one of which is wasted on a triviality. The second is used to bring the Scarecrow to life, and the third is used so she can learn the song Sir Dashemoff Daily (a trouser role) has written to his girlfriend, Carrie Barry. This song was written by Baum and Tietjens, but some programs credited the song to Glen MacDonough and A. Baldwin Sloane to make their connection to the play look greater.

Probably the biggest influence on the 1939 MGM film, aside from making the story into a musical (for which many at MGM thought this show's classic songs should be utilized, though they were outvoted), is the Poppy Sequence that ended Act I. In the novel, Baum imaginatively has a legion of field mice pull a cart with the Cowardly Lion out of the poppy field. This was deemed unfeasible (though the stage version of The Wiz
The Wiz

The Wiz is a 1975 in music#Musical theatre, based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, exclusively featuring African American actors....
 created a variation, with the mice as anthropomorphic vice cops
Vice unit

A vice unit or vice squad is a department in many Police that investigates public order crimes. This generally includes narcotics, alcohol , prostitution, pornography and gambling....
), and Baum, though he included it in the 1901 script, replaced the scene with that of the Snow Queen creating a storm that destroys the poppies, much as Glinda does in the 1939 movie. This concluded Act I with an elaborate dance known as "Winter Jubilation", which James Patrick Doyle plays on synthesizers on the album, Before the Rainbow: The Original Music of Oz.

Because there were no cast albums in those days, productions of the musical often exceeded four hours in length because of multiple demands for encores, since many of the attendees knew they would never get to attend again, and these encores were responded to. Popular songs were often sung multiple times and this was often used to gauge whether a song should be retained or dropped. Two popular routines that were worked in include a sailing
Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
 routine and a football
American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
 routine, the latter parodying the level of violence
Violence

Violence is the expression of physical force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects ....
 in the sport, which had recently been lessened due to new regulations.

Sequel


The success of the play led Baum to write The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904 in literature, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz....
 after four years of demand for a sequel to the novel. He dedicated the book to Montgomery and Stone, and made the roles of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman prominent, with the roles of Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion reduced to a reminiscence. After the team balked at leaving Wizard for a sequel, Baum wrote the stage musical, The Woggle-Bug, eliminating the Tin Woodman, replacing the Scarecrow with Regent Sir Richard Spud, replacing Glinda with Maetta from The Magical Monarch of Mo
The Magical Monarch of Mo

The Magical Monarch of Mo is the first full-length children's literature fantasy book by L. Frank Baum. Originally published in 1899 as A New Wonderland, the book was reissued in 1903 with a new title in order to capitalize upon the alliterative title of Baum's successful The Wonderful Wizard of Oz....
 and renaming the Emerald City
Emerald City

The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz....
 the "City of Jewels," though Oz is mentioned several times. The first appearance of the title character was moved from halfway through the novel to the opening scene, and his mentor, Professor Knowitall, name shortened to Professor Knowitt, was raised to the level of romantic lead with a girlfriend named Prissy Pring, a Captain in General Jinjur
Jinjur

Jinjur is a character in the List of Oz books books by L. Frank Baum and his successors. She first appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz as a self-appointed general leading an "Army of Revolt"?an all-woman force seeking to end the reign of the Scarecrow and take over Emerald City....
's Army of Revolt. Jack Pumpkinhead and The Woggle-Bug became a comic team analogous to the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman. The play was performed at the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre

The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on April 24 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero....
 in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
 and opened to reviews panning Baum's script and praising the score by Frederic Chapin. No songs were interpolated, but the general consensus was that the play was a cash-in or rip-off of The Wizard of Oz rather than a sequel

Revivals

The play was performed in a concert version in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 in the 1980s. And it has been revived in Tarpon Springs, Florida
Tarpon Springs, Florida

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, Florida, United States. The population was 21,003 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S....
 by the New Century Opera Company in 1998 and, most recently, July 2006. Hungry Tiger Press
Hungry Tiger Press

Hungry Tiger Press is an American specialty publisher of books, compact discs, comic books and graphic novels, focused on the works of L. Frank Baum, other authors of Land of Oz books, and related Americana....
 announced several years ago that it would be publishing the complete libretto for the first time, but has been delayed years beyond the original announcement on claims of finding new material, though many suspect the sudden death of James Patrick Doyle was the major factor. There have been several new recordings of the songs, though none have had major distribution.

Music


by Paul Tietjens

  • Prelude
  • Life in Kansas
  • Cyclone
  • Transformation
  • Maypole Dance
  • Death of the Wicked Witch
  • Locasta's Entrance
  • Invocation & Death of the Poppies
  • Transformation
  • Winter Jubilation
  • Hayfoot, Strawfoot
  • Phantom Patrol
  • Waltz & Grand March
  • Lanciers
  • Schottische


by L. Frank Baum and Paul Tietjens

  • Just a Simple Girl from the Prairie (Dorothy Gale
    Dorothy Gale

    Dorothy Gale is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of the Land of Oz novels by United States author L. Frank Baum and best friend of Oz's ruler, Princess Ozma....
    )
  • Niccolo's Piccolo (sometimes attributed to MacDonough and Sloan) (Cynthia Cynch)
  • Carrie Barry (sometimes attributed to MacDonough and Sloan) (Dorothy Gale)
  • The Scarecrow (Alas for the Man Without Brains) (Scarecrow
    Scarecrow (Oz)

