tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-189963112024-03-13T05:06:28.537-05:00The Royal Blog of OzThe "Wizard of Oz"/L. Frank Baum blog of Dorothy & Ozma Productions Owner/Operator Jared Davis and others in the Oz community.Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.comBlogger1477125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-4783116302531065492024-03-05T03:30:00.001-06:002024-03-05T03:30:07.182-06:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: New episodes!<p> Well, there's two episodes I haven't posted about on here yet. To stay on top of the podcast, be sure to follow The Royal Podcast of Oz on your favorite podcast service.</p><p>Last month, Angelo Thomas and I went frame by frame for the first look trailer for the movie adaptation of <i>Wicked</i>.</p><p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/Breaking-Down-The-Wicked-Trailer-e2fo9cv/a-aav97ed" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, last week, Erica Olivera joined Sam and I to discuss the short film <i>Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man</i>. (This has explicit language. If you know Erica, you get it.)</p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/The-Movies-of-Oz-H<p><br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-73025974402111977732024-03-01T18:38:00.001-06:002024-03-01T18:41:36.204-06:00MGM's The Wizard of Oz gets a new rating<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP9hgVsOwGVsvOScV0LbpnTgv07GDI6VgEAf9p4wzjwPURrtuhQrBqpn4t0shSfffSQ5T1hJfUslcx6Bskln0xbRhqKkSySLimqINIcTvac14gqZ_BsbOsiRfWjcTP2ftxrpKLwCWZkuEMcE67x49fbyA6OQl_dU5HRv2yRa9C-yRhEAmL4KPFIg/s1480/latest.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP9hgVsOwGVsvOScV0LbpnTgv07GDI6VgEAf9p4wzjwPURrtuhQrBqpn4t0shSfffSQ5T1hJfUslcx6Bskln0xbRhqKkSySLimqINIcTvac14gqZ_BsbOsiRfWjcTP2ftxrpKLwCWZkuEMcE67x49fbyA6OQl_dU5HRv2yRa9C-yRhEAmL4KPFIg/s320/latest.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> So, over in the UK, MGM's musical film <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> is getting reissued to theaters.<p></p><p>As a part of the process of reissuing the film, it is sent to the BBFC—the British Board of Film Classification—for reclassification. "Classifying" a film for the UK works like the MPA—the Motion Picture Association—in the US. The film is given an abbreviation with a recommendation about the audiences the film would be best suited for.</p><p>"U" in the UK is "Universal," meaning it's fine for anyone to watch, similar to the US' General audiences or "G" rating. Next is "Parental Guidance" or "PG," which is the same in the US, that there are some elements that might require adults to help their kids process. The UK's "12A/12" is a similar to the US' "PG-13," in that the film is not recommended for audiences under the age of 12 or 13. (12A is for cinema releases, while 12 is for video releases.) The analog to the US' "R" or "Restricted," indicating intense subject matter is a little more varied with 15 and 18 ratings, recommending them for those ages and up.</p><p>In any case, what's been making news is that <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> was previously released under a "U" classification and is now being classified as "PG." The reason is for "offensive language."</p><p>This took Oz fans by surprise as it's a film from 1939, what offensive language could there be?</p><p>The answer is during the song "If I Were King of the Forest," the Cowardly Lion states the line, "What makes the hottentot so hot?"</p><p>I was aware of this line as the word "hottentot" is similar to "Tottenhot," a controversial group in the book <i>The Patchwork Girl of Oz</i>. Baum clearly flipped some letters around and put a parody of an African tribe into an Oz book.</p><p>And you should already guess what a "hottentot" is, a derogatory term for a stereotype of an African native, depicted as an animal skin-wearing person who is hostile, not intelligent, being compared more to an animal than a human being. It seems it originated from Dutch people about the Khoikhoi tribe of southern Africa, who used a lot of clicking sounds in their language, sounding to the outsiders like stuttering, or "hotteren-totteren" in German.<br /></p><p>You should already get why this word is considered offensive. While it's largely fallen out of general use, it was a common term thrown around that got alluded to in the Oz books and actually popped up in the most famous version of Oz.</p><p>As we've begun to respect the humanity of more groups given our increasing communication between societies thanks to widespread media and the internet, derogatory terms for people have begun to be seen as unacceptable in civil conversation. It says less about the people who these terms are meant to describe and more about the people who continue to use them. We recognize people as people, acknowledging their different cultures and backgrounds. If you use terms that have been historically used to deride groups, you're basically trying to keep that tradition alive. People aren't offended that you hurt their feelings, they're offended that you're being a jerk.