There was turmoil everywhere in 1939. Aweary America was just beginning to recover from the Great Depression. Europewas on the brink of World War II. Theworld needed a beacon of hope and Holly-wood was doing its best to pull people outof the doldrums. Motion picture and film historians rate 1939as "the greatest year in the history of Holly-wood." The list of movies released in 1939includes GONE WITH THE WIND, whichswept the Academy Awards, MR. SMITHGOES TO WASHINGTON, WUTHERINGHEIGHTS, GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS,STAGECOACH, THE HUNCHBACK OFNOTRE DAME, THE OLD MAID, DARKVICTORY, THE WOMEN and THE WIZARD OF OZ, one of the most popularand beloved films ever made. The film was nominated for six AcademyAwards, including Best Picture; it lost to another MGM film, GONE WITH THEWIND, directed by Victor Fleming, also thedirector of OZ. But it earned Oscars for ArtDirection, Cinematography and Best Special Effects. E.Y. Harburg and HaroldArlen won the award for Best Song (OverThe Rainbow) and composer HerbertStothart received the Best Original ScoreAward. Judy Garland received a special"Best Performance by a Juvenile" Award. Despite all its recognition, THE WIZARDOF OZ was only a modest box office suc-cess when it was released. Much of thatwas due to the high cost of production ver-sus the low price of tickets. It was a highlycomplicated film to make, costing MGMStudios $3.2 million to develop, but it onlyearned back about that amount when itwas first released in 1939. "It was the repeated showings on TV thatreally made it a part of American child-hood," says Michael Patrick Hearn, authorof THE ANNOTATED WIZARD OF OZ.“You waited a whole year to watch THEWIZARD OF OZ again. It became a national event.” Part of the appeal, Hearnsays, is the multi-generational bonds thatwere created. "It was shared by parentsand their children. And then the childrengrew up and their children watched it. It really was an American fairy tale. There areso many things that relate to the American

experience -- the scarecrow, the mechani-cal man and the wizard that turns out to bea humbug from Omaha." British/Indian novelist Salman Rushdie ac-knowledges “THE WIZARD OF OZ wasmy very first literary influence. When I firstsaw the movie, it made a writer of me." Hisfirst short story, written at the age of ten,was titled OVER THE RAINBOW.In a 2009 article about THE WIZARD OFOZ, San Francisco Chronicle film critic andauthor Mick LaSalle states that the film's"Munchkinland sequence from Dorothy'sarrival in Oz to her departure on the YellowBrick Road, has to be one of the greatest incinema history- a masterpiece of set design, costuming, choreography, music,lyrics, storytelling and sheer imagination."Linda Brovsky, director of Skylight’s produc-tion, says Dorothy’s story of coming out ofgrayness into a joyous world of color is almost like a metaphor for the journey ofour country as it was recovering from adeep economic depression. “It’s also inter-esting to know that RAF pilots played Overthe Rainbow as they flew into battle. Thatconveys a message of courage -- not don’tbe afraid but be afraid and face that fear.”

music theatre

Audience GuideSee the guide in color online atwww.skylightmusictheatre.org

2014-2015Our 56th SeasonIssue 2, November/December/January 2014-15IN THIS ISSUE

AUDIENCE GUIDEResearch/Writing by Justine Leonard

for ENLIGHTEN,Skylight Music Theatre’s Education ProgramEdited by Ray Jivoff414-299-4965

rayj@skylightmusictheatre.orgwww.skylightmusictheatre.org

By L. Frank BaumWith Music and Lyrics by

Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburgadapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company

