Theatrical Adaptation

Meditation #2 -- Katie Marchant

One difference that really struck me between The Wiz and Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is how in The Wiz Dorothy not only helps her friends along the path to try to get what they want from the Wizard but in the end she also explains to them that all along she could see in each of them what they were searching for. In Baum’s book Dorothy helps create ways for her friends to demonstrate the characteristics they desire but she never expresses to them that she could see those traits in them before their wishes were granted by “The Magic Art of The Great Humbug”. (Baum, chap.14 title)

The fact that in The Wiz Dorothy puts aside her own wishes to tell her friends that she can see in them what they desire means a lot more to me than Dorothy (in Baum’s book) just standing by and wishing that it was her turn so she would get home while the phony Wizard stuffed the Scarecrow’s head with bran-pins, cut a hole in the Tinman’s chest for a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and gave the Lion some random potion to drink. (Baum, chap.14) It really bothered me that the Tinman, Scarecrow and Lion become full of what is was the Wizard gave them, it was almost like they were saying “my heart is better than your heart” or something like that. Each of the three characters in the book came back from the chambers of the Wizard boasting about their new brain or heart or courage while in The Wiz they were much more humble about accepting the fact that they really had what they wanted.

I really like the concept of The Wiz and I feel that it is more meaningful, in some ways, than Baum’s book and the 1939 film. The characters in The Wiz seem to support each other more than the characters in the 1939 film do, for example in the motorcycle monkeys scene and in the subway attack scene. These are the scenes where the Lion really shows his courage, the Tinman really shows his heart and the Scarecrow, well little MJ get his chance to show his brains a little later during the Sweat Shop scene and with meaningful quotes from his “garbage” stuffing. Each of the characters really contributes something along the way to the city and Dorothy uses these instances as examples to let her friends know that she appreciates how they used their talents to protect her and each other.

posted by Katie Marchant @ 8:21 PM