</p><p>So yeah, essentially, the rating changed because of a word that's been there all along. Most of us didn't give a single thought to the word when we first saw the movie and likely most young audiences wouldn't either. But a lot of us are likely people who this word wasn't meant to describe. The people who it does are people too and they deserve their dignity.</p><p>May I add that the new classification isn't banning the film, it isn't suggesting that people not watch it, it simply tells people that there's a topic in here parents might want to handle with their kids.</p><p>And remember, the MPA actually gave <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> a new rating when the 3D version debuted in 2013, the scare factor of the Wicked Witch and the Winged Monkeys increasing the rating from G to PG.</p><p>And ultimately, the classification recommends parents watch the movie with their kids, and isn't a family enjoying the movie together one of the best ways to watch it?<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-17859332185431053502024-02-22T04:45:00.004-06:002024-02-22T05:59:43.596-06:00The Biggest Oz Collection in Australia When you're an Oz fan in Australia, you don't really expect to meet many Oz collectors nearby. You can meet other people who like Oz and become friends, but not quite on the same level as what the U.S. has.
So when I found out about this exhibition, I knew I couldn't miss out on it. And, in true Oz spirit, I had to invite anew friend along: Matthew Beveridge - someone I hope to properly introduce and bring to OzCon International someday.
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Funny enough on the day we decided to attend (Friday February 22, 2019 *), the morning played "the Simpsons" with Mr Burns wanting his teddy Bobo back (the episode with his guards chanting and marching like the WWW's soldiers) and the sky was full of grey clouds ("behind me") before stepping into this super colourful, musical environment.
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There was a large display, all belonging to Dorothy Overton, of various items - snow globes, teddies, dollss, books, calendars, watches, domes, plates, music boxes, cards, jugs, pots, toys, figures, videos, Christmas ornaments, tapestry; Not just MGM but also "Legends of Oz", "Tom & Jerry" "G&P".
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Music from various versions of MGM, WIZ, wicked were playing in background near the stage and Dorothy's house beside a Silver Slipper-wearing mannequin, which led to a kids' mini putt-putt golf with Oz Movie trivia facts (which upon reading reading you would have already known) and decorations for a path through Munchkinland, the forest and finally the Emerald City, which is where the main display was exhibited.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwnvjzL5BYRoIarO2qR2X3DLxeVrw4_qFfV_ITZcCEeVQk89UeAfLwx_dPvDzvO3Lqt6wfG0a9Clak' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
It had opened on Tuesday night with a great feast and so many more people - but I made it to the end so it was easier to walk around and talk about.
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Matt and I looked around the large collection, in a small yet comfortable space, as we talked to the owner Dorothy Overton who said she had left others in order to make the packing and travel easier. Among the things she said was how she met Munchkin Margaret Pellegrini and got her autograph with a photo.
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Eventually we met another Oz fan, Christie Wilson, who was relieved to find other adult Oz fans at a children's funland without any children of their own ... likewise she seemed very knowledgeable of Oz and its various books and films too, without knowing or seeing everything.
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We discussed our disappointment with "Great and Powerful", our opinions of "wicked" and a bit about MGM, we had a look at the other Oz displays in the other glass cabinets that are already displayed at Funland - Oz cows and ducks, figures ("Simpsons"), plates, etc. - under a selection of posters for MGM, Wiz and Betty Boop.
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It was through Christie that I learned how during Nikki Webster's performance that she was putting on a Californian accent (I never noticed that or gave it much thought before, to be honest, I miss some of those unless they're really obvious or noticeably strong).