Supported by

Baird Private Asset Management

This production is generously sponsored by

The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale

Skylight is proud to be a cornerstone member of

THE WIZARD OF OZ has become a staple of our popular culture. Young or old,we can recite the lines and we know thecharacters by heart: Dorothy, Toto, the TinMan, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lionand the Munchkins. But what do we knowabout the author who created this classic?Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6,1919), is remembered chiefly for his chil-dren's book, THE WONDERFUL WIZARDOF OZ. Baum was a fascinating personwho had a wonderfully interesting life. Hewrote 55 novels in total, plus four "lost" novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poemsand an unknown number of plays. Hemade numerous attempts to bring hisworks to the stage and screen. He pub-lished newspapers, magazines, performedon stage and even worked as a travellingsalesman. Baum was a man who wasnever afraid to try and never afraid to fail. He was born in Chittenango, just east ofSyracuse, New York to a devout Methodistfamily. He had German, Scots-Irish andEnglish ancestry, and was the seventh ofnine children of Cynthia and BenjaminWard Baum. A sickly child with a bad heart,he could not exert himself physically or playlike other children. Instead, he made upplaces and stories, developing his creativeside and laying the foundation for his futureas a writer. To rid him of his dreamer-like tendencies,his parents sent him to nearby PeekskillMilitary School. Having been homeschooled, he was not accustomed to thestrict rules and regimented schedules, andhis two years there were miserable. In hissecond year he suffered a heart attack or a

nervous breakdown (it is not clear which)and he returned home.When he was 15, his father bought him aprinting press and he was soon publishinghis own newspaper, The Rose LawnHome Journal. The paper contained arti-cles, editorials, poetry and word games. In1873, Frank started another paper calledThe Empire and The Stamp Collector, amagazine for philatelists.When he was 20, Baum joined the nationalcraze of breeding fancy poultry. He special-ized in raising small colorful Hamburgs,popular at the time. He won awards, published a magazine called The PoultryRecord and wrote a book called THEBOOK OF HAMBURGS, A TREATISE UPONTHE MATING, REARING AND MANAGEMENT OFTHE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF HAMBURGS.

Baum had a lifetime infatuation with thetheater, and considered a career as anactor. His father owned opera houses inNew York and Pennsylvania, and eventu-ally made him the manager. He soonbegan writing plays. His most successfulwas THE MAID OF ARRAN based on aScottish novel, A PRINCESS OF THULE,by William Black. Baum not only wrote theplay but composed the music, managedthe production and played the leading role. In 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, whocame from a prosperous family. Hermother, Matilda Joslyn Gage, was a nation-ally known feminist who worked with suffra-gettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and SusanB. Anthony. Matilda Gage initially thoughtFrank was “rather flighty, a dreamer type”and an unstable match for her daughter.But she admired his storytelling abilities,encouraged him to publish his work andbecame one of his biggest boosters. Gagelived half the year with Maud and Frank,and died in their home in Chicago.In many respects, Frank and Maud wereexact opposites. She was headstrong andtemperamental. Frank was low key, even-tempered and optimistic. From the time oftheir marriage until his death 37 years later,he allowed her to have her own way withthe household, the children and the familybudget. Whatever their secret formula, itwas a happy marriage.Early in their marriage, Maud joined Frankon tour with THE MAID OF ARRAN. How-

ever, when she became pregnant with theirfirst child, they settled down in Syracusewhere Baum worked in sales for the familybusiness. Shortly after Baum’s father died in 1888,Frank and Maud, like so many familiesseeking better fortunes, moved west to Aberdeen, Dakota Territory. (Baum’s description of Kansas in THE WONDER-FUL WIZARD OF OZ would be based onhis time in drought-ridden South Dakota.)His first venture there was "Baum'sBazaar”, which sold a variety of goodsfrom tableware to household goods totoys and candy. Children loved comingto the store to listen to Baum tell sto-ries of faraway places and enchantedlands. But his habit of giving awaywares and extending credit eventuallyled to the store’s bankruptcy.Undaunted, Baum then began runninga local newspaper, The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer. He sold advertise-ments, set the type, ran the press andwrote most of the articles and editori-als. Although the paper was popular, itwent out of business in 1891. But Baum remained optimistic and in1893, when Chicago hosted the WorldColumbian Exposition, it seemed alogical place to try to find employment.By now Frank and Maud had foursons, but they packed up and headed

