Theatrical Adaptation

Oh, The Places You'll Go - Lauren's 4th meditation

Lauren Chiodo – Meditation 4
Usually I find that sequels, prequels, and remakes – as well as book to stage or movie adaptations – are rarely as good as the original work they are affiliated with. Since we’ve started exploring the world of Oz, I’ve changed my mind.


“…The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure children of today…” (Baum 4). I honestly believe that Baum meant to simply write a long-lasting children’s book when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I don’t think that there were any hidden meanings or deep allegorical content intended when he wrote this book.


Then came the 1902 musical adaptation in which Baum completely changed the way he told his story. Baum hired New York joke writer Glen MacDonough to add more humor to the play, and while most songs were Baum’s originals, two were not his at all. (Wikipedia, “The Wizard of Oz – 1902 stage play”) Toto becomes a cow named Imogene and Dorothy is older and sexier. The story morphed into something adults would want to see. Then came the 1939 movie version that most are familiar with, even today. The 1939 movie took us back to the child like telling of the story. Unfortunately, this remake bombed in theaters. Its budget was not made back until it was broadcast on TV. I think that it’s television success is largely due to the fact that in 1939 the movie would be telling the story to a completely new audience of children – they were mostly not familiar with the original work, so they simply took the movie at face value.


While I did not enjoy The Wiz, I know many of my classmates and the public in general did. It kept a few of the original book elements, along with elements from the 1939 movie. It was able to make comments on the times; race issues and class issues are openly shown in this remake. It was one of the first all-black casts, drew a largely black audience, and got the message out to more people than I think anyone involved in the production thought it would.


Then there was the book Wicked, the Broadway play based on Wicked, and The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. I personally found the book and the Muppets version very funny and very interesting reincarnations of the original story. What I think all of these remakes, prequels and sequels proves is that while Baum thought he was just writing a children’s book, he was actually starting an empire that spanned many decades and even a century thus far. What other story do we know that has withstood the stand of time this long?


Citation
“The Wizard of Oz.” En.wikipedia.org. 19 September 2006.

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