There were programs and merchandise and a few things for sale . . . but if you wanted Ruby Slippers, they were $150 - however you could get them custom-sized or get some soft slip-ins.
Set-up seemed the same as before. The only difference between the first visit and this time was that I was able to drive myself.
Exhibition closed after 2 pm, Matt and I both content at our varying Oz collection sizes.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZuQi-cuIVcggOAk6hkP8YKKJsni6kqnob1ywbpN0L8rl9nf444Nk5L5DGyvOfHVrDxaG6yPVYTDR3jbQ5zVKiadT2Hst_879S9EX3K32MbKVW3BTtn5AuP0zDXLtPlvQgFp-JFdm3mxJan-VYw-F2J0EPYpqvrnX0F0L8P8sF-8YAZy5CxXfVA/s3264/IMG_8707.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ZuQi-cuIVcggOAk6hkP8YKKJsni6kqnob1ywbpN0L8rl9nf444Nk5L5DGyvOfHVrDxaG6yPVYTDR3jbQ5zVKiadT2Hst_879S9EX3K32MbKVW3BTtn5AuP0zDXLtPlvQgFp-JFdm3mxJan-VYw-F2J0EPYpqvrnX0F0L8P8sF-8YAZy5CxXfVA/s200/IMG_8707.jpeg"/></a></div>
(<i>originally handwritten Friday February 22, 2019, with additional entries on Monday night Feb 25 and Tues Feb 26, from own recollection and second-hand information; slightly revised on typing</i>) </p><p><br /></p><p>
* Yes. 5 years ago, to this day.</p><p>Happy Anniversary to this special event with a long-awaited overdue Blog (originally intended as a Baum Bugle article, but never happened.)Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00397876293747859812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-73059092902076892302024-02-20T19:57:00.005-06:002024-02-21T19:50:36.194-06:00OzCon 2024 announcement<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwHzy1yKE1WmVyzGIOm1ylilDgt8hQ0lFM3ZSiI45DG0-6wfQU6So3QZIaxa8Ww0KAXCy1JtpkQgUceFW6M1bqTz962vWlUmIGH6CwtdMuSl6W6TAZVR3UUgJZ_yNl7Fl3ja2zQv3IwUb1OzFYwz5NjWYC1VHkttykkjMhmrrBDvDOUWM65G6Ig/s1020/2024%20POSTER%20RH%20web.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="660" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwHzy1yKE1WmVyzGIOm1ylilDgt8hQ0lFM3ZSiI45DG0-6wfQU6So3QZIaxa8Ww0KAXCy1JtpkQgUceFW6M1bqTz962vWlUmIGH6CwtdMuSl6W6TAZVR3UUgJZ_yNl7Fl3ja2zQv3IwUb1OzFYwz5NjWYC1VHkttykkjMhmrrBDvDOUWM65G6Ig/s320/2024%20POSTER%20RH%20web.png" width="207" /></a></div><br />Hello, everyone!<br /><br />This year, we will return to Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel in Pomona, California, from July 19-20. Yes, that's two full days of programming at Kellogg. Additionally, we are looking into events outside of Kellogg for an early meet-up on Thursday evening to warm us up for the convention with extra activity in the planning stages for Sunday. To finish, you can once again hang out with your Oz buddies on a trip to Disneyland on Monday, 22.<br /><br />This year, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of OzCon International, our major theme is celebrating the Royal Historians of Oz. We wouldn't have the Famous Forty Oz books without them! There would be no MGM classic movie musical (which celebrates its 85th anniversary this year) or Wicked (which is getting the first part of its film adaptation this year) without the stories by Baum, Thompson, Neill, Snow, Cosgrove or the McGraws.<br /><br />In addition, we're also exploring the many Oz games invented over the years, allowing fans to interact with Oz in fun and competitive ways. I've even been preparing a presentation looking at the evolution of Oz video games, even touching base with some of the people who made the earliest games.<br /><br />Colin Ayres and I have been working on a schedule of events with early volunteer presenters (thank you!) to be sure to have a great convention ahead.<br /><br />Last but definitely not least, we are celebrating sixty years of OzCon. Our programming will offer plenty of opportunity for cozy chats with new and old friends, one of the features that make our conventions so memorable. We'll still have favorites such as Show and Tell to showcase your treasures; the Masquerade costume contest to channel your favorite characters, and the return of the Treasure Hunt to find some Ozzy treasure.<br /><br />We will be having a single track program this year, aside from having alternate activities during the auction on Saturday. You won't need to miss a thing!