WIZARD OF OZThe Man Behind The Curtain: L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (1856 –1919)

for their next adventure. Baum took ajob reporting for the Evening Post. Forseveral years he edited The ShowWindow, a Journal of Practical Window Trimming for the Merchantand the Professional. In 1900, he published a book on the subject. Healso worked as a traveling salesman,but he kept writing his stories, some-times on scraps of paper. In 1897, he published MOTHERGOOSE IN PROSE, a collection ofMother Goose rhymes written as stories, and illustrated by MaxfieldParrish. (Parrish would later becomeone the best-known and highest-paidcommercial artists in the country).MOTHER GOOSE was a moderatesuccess, and allowed Baum to quit hisdoor-to-door sales job, which was hav-ing a negative impact on his health. His life and career would change aftermeeting illustrator William W. Denslow.The combination of Baum’s versesand Denslow’s illustrations were theperfect combination for pleasing chil-dren. Denslow was described as beingserious and gruff, quite the opposite ofBaum. Years later their contradictorypersonalities were the downfall of theirrelationship. Their first official collabo-ration was FATHER GOOSE, HISBOOK, published in 1899. It was animmediate success, becoming thebestselling children’s book of the year. Baum wanted to write a new kind offairy tale, different than the frighteningstories traditionally told to children atthe time. In 1900, Baum and Denslow

(with whom he shared the copyright)published THE WONDERFUL WIZARDOF OZ, which began as a story Baumtold to his own children. The bookearned critical acclaim and financialsuccess and remained the best-sellingchildren's book for two years after itspublication. Baum and Denslow teamed up withcomposer Paul Tietjens to produce amusical stage version of the book in1902. This version was aimed primarily at adults and differed quite abit from the book. The show was amajor hit on Broadway and continuedits success on tour.

Baum and Denslow eventually split upand Baum went on to produce 13 se-quels to the Oz books. Several timesduring the development of the Oz se-ries, Baum declared that he had writ-ten his last Oz book and wrote otherbooks including THE LIFE AND ADVEN-TURES OF SANTA CLAUS and QUEENZIXI OF IX. However, persuaded bypopular demand, letters from childrenand the failure of his new books, hecontinued to return to the OZ series. He also wrote other kinds of children’sbooks under different pennames including AUNT JANE’S NIECES, whichbecame a very popular teenage seriesfor girls written under the pen name ofEdith Van Dyne. Financial success not only built hisreputation but provided the comforts of

life and the pleasures of traveling thathe and Maud enjoyed. After touringmuch of the world, they decided toleave Chicago and move to California,which had a climate more favorable tohis failing health. They built a newhome, which they called Ozcot, in thebudding film colony of Hollywood.Baum had always had an interest inmovies and in 1914 started his ownfilm production company, The Oz FilmManufacturing Company. He servedas its president, principal producer andscreenwriter. The venture was not asuccess. On May 5, 1919, he suffered a stroke.The following day he slipped into acoma but briefly awoke and spoke hislast words to his wife, "Now we cancross the Shifting Sands." His humble tombstone reads simply“L. Frank Baum 1856-1919″. Thismodest inscription doesn’t even beginto tell the story of this amazing manand the happiness children and adultsstill discover and rediscover in themagic of his work.

Sources include THE REAL WIZARDOF OZ by Rebecca Loncraine, 2009; L. FRANK BAUM, ROYAL HISTORIANOF OZ by Angelica Carpenter, 1992

WIZARD OF OZ

Baum’s 14 Original Oz BooksTHE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ (1900)THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ (1904)

OZMA OF OZ (1907)DOROTHY AND THEWIZARD IN OZ (1908)

THE ROAD TO OZ (1909)THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ (1909)

THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ (1910)TIK-TOK OF OZ (1913)

THE SCARECROW OF OZ (1914)RINKITINK OF OZ (1915)

THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ (1917)THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ (1918)

TWO POSTUMOUSLY PUBLISHED:THE MAGIC OF OZ (1919)GLINDA OF OZ (1920)

