This enrages the witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda presents Dorothy with the magic ruby slippers belonging to the dead wicked witch. These little people are overjoyed at the demise of their wicked tormentor (" Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"). Glinda calls for the Munchkins to "Come Out". Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, greets Dorothy and Toto and tells her where she is. Landing in Oz, Dorothy's house flattens the Wicked Witch of the East. Inside the farm house, she bangs her head on the bedside. They are interrupted by a twister, and Dorothy runs home for shelter. She runs away from the farm and meets Professor Marvel, who tells her all about "The Wonders of the World". Dorothy wants to escape to a nicer place, somewhere " Over the Rainbow". The unpleasant Miss Gulch threatens to call the sheriff after Toto bites her leg. In this stage version, the character gets equal time with the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.Ī crucial visual element of the film has been retained in the stage version.Dorothy Gale lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and dog Toto, but feels that her aunt and uncle don't understand her ("Nobody Understands Me"). One famous number from the movie is missing - the Cowardly Lion's "King of the Forest," which gave actor Bert Lahr an extra solo. In the stage show, it gives you a better insight into what Dorothy's thinking." "As I understand it, it was considered too melancholy for a children's film, so it was cut. "Dorothy sings it plaintively when she's locked up in the Witch's tower," Rogers says. Webber uses some music that was cut from the movie before its release, including a reprise of "Over the Rainbow." "The orchestrations sound at once old-fashioned and contemporary." "You want the show to speak with one voice," Rogers says. The show's music director, David Andrews Rogers, who has guided several Broadway and touring productions, credits orchestrator David Cullen with helping to hold the 19 elements together. "The music fits in quite seamlessly, I think." "Andrew Lloyd Webber has clearly thought a lot about Harold Arlen while writing the new songs," McClellan says. The whole score to this musical involves a certain back-and-forth, given the distinctions between the familiar movie songs and the additional ones. In her song, she snaps back and forth between giddy and evil." The witch still needs to scare the kids, though. I think they feed off of each other in a way."ĭonovan notes that the witch in the Webber-ized "Oz" differs a bit from the one in the movies. But it has been interesting to have both shows on the road at the same time. "At the stage door one night, I heard someone say, 'Look, there's Elphaba.' I don't know how to respond to that. "I may be the only music theater performer who has never seen 'Wicked,'" Donovan says. One thing Donovan's portrayal does not acknowledge is another incarnation of the witch, the one named Elphaba in the mega-hit "Wicked," a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz." She's funny she stands up for her friends she saves lives. Sams and Webber have "created a new Dorothy," McClellan says. The girl who laments that nobody understands her turns out to be ready for anything when she winds up in Oz. Why would she want to leave? One of my favorite things about our version is that it shows why." She had a beautiful dress and an awesome dog, and it didn't seem like she had to do any work. But when I saw it, I didn't understand why Dorothy wanted to leave home. "Now I love it to death," McClellan says. McClellan, barely into her 20s, remembers the 1939 movie being on TV while growing up - "It was my grandmother's favorite," she says - but did not watch it all the way through until she got a chance to audition for the musical. (Most of the tour has featured Danielle Wade, who was cast as Dorothy after winning a talent competition on Canadian television to fill the role.) The voice that will be heard in Baltimore belongs to Julia McClellan, a Canadian who has been on the "Wizard of Oz" tour since it launched last fall, after the show's eight-month run in Toronto. "It's designed to introduce her as an angst-ridden teenager who feels her voice isn't being heard," Paul says.
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