<br /><br />Do you have an idea for a presentation, panel or activity? Do you want to be on a panel about a particular Ozzy topic? There’s still plenty of time to put yourself forward. Don’t miss a chance to join our Ozzy lineup! We’re accepting presentations for proposals until March 31. Go ahead and email Colin and me at chair@ozcon-international.com<br /><br />You can follow updates on our social media outlets on Facebook (OzCon International) and Instagram (ozconinternational), The OzConnection on YouTube and for the first time, we have a Discord server! If you're not familiar, Discord is a messaging platform. A server is a space specifically for a group of users to chat and share information with each other, with it being further broken into specific channels for specific topics. Using Discord, OzCon attendees can get breaking announcements, find people to share rooms with, meet up before and after the convention and quickly get in touch with convention organizers. <a href="https://discord.com/invite/Yf9TV5VgVe">To join the OzCon server, follow this link, sign up for Discord and get in there.</a> Stay tuned for more announcements coming soon!<br /><br />Jared "Jay" Davis <br /><p></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-67065877118153911132024-02-17T10:51:00.001-06:002024-02-17T18:29:59.566-06:00Dee and Friends in Oz<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiRh-E6nShjJsohRu0-HX4B_zAOhF3QfZ2eN-q2ehGPQjpd5WoUHRUf0X5cclcCUYCxpNGS_uxb8_JC64hKpeG-ThCYgVuW_lN8bi_YNFg1JwaU0V6fFWTCtpoDuGysYQ7ClLNrPwuk0aJlJ4bfhN4OoMYUA8UJNt9A4879sqW3rUi4F2PhAl_w/s1500/MV5BNjdmNjhlMDgtZTJkOC00NjY0LWJlODAtYjMxNGU1ZThjNzNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTU3NDg0OTgx._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiRh-E6nShjJsohRu0-HX4B_zAOhF3QfZ2eN-q2ehGPQjpd5WoUHRUf0X5cclcCUYCxpNGS_uxb8_JC64hKpeG-ThCYgVuW_lN8bi_YNFg1JwaU0V6fFWTCtpoDuGysYQ7ClLNrPwuk0aJlJ4bfhN4OoMYUA8UJNt9A4879sqW3rUi4F2PhAl_w/s320/MV5BNjdmNjhlMDgtZTJkOC00NjY0LWJlODAtYjMxNGU1ZThjNzNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTU3NDg0OTgx._V1_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Despite being the streaming service that made streaming by subscription a thing, it's not until now that Netflix has turned their heads to having an Oz-based show. (Amazon has <i>Lost in Oz</i> and Warner Brothers' Boomerang had <i>Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz</i> as a streaming exclusive before it moved to broadcast.)<p></p><p><i>Dee and Friends in Oz</i> is aimed for a preschool audience, featuring child characters inspired by <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> in a brightly-colored magical world.</p><p>Dorothy "Dee" Davis from New Jersey is visiting her grandmother when she discovers the music box in her room can be unlocked with a key, transporting her to the wonderful world of Oz, where the kind Miss Emerald shares magic with everyone from her Wonderful School of Oz.</p><p>The show has three parts currently on Netflix. It's officially broken into two seasons, with the first season being a single 48 minute episode establishing the lore of the show before the 16 episode proper season begins. The episodes break into two 8 episode arcs. (Wikipedia says these are separate seasons, but Netflix lists it as a single season.)</p><p>In the prequel, we meet Miss Ruby, the villainous sister of Miss Emerald, who wants all the magic of Oz for herself. We also meet her minion Stuffley, a teddy bear with mechanical wings that allow him to fly. Miss Ruby locks Miss Emerald in her school and begins draining Oz of its magic, while Dee heads down a multicolored brick road, meeting new friends Tin, Scarecrow and Lion who join and help her out.</p><p>The first eight-episode arc has Dee begin finding the four magic gemstones that will create the Gemstone Loop, creating a magical transit system around Oz. Stuffley at first tries to get the gemstones for himself, but eventually decides to help Dee and reforms.</p><p>In the second arc, Miss Ruby returns to find four crown pieces that will give her great power and let her take the title of the Wizard of Oz, with Dee and her friends trying to find the pieces first.