Harold Arlen’s music is everywhere!He wrote over 400 songs for Broad-way and film and is one of the greatestof all American composers, writing ex-traordinarily complex melodies thathave a universal appeal. ''The distinctive Arlen touch,'' criticJohn S. Wilson wrote in The New YorkTimes in 1978, ''was the jazz-based,blues-rooted quality of his music. Suchsongs as Stormy Weather and Bluesin the Night place him alongside DukeEllington rather than Richard Rodgersor Jerome Kern or Irving Berlin.'' He was born Hyman Arluck in 1905 inBuffalo, New York, the son of a cele-brated cantor, Samuel Arluck. His fa-ther’s singing made a huge impressionon Hyman, who later referred to his fa-ther as “the greatest theme and varia-tions man I ever heard.” Manycharacteristic Arlen melodies are trib-utes to his father. By age 7, Hyman was singing in hisfather’s synagogue. He studied thepiano, and soon branched out as asinger and arranger, performing inschool assemblies and movie houses.At the age of 15 he formed his ownband, “The Snappy Trio.” Later, hejoined a bigger band that took him toNew York in 1925, the peak of theJazz Age. In Manhattan, Arlen foundwork as a singer, pianist and arranger. By then he had changed his name toHarold Arlen, combining his last namewith his mother’s maiden name-Orlin.His first big break came with his

appearance in Vincent Youmans’ musical GREAT DAY as “Cokey Joe”. Itmarked the end of Arlen’s career as asinger and catapulted him into composing, developing his own origi-nal and distinctive melodic style. Arlenwas introduced to lyricist Ted Koehler,who devised a lyric for the song, GetHappy. It was Arlen’s first professionalsong and his first hit, which led to himsigning with a publisher.Through the mid-thirties, Arlen andKoehler composed now classic songsfor shows at Harlem’s celebrated Cot-ton Club. The openings of these pro-ductions, which featured the bands ofCab Calloway and Duke Ellington,were attended by celebrities of the daywith all the excitement of a Broadwayshow. Some of the team’s most mem-orable songs included Between theDevil and the Deep Blue Sea, I Love aParade, I've Got the World On A Stringand Stormy Weather, a huge hit forsinger Ethel Waters. After several Broadway successes,Arlen moved to Hollywood. He com-posed some of the biggest movie hitscollaborating with lyricists E. Y. Har-burg, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin,Leo Robin, Ralph Blane, DorothyFields-and again with Ted Koehler. He is probably most remembered forthe songs he wrote for THE WIZARDOF OZ. He and lyricist E.Y. Harburgwere given only two months to writethe score before the filming was tobegin. The team produced an endur-ing score including their most famoussong, Over the Rainbow, which wonthe Academy Award for Best OriginalSong. It has been named the NumberOne Song of the Century by theRecording Industry Association ofAmerica and the National Endowmentfor the Arts.Remarkably, the Arlen/Harburg teamalso wrote Lydia, the Tattooed Lady forthe Marx Brothers’ 1939 movie, AT THECIRCUS. Arlen’s other film scores include CABIN IN THE SKY (1943), A STAR IS BORN (1954) and THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954). In the 1940s,he teamed up with lyricist Johnny Mer-cer to write hit songs such as Blues in

the Night, That Old Black Magic, Onefor My Baby (and One More for theRoad) and Come Rain or Come Shine.He composed two definitive songswhich bookend Judy Garland's career:as an innocent girl with Over the Rain-bow and as a world-weary, "chicchanteuse" with The Man that GotAway, written with Ira Gershwin for the1954 version of A STAR IS BORN.

Arlen composed for Broadway whileworking in Hollywood. He and Harburgwrote the score for HOORAY FORWHAT (1937) and BLOOMER GIRL(1944). With Mercer he wrote the songsfor the show ST. LOUIS WOMAN. Arlencollaborated with Truman Capote onone of his finest scores, HOUSE OFFLOWERS (1954), with E.Y. Harburg onJAMAICA (1957) and again with JohnnyMercer on SARATOGA (1959). In 1961he wrote the music for GAY PURR-EE,a cartoon film about French cats star-ring Judy Garland and Robert Goulet. Putting words to Arlen’s melodies wasa challenge because his music wasnever common, never run- of- the-mill.Its uniqueness demanded excellentlyricists and Arlen always worked withthe very best. Typically self-effacing,he would often credit the popularity ofhis songs to the words. But undoubt-edly Arlen’s touch as a master com-poser had much to do with theenduring success of his work.Harold Arlen died in 1986 of cancer inhis apartment on Central Park West inNew York City. He was 81 years old.