    The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum and illustrator William Wallace Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one....
    )
  • Love Is Love (Sir Dashemoff Daily)
  • When You Love, Love, Love (Scarecrow, Tin Woodman
    Tin Woodman

    The Tin Woodman is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and reappeared in many other The Oz Books....
    , and Dorothy Gale)
  • Poppy Song (Poppy Chorus)
  • When We Get What's A'comin to Us (Dorothy Gale, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman)
  • The Wizard Is No Longer King (Ensemble)
  • The Traveler and the Pie (Scarecrow)


by L. Frank Baum and Nathaniel D. Mann

  • The Guardian of the Gate (Guardian of the Gates
    Guardian of the Gates

    The Guardian of the Gates is an important character in the List of Oz books of L. Frank Baum. He is never known by any other name, but he is depicted as a singular character who lives in a small room, based on its description significantly larger than a standard guardhouse, in the wall of the Emerald City....
    ) (cut after first few Chicago performances)
  • The Different Ways of Making Love (Dorothy Gale and Cynthia Cynch)
  • It Happens Every Day


by John Slavin and Nathaniel D. Mann

  • She Didn't Really Mind the Thing at All (Wizard
    Wizard (Oz)

    The Wizard of Oz is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by United States author L. Frank Baum and further popularized by the classic 1939 movie....
    )


by A. Baldwin Sloane and Glen MacDonough

  • In Michigan (Pastoria)
  • The Man Who Stays in Town (Pastoria and Tryxie Tryfle) (unconfirmed, uncredited attribution)
  • Star of My Native Land (Pastoria)


by William Jerome and Jean Schwartz

  • Mr. Dooley (Wizard)


by Edgar Smith and A. Baldwin Sloane

  • Connemara Christening (Tin Woodman)
  • Spanish Bolero (Scarecrow)


by Weslyn and Albert

  • The Witch Behind the Moon


by Harry Freeman

  • I'll Be Your Honey in the Springtime (Dorothy Gale and Chorus)


by James O'Dea and Edward Hutchinson

  • Sammy (Tryxie Tryfle)
  • As Long as There's Love in the World (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Matt C. Woodward and Benjamin Jerome

  • Bloomin' Lize (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)


by James O'Dea and Robert J. Adams

  • When the Circus Comes to Town (Tryxie Tryfle)
  • Gooda-bye Fedora (O'Dea credited as Harry J. Williams)
  • Pimlico Malinda (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)
  • The Sweetest Girl in Dixie (Dorothy Gale)


by Will D. Cobb and Gus Edwards

  • Rosalie (Dorothy Gale and Cynthia Cynch)
  • I Love Only One Girl in the Wide, Wide World (Sir Dashemoff Daily)
  • The Tale of a Cassowary (Cynthia Cynch)
  • Johnnie I'll Take You (Tryxie Tryfle)
  • I'll Never Love Another Love Like I Love You (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Hugh Morton and Gustave Kerker

  • The Lobster Song (I Was Walking 'Round the Ocean) (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)


by Frank Leo

  • That's Where She Sits All Day (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in "cockney
    Cockney

    The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End of London....
     Negro
    Negro

    Negro is a term referring to people of Black people ancestry. Prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in the late 1960s, the appellation was accepted as a normal neutral formal term both by those of Black African descent as well as non-African blacks....
    ")


by Vincent Bryan and Theodore F. Morse

  • Nautical Nonsense (Hurrah for Baffin's Bay!) (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)


by Henry M. Blossom, Jr. and George A. Spink

  • Honey, My Sweet (Dorothy Gale)


by Harry Boden, David C. Montgomery, and Bert Brantford

  • Must You? (Tin Woodman, with Scarecrow)


by Ed Gardenier and Edwin S. Brill

  • Things That We Don't Learn at School


by Vincent Bryan and J.B. Mullen

  • Down on the Brandywine (Trixie Tryfle and Pastoria)
  • 'Twas Enough to Make a Perfect Lady Mad (Cynthia Cynch)
  • Under a Panama (Dorothy Gale)
  • The Nightmare (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)


by Will R. Anderson

  • I Love You All the Time (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Edward P. Moran and Seymour Furth

  • Mary Canary (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Williams and Vanalstyne

  • Johnnie Morgan


by Charles Zimmerman and Frank Keesee

  • Only You (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Charles Zimmerman and Hollister

  • When the Heart is Sad (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Vincent Bryan and Charles Zimmerman

  • Marching Thro' Georgia (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)
  • Sitting Bull (Scarecrow)
  • Football (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)
  • Marching Through Port Arthur (Scarecrow and Tin Woodman)


by selena gomez and Leo Edwards

  • The Tale of the Monkey (Cynthia Cynch)
  • My Own Girl (Sir Dashemoff Daily)


by Frank R. Adams, Will M. Hough, and Joseph E. Howard

  • Julie Dooley (Wizard) (originally from Her Highness the Bey (1905))


by George Totten Smith, Byrd Dougherty, and Benjamin M. Jerome

  • The Tale of a Stroll (Tryxie Tryfle) (originally from The Royal Chef (1904))


by James A. Brennan

  • Fraidy Cat (Dorothy Gale) (introduced in 1911 stock production)


See also

  • The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
    The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz , starring Judy Garland....
     — other adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's literature novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow. It was originally published by the George M....


External links