</p><p>As you might have guessed, this isn't a straightforward adaptation of Oz lore. Tin, for example, lives in a town of tin people like himself, and doesn't have the tragic origin of Nick Chopper from the original Baum books. Scarecrow is a young boy from a village of living Scarecrows. Only Lion isn't shown to have a family.</p><p>In the first batch of eight episodes, we also meet magic-working girls Eastyn and Westyn who happily join the school. Instead of Munchkins, Winkies, Gillikins or Quadlings, we have the Ozlings, humanoids with acorn-shaped heads. They reminded me a bit of the Munchkins as they appeared in <i>Tales of the Wizard of Oz</i>.</p><p>There's a few other nods to other takes on Oz. Dee's grandmother looks very similar to Miss Emerald and they are both voiced by LaChanze. Similarly, all five of the other students in the school have counterparts in children who live around Dee's grandmother's apartment with their clothing and hair suggesting the characters they are similar to and being voiced by the same performers. (They seem to have gotten an age-appropriate cast, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's eventual recasts if the show keeps going.)</p><p>At the start of the second arc, Dee is reading her own chronicle of her Oz adventures to the neighboring kids who love it and want to hear more, but Dee says that her new adventures haven't happened yet before her key starts glowing and she hurries back to Oz. This struck me as being similar to how Baum eventually settled on the idea that Dorothy relayed him Oz adventures he'd write into books, but now, our Dorothy character is telling her story herself.</p><p>Miss Ruby is basically a classic Oz villain, whose wickedness is based around only caring about herself, stealing all the magic and taking over Oz. Miss Emerald is the opposite, wanting to share magic with everyone, keeping Oz a bright, happy and welcoming place.</p><p>Stuffley's reformation feels like a nice Oz-appropriate character development. He's voiced by James Monroe Igleheart, who originated the Genie in Disney's Broadway adaptation of <i>Aladdin</i>, recently going to the Broadway production of <i>Spamalot</i>, working with Oz fan Michael Urie and original <i>Wicked</i> Broadway Boq Christopher Fitzgerald and <i>Wicked</i> movie Boq Ethan Slater. He also voiced Calvin Carney and the Jitterbug in <i>Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz</i>.<br /></p>There's also songs. You won't find show stoppers like <i>The Wiz</i>'s "Home" or <i>Wicked</i>'s "Defying Gravity," or perennial classics like "Over the Rainbow<i>," </i>but the songs are charming, and a few are catchy. (I missed Stuffley's villain song, which disappears after his reformation.) Dee sings a variation of a journey song every episode, re-establishing that she's her own hero in her own story. LaChanze and Tarriona "Tank" Ball as Miss Ruby also get a number of songs as well.<br /><p>To be clear, I'm writing this after watching the first ten episodes
and the prequel so I haven't watched it all yet, only watching one
episode a day, but I've got a pretty good feel of the show.</p><p>While this might not be the Oz adaptation of your dreams, it's a fun take on Oz if you need a bright-colored escape for a moment now and then, or if you have appropriately-aged kids who you want to get into Oz.</p><p>An additional thing I noticed is that while I have an ad-supported Netflix plan, ads don't play during these episodes. It might be just for Netflix Kids programming, though I don't watch much of that.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-45695022270868088882023-12-17T17:45:00.004-06:002023-12-17T18:19:23.544-06:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Movies of Oz - Santa's Castle<p> Jay and Sam review Santa's Castle, a film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's A Kidnapped Santa Claus.</p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text">
</span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk5wg-2jqPk" target="_blank">Watch the trailer</a>.</span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><a href="https://archive.org/details/Carol_Of_The_Bells_Technetium" target="_blank">The version of "Carol of the Bells" at the end.</a> </p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text">