WIZARD OF OZComposer Harold Arlen (1905-1986)

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg was a poet, authorand one of our greatest contemporarylyricists. He wrote the words to over600 songs composed by some ofAmerica’s most famous composers.He was known as “Broadway’s SocialConscience” because of his life-longdedication to social justice.Harburg, the son of Russian immi-grants, was raised in a Lower EastSide tenement. He was nicknamed"Yipsel" (Yiddish for squirrel) becauseof his constant clowning and un-bounded energy. His parents were Or-thodox Jews who took their son to theYiddish theater. The blending ofhumor, fantasy and social commentaryhe saw there left an indelible mark onhis future work. He developed anawareness of economic injustice andexploitation, and maintained strongpolitical convictions throughout his life. He attended high school at TownsendHarris Hall, an experimental school,where he worked on the school news-paper with fellow student Ira Gersh-win. After graduation from City Collegeof N.Y. in 1921, Harburg worked as ajournalist in South America and, whenhe returned, he ran an electrical appli-ance company that went out of busi-ness after the 1929 stock marketcrash. Harburg's old friend Ira Gersh-win came to his rescue loaning himmoney and introducing him to com-posers and writers.Harburg began writing lyrics with composer Jay Gorney, a formerlawyer. For the 1932 revue, AMERICANA, they wrote Brother, CanYou Spare a Dime?, which has beencalled "the anthem of the Depression”.Considered by some to be anti-capital-ist propaganda, it was almost droppedfrom the show and attempts weremade to ban it from the radio.

Harburg was offered a contract withParamount Pictures where he workedwith other composers includingJerome Kern, Jule Styne and BurtonLane. He also collaborated with Vernon Duke on several shows, including WALK A LITTLE FASTER(1932), which introduced April in Paris.At about the same time, Harburgbegan a decades-long partnershipwith Harold Arlen. They wrote It's Onlya Paper Moon with Billy Rose in 1933.The Arlen/ Harburg team's pinnaclecame in 1939, when they wrote thescore for the movie THE WIZARD OFOZ, which Harburg approached as aDepression fantasy with songs.In 1943, they wrote the score for themovie CABIN IN THE SKY, which fea-tured Lena Horne and Ethel Waters,who sang Happiness is Just a ThingCalled Joe. Harburg and Arlen's 1944Broadway musical, BLOOMER GIRL,which starred Celeste Holm, was anunusual musical for the day because itaddressed slavery, the woman's reform movement and the horrors ofwar. Celeste Holm starred as a rebel-lious daughter of a hoopskirt manufac-turer who refuses to wear hoopskirtsor to marry her father's choice of ahusband. The score ranged from thehaunting The Eagle and Me to the ro-mantic Right as the Rain.In 1947, Harburg and Burton Lane col-laborated on the Broadway musicalFINIAN'S RAINBOW. In keeping withHarburg's passion for social issues,the show dealt with issues of race andprejudice amid leprechauns, pots ofgold and politics in the fictitious south-ern U.S. state of Missitucky. The scoreincluded How Are Things in GloccaMorra?, Old Devil Moon and Look tothe Rainbow.His next project, FLAHOOLEY (1951),with composers Sammy Fain and FredSaidy, was set in a toy factory, andparodied the rabid anti-communistwitch hunts that pervaded 1950sAmerica. The show received negativereviews and quickly closed. Harburg, who had been a member ofseveral radical organizations but never

officially joined the Communist party,was named in Red Channels. Thispamphlet, distributed to organizationsinvolved in employing people in theentertainment industry, listed peoplewho had been involved in promotingleft-wing causes. From 1951 to 1961 during the HouseUn-American Activities Committee in-vestigations and the McCarthy hear-ings, Harburg was “blacklisted” fromfilm, television and radio. However, hecontinued to work on Broadway. Hisshows from that time included JA-MAICA (1957), with music by Arlen andLena Horne as the leading lady, andTHE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD(1961) which was set to music by Offen-bach and based on Aristophanes' anti-war LYSISTRATA. A collaboration with Jule Styne pro-duced DARLING OF THE DAY in 1968.It starred Vincent Price and PatriciaRoutledge. She won a Tony Award forher performance in this short-lived musical about the romance betweenan anti-social painter and a rambunc-tious young widow.Harburg once said, "Words make youthink a thought. Music makes you feela feeling. A song makes you feel athought." Before he died, Harburg created The E.Y. “Yip” Harburg DareTo Dream Foundation. It is a non-profitorganization whose purpose is to create a world of “free and equal people.” The foundation stands on thebeliefs of social justice, equal educa-tional opportunity and learning throughmusical theatre.

WIZARD OF OZLyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg (1898--1981)

From Skylight Artistic Director Viswa Subbaraman:For our adventure in Oz, we mergedthe skills and talents of our Skylightteam with both local and nationalartists: Linda Brovsky, one of Amer-ica’s most creative and imaginative directors; Peter Dean Beck, scenicand lighting designer who has designed many Skylight shows, includ-ing LES MISERABLES last season;Chicago costume designer KristyLeigh Hall and music director LeslieDunner. We are fortunate to have PamKriger, a member of the “Skylight family,” as choreographer.OZ was a tremendous Skylight teameffort. This article spotlights some ofthe key players who led the challengeof taking a big, glitzy, iconic movie andre-imagining it for the jewel box settingof the Cabot Theatre.From Director Linda Brovsky:“Viswa gave us quite a challenge, butit was also a huge opportunity to makesomething big small and to make thisOZ our own,” says director LindaBrovsky. “Recent productions of OZhave been kind of over-the- top andhigh camp. But when you go back tothe score and the script, and even bet-ter, Baum’s original book, it's such acharming, innocent story. Yet it dealswith very big topics for children: Fearof being lonely, abandoned; fear ofbeing lost. And in a way, this is a storyof how you cope with those fears. It’sa classic fairytale on so many levels. What struck me immediately wasBaum’s opening description of thisgray world where nothing grew. Al-

though it was written in 1900, he is de-scribing the Dust Bowl. So we decidedto update it to the 1930s Dust Bowlera. That was the starting point for ourproduction.” The iconic photography of DorotheaLange (below) became a resource forkeeping it in the 30’s palette. Lange’sphotos depict isolated, desperateKansas dust bowl scenes. “There’s ashot of a girl sitting on a bed alone inher room that captures the look ofDorothy, who doesn’t seem to havefriends other than adult farm handsand her dog. Her world is gray andfaded. Then she gets a concussion ina tornado and she dreams the thingsshe wants and suddenly it’s in color. There’s a wonderful art deco potter,Clarice Cliff, who didwhimsical, bright, colored vases andpots (right). Everythingis outlined in orange oryellow, vibrant, vibrant colors, much likeBaum’s description ofthe various lands inOZ and almost like the illustrations in a child’scoloring book. That inspired the look, setsand costumes of our OZ.”

Dreams Really Do Come True:OZ is Kristy Leigh Hall’s first designingassignment in Milwaukee. “As a youngdesigner, this was a very exciting proj-ect for me,” Hall says. “I loved thatLinda, our director, was so involvedwith the costumes and was alwaysavailable to me, even for the nitty grittystuff. While we knew we had to in-clude the traditional things that peopleexpect to see in Oz, Linda didn’t wantme to just copy, she wanted me to cre-ate, to make this our own OZ. So ourfocus became a little girl’s story. Thiswas Dorothy’s dream, her fantasy, herjourney. Oz was actually Dorothy’simagination taking things from her lifein Kansas and bringing them to herdream. I also appreciated all the helpfrom the Skylight’s costume shop.They’re so professional, creative, andreal problem-solvers.” Making Munchkin MagicThe Munchkins are just one exampleof the costume shop’s creativity. Theyare full-sized people, some over 6feet-tall. “They’re an amazing ensem-ble of eight who play a zillion roles inthe show, “says Brovsky, who came upwith a unique way to make them looklike “little people”.