</span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kidnapped-Santa-Claus-Alex-Robinson/dp/0061782408" target="_blank">The graphic novel adaptation.</a></span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text">
</span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-fragment="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" data-slate-node="element"><span data-slate-node="text"><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/519" target="_blank">Read the original story.</a></span></p><p class="Type__TypeElement-sc-goli3j-0 gfMYqC" data-encore-id="type" data-slate-fragment="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" 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data-slate-node="element">Stay tuned for a bonus episode coming later this week!</p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-21594213162452635342023-12-10T17:53:00.000-06:002023-12-10T17:53:05.228-06:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: New episodes!<p>We have new episodes for The Royal Podcast of Oz!</p><p><i><b><a href="https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/MKmhiP5BqFb" target="_blank">The Movies of Oz: Tom and Jerry in Oz</a></b></i></p><p>It's a double feature as Jay and Sam Milazzo discuss Tom and Jerry's take on MGM's<i> The Wizard of Oz</i> from 2011 and then they turn to its far more worthy sequel in 2016's <i>Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz</i>.</p><p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/The-Movies-of-Oz-Tom-and-Jerry-in-Oz-e2cqbuv/a-aamq9tm" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> </p><p><b><i><a href="https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/zOxGDO5BqFb" target="_blank">Angelo Thomas Interviews Kirk Thatcher</a></i></b></p><p>Angelo Thomas gives us a holiday surprise with an interview with Kirk Thatcher, director of <i>The Muppets Wizard of Oz.</i></p><p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/Angelo-Thomas-Interviews-Kirk-Thatcher-e2d31p4/a-aanlg0j" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p><p>There's another episode of <i>Movies of Oz</i> coming very soon.</p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-39692295765530779252023-09-03T09:32:00.004-05:002023-09-03T18:59:41.548-05:00The Little Wizards of Oz - Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGgLIp1WpLMKoI_yOp48SEDz3xihybAchNCVCIp4N8uXpKyG1EiUZyquDqaDj4nX70Lfpzf9KIihETzRXKc0rj9e5NYzQueJk2dv4nskpn0QNVoseaCZ8sOvu0ur6HEELx6agTD1L-y7ZGRatkla3PXaNOacoEuYXKmswbJV8oPxY_Hz_osd7Iw/s368/3KRiQw.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="256" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGgLIp1WpLMKoI_yOp48SEDz3xihybAchNCVCIp4N8uXpKyG1EiUZyquDqaDj4nX70Lfpzf9KIihETzRXKc0rj9e5NYzQueJk2dv4nskpn0QNVoseaCZ8sOvu0ur6HEELx6agTD1L-y7ZGRatkla3PXaNOacoEuYXKmswbJV8oPxY_Hz_osd7Iw/s320/3KRiQw.png" width="223" /></a></div><br /> In November last year, I spotted a Blu-Ray titled <a href="https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=31647"><i>Blood on Melies' Moon</i></a> in my RSS feed reader for Blu-Ray.com's feed. I was about to scroll past when I looked at the image of the cover and noticed it mentioned a movie titled <i>The Little Wizards of Oz</i>. The Blu-Ray set actually contained three films by Italian director Luigi Cozzi, who's nicknamed "Italy's Ed Wood." (The famous director who would make films on a shoestring budget but clearly really had a passion for doing it.) I didn't pick it up, hoping to hear some feedback about the movie first.<p></p><p><a href="https://tubitv.com/movies/100005589/the-little-wizards-of-oz">Well, yesterday I saw the movie was on the free streamer Tubi and decided to check it out.</a></p><p>This is not a straightforward adaptation of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>. We open with a quick rundown of the origin of the book, and a reveal of its sequels and many of its adaptations and a note that children in Italy also enjoy the book while at school.