WIZARD OF OZ

Costume designs by Kristy Leigh Hall

Choreographer Pam Kriger created animaginative dance routine for the busybunch. But you’ll have to wait for theshow to see how this all works. Cos-tume Director Shima Orans drops a lit-tle hint: “They’ll be wearing hugehooped garments that take a largeamount of room both onstage and off.That called for some creative solutionssince the Munchkins must changevery quickly unassisted becauseDorothy, the Witch, Glinda, Scarecrow,Tin Man and Lion are all changing atthe same time.”Often in shows this size, costumessuch as the Tin Man can be rented,but costs were out of sight so our cos-tume shop decided to build it. “Ithought we might be able to use anactual trash can for the torso of the TinMan,” says Orans. “Then we discov-ered that every time he raised hisarms it hit him in the chin…… so wemade it out of foam.” Excusively SkylightAll of the sets and costumes are origi-nal to this production and were cre-ated and built at the Skylight. That jobwas made easier by scenic and light-ing designer Peter Dean Beck, whohas worked on numerous Skylightshows; his next project is our seasoncloser INTO THE WOODS. “OZ haslots of scenes and locations and thatmakes it a large show with manypieces,” says Lisa Schlenker, proper-ties director and assistant director offacilities. “But Peter is a master plan-ner and so well-organized. He didminiature plans and virtual models andimages that went scene by scene. Helaid out everything so completely thatwe had a ton of information and thatgave everyone a huge amount of con-fidence and enabled us to get an earlystart on the show.” Technical director Eben Alguire is incharge of the team that put it all to-gether. It’s their responsibility to figureout how everything gets built and howto make the scene changes happen.Eben’s reports include two carpenters,a technical assistant and the stage su-pervisor. He also works closely withCarri Dahl and her assistants in thepaint shop; they made the yellow brickroad happen.

“OZ is a complicated show and we’regrateful that Peter thought it out sowell and continued to be a guide dur-ing the process,” says Alguire. Beck’sscenic design relies on a turn-table. Itis essential for moving people andscenery and making various effectshappen such as the tornado, the stormshelter, the Yellow Brick Road andmore. “There’s so much happeningand so much moving all the time thatwe have to be concerned about every-thing working -- and we need to be es-pecially aware of the safety of the castand crew. That’s a top priority.” “And your little dog, too!” There were lots of submissions for therole of Toto, even a cat. “Who knewthat it would take two days to cast thehumans and three weeks to cast thedogs? But talent requirements weretough, including the need to obeyhand signals. The actors wear bodymics and we don’t want to hear“Come, Toto,” or “Sit Toto” during Overthe Rainbow,” Brovsky jokes.In the final casting two dogs were cho-sen to alternate in the role: Snowy, aten-year old West Highland Terrier, atherapy dog in his day job, and Hillie, a

two-year old Cairn terrier that looksexactly like the movie Toto. “The actors know how to react to what’shappening on stage, but although thedogs are well-trained, they’re pets, notprofessional performers. So for theirsafety, there are times they need to beleashed,” explains Schlenker.Teaching the actors and the Totos towork with one another was also achallenge. “In rehearsals the dogs naturally wanted to be friendly -- evenwith the actors they aren’t supposed tolike in the play. In real life, the WickedWitch is a real animal person but wehad to discourage their bonding, other-wise how could we get the dogs to dislike and bark at her on stage. That’sasking a lot from a four-legged star.” “We’re off to see the Wizard”Now that you’ve taken a few steps intothe land of OZ, join us for the rest ofDorothy’s journey over the rainbow inthe Skylight’s very own magical, wonderful WIZARD OF OZ.