</p><p>Moving onto children rapping, we see some what appears to be behind the scenes shots of the crew working with the children who play the students in a classroom that a substitute teacher is taking over the Italian lesson. The children did reports on the first chapter of the book, which get presented with some charming cheap animations depicting how the children are reimagining the story.</p><p>The substitute is taken with the children interacting with the story and wants to complete the story with them, despite higher ups at the school wanting her to stick to a lesson plan. This includes scenes from the story, often with twists from the original text, played with the children as Dorothy and her friends and people who work at the school filling in for other Oz characters. The CGI shots are clearly CGI, but given that this is how a class is imagining the world of Oz, we can accept it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPsNWRfXwfnQIy_2VpUJUH5619_M5ctaB6ofiGarBa3s7EdiOyzpy3U892BfcWh04Otlda1uQvZuS2dxjSE8IlikCFfK_WCHUZuouAAVHSvuq2pDxmyAX_fYE5P92YAVXI4_D-MZ58KqqLjmUEiBvQz8uw493Tw29dUSEeWhHaQOZXeLqPh3Dlw/s311/Untitled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="311" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPsNWRfXwfnQIy_2VpUJUH5619_M5ctaB6ofiGarBa3s7EdiOyzpy3U892BfcWh04Otlda1uQvZuS2dxjSE8IlikCFfK_WCHUZuouAAVHSvuq2pDxmyAX_fYE5P92YAVXI4_D-MZ58KqqLjmUEiBvQz8uw493Tw29dUSEeWhHaQOZXeLqPh3Dlw/s1600/Untitled.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><br />There's a few fun touches, like the Wicked Witch of the West using an Etch-A-Sketch to spy on Dorothy, with the screen claiming it's "TV-OZ STATION 666."<p></p><p>While anyone wanting a great Oz adaptation or a new Oz story in film might be disappointed, I thought <i>The Little Wizards of Oz</i> was fairly charming in how it celebrates Oz stimulating the imagination. I was also reminded of the documentary film <i>Yellow Brick Road</i> about a special needs school putting on a performance of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, except that followed a real production at a real school, while the story of <i>Little Wizards</i> is fiction. But both are about people connecting with the story of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_sxLngPeGHS1ZBwJx9-BwcAUiddrgms6ojfkAhpGQRCy29RKx9eqvSts5p-ys5YZKjsFrrf5a7VzNYAbRxjirIp_hCu0ldwho95OtevjW35CnUp9-s1czajAopIKSIFOJZxJigRCm4_svA9i3F9ygavZZzKB8VPqS1GWXXImMHTlrk5qJeQ8Ow/s600/MV5BNjc3MDMwOTItNmY4Yi00YzY3LWFmNmItNTU5ZWI2MTU5Y2ZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI1MjgzMTg3._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="600" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_sxLngPeGHS1ZBwJx9-BwcAUiddrgms6ojfkAhpGQRCy29RKx9eqvSts5p-ys5YZKjsFrrf5a7VzNYAbRxjirIp_hCu0ldwho95OtevjW35CnUp9-s1czajAopIKSIFOJZxJigRCm4_svA9i3F9ygavZZzKB8VPqS1GWXXImMHTlrk5qJeQ8Ow/s320/MV5BNjc3MDMwOTItNmY4Yi00YzY3LWFmNmItNTU5ZWI2MTU5Y2ZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI1MjgzMTg3._V1_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />If it wasn't clear above, <i>The Little Wizards of Oz</i> is actually in Italian. On Tubi, the version offered includes "hard subs" (they're actually part of the image and can't be turned off) in addition to a subtitle track. I found it easier to turn off Tubi's subtitles and just go with the subtitles in the image.<p></p><p>As I've picked up DVDs and Blu-Rays with less Oz content before, I might very well get a copy of <i>Blood on Melies' Moon</i> to own a copy of <i>The Little Wizards of Oz</i> in my collection.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-36996777058294835032023-08-02T19:55:00.001-05:002023-08-02T19:55:59.156-05:00Diverse Dancers of Oz - A ChatGPT generated Oz story <div id="__next"><div class="overflow-hidden w-full h-full relative flex z-0"><div class="relative flex h-full max-w-full flex-1 overflow-hidden"><div class="flex h-full max-w-full flex-1 flex-col"><blockquote><div class="sticky top-0 z-10 flex items-center border-b border-white/20 bg-gray-800 pl-1 pt-1 text-gray-200 sm:pl-3 md:hidden" style="text-align: left;">We've heard a lot about AI lately and there's definitely concern about it as people believe language models like ChatGPT could ultimately replace writers.