WIZARD OF OZ

1. In the book, Dorothy’s slippers aresilver. They were changed to “ruby” totake advantage of the new Technicolorprocess. There are over 40 differencesbetween the book and the film.2. It took five directors and 14 writersto make THE WIZARD OF OZ.3. Over the Rainbow was almost cutfrom the movie because execs thoughtit made the movie too long.4. There were 124 little people cast asMunchkins. Only two of the Munchkinsactually had speaking parts. Profes-sional actors dubbed the others.5. The early Technicolor process required more light than a normal filmproduction, so the temperature on theset often exceeded 100 degrees.6. Judy Garland was 16 years old during filming and wore a corset to appear more childlike. Due to reshootsand changes in her overall look, herhair changes length in the movie, mostvisibly in the Scarecrow scene. 7. Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett on THEBEVERLY HILLBILLIES) was cast as theTin Man, but he suffered an extremeallergic reaction to the aluminum dustin his makeup. Jack Haley replacedhim, and the makeup was switched toan aluminum paste. It gave him an eyeinfection, but he avoided Ebsen’snear-death experience.8. The Tin Man’s oil was chocolatesauce. Real oil didn’t register on film.9. Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion costumeweighed almost 100 pounds and wasmade with real lion pelts. Part of hisface mask was a brown paper bag.10. Margaret Hamilton played theWicked Witch as an old hag. In reality,she was 36 years old, while theyounger-looking Glinda the GoodWitch, played by Billie Burke, was 54.11. Many of the scenes featuring theWicked Witch were cut or edited, asshe was too frightening for children.Ironically, Hamilton was a kindergartenteacher before becoming an actress.

12. The Wicked Witch’s makeup wastoxic, so actress Margaret Hamiltonlived on a liquid diet to avoid acciden-tal ingestion. Her face stayed green forweeks after shooting finished due tothe copper-based ingredients.13. Hamilton was severely burned inthe scene where she disappears into acloud of smoke. Her stand-in and stuntdouble, Betty Danko, was also injuredduring the skywriting sequence.14. Toto was a female Cairn Terriernamed Terry. She was paid $125 aweek; which was more than many ofthe Munchkin actors received. Terryworked in movies until she died in 1945.15. The tornado was created with a35-foot-long muslin stocking that wasspun while dirt and wind blew againstit. The scenes of the house falling fromthe sky were captured by dropping aminiature model onto a painting of asky. The film was then reversed to create the effect.16. Flavored Jell-O powder was usedto create the “horse of a differentcolor” in the Emerald City scene. Thehorses tried to lick themselves clean.17. The girl’s voice heard in the TinMan’s If I Only Had a Heart belongs toAdriana Caselotti, who was the voiceof Walt Disney’s SNOW WHITE.

18. Chrysotile asbestos fibers (yes,the carcinogenic stuff) were used tocreate the snow in the poppy field.19.After the Scarecrow gets his brain,he states the Pythagorean Theoremincorrectly. He says, “The sum of thesquare roots of any two sides of anisosceles triangle is equal to thesquare root of the remaining side."The correct theorem is “The square ofthe hypotenuse is equal to the sum ofthe squares of the other two sides.”20. The Wicked Witch’s death certifi-cate is dated May, 6 1938, whichmarked the 20th anniversary of L. Frank Baum’s death.Books about the MGM movie:THE MUNCHKINS REMEMBER: THE WIZARD OF OZ AND BEYONDby Stephen Cox, 1989RAINBOW: A BIOGRAPHY OF JUDY GARLANDby Christopher Finch, 1975THE WIZARD OF OZ: THE OFFICIAL 50THANNIVERSARY PICTORIAL HISTORY by JohnFricke, 1989THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZby Aljean Harmetz, 1977THE WIZARDRY OF OZ by Jay Scarfone, 2004

WIZARD OF OZ20 Things You Maybe Didn’t Know About THE WIZARD OF OZ By Alison Nastasi, 2013