<br /><br />There's certainly some concern as you could certainly use ChatGPT to quickly write copy you might need for a website or a press release. When it comes to writing research pieces and creative fiction, it's limited<i>. </i>It's hard to put all the needed information to give a piece context without essentially writing it yourself.<br /><br />When it comes to creative works, it lacks the human element to help the writer connect to the reader. Still, it can be fun to give it a general goal. It's essentially like having it ghostwrite for you. There's other uses, like using it to brainstorm story ideas. While its output can be serviceable, a good writer's take on the same concept is much better when it comes to a finished pieces.<br /><br />With that in mind, I decided to ask it to write some pieces of an Oz story about two characters I haven't seen interact much. What I'm presenting are my prompts and what I got from ChatGPT. (My prompts are in italics.)<br /></div></blockquote><div class="sticky top-0 z-10 flex items-center border-b border-white/20 bg-gray-800 pl-1 pt-1 text-gray-200 sm:pl-3 md:hidden"> </div><div class="sticky top-0 z-10 flex items-center border-b border-white/20 bg-gray-800 pl-1 pt-1 text-gray-200 sm:pl-3 md:hidden"><i>Write a story in which Polychrome, the graceful dancing daughter of the Rainbow, visits the Emerald City of Oz. She dances to music being played by the royal coronet band. She's joined by the fun-loving Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, who does her own dance along with her, but definitely isn't trying to copy. Dorothy Gale, Princess Ozma and other Oz citizens watch enraptured and amused by the two very different but very dedicated dancers.</i></div><main class="relative h-full w-full transition-width flex flex-col overflow-auto items-stretch flex-1"><div class="flex-1 overflow-hidden"><div class="react-scroll-to-bottom--css-iuwcp-79elbk h-full dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="react-scroll-to-bottom--css-iuwcp-1n7m0yu"><div class="flex flex-col text-sm dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert dark"><p>In the vibrant and enchanting land of Oz, a special event was taking place in the majestic Emerald City. Polychrome, the graceful dancing daughter of the Rainbow, decided to pay a visit to her dear friend Dorothy Gale and the beloved ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma.</p><p>As she arrived at the Emerald City, Polychrome's radiant presence filled the air with an array of sparkling colors. The royal coronet band, playing cheerful melodies, welcomed her with joyous tunes. With a twirl of her ethereal gown, Polychrome gracefully began to dance, her movements perfectly synchronized with the music.</p><p>Meanwhile, the fun-loving and whimsical Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, couldn't resist joining in the celebration. She had her own unique style of dancing, filled with quirky moves and spontaneous jumps. As she danced alongside Polychrome, she made sure to add her own flair to the performance, never trying to imitate the Rainbow's daughter but reveling in her own exuberant dance.</p><p>Dorothy Gale, Princess Ozma, and the other citizens of Oz gathered around, completely enraptured and amused by the spectacle before them. The contrasting styles of the two dancers created a captivating display, showcasing the beauty of individuality and the power of celebrating uniqueness.</p><p>With every twirl and leap, Polychrome displayed the fluidity of the rainbows, while Scraps showcased the vivid patchwork of her personality. Their joyful energy seemed to fill the Emerald City with even more magic and wonder.</p><p>As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the city, the dancers' enthusiasm showed no sign of waning. The crowd joined in, clapping to the beat and encouraging the duo with cheers and laughter.</p><p>In that moment, as the two very different but equally dedicated dancers wove their artistry together, it became evident that friendship and acceptance knew no boundaries in the Land of Oz. Their dance represented the harmony that existed between them and the celebration of their diverse talents.</p><p>As the night wore on, the Emerald City became alive with merriment and camaraderie. Polychrome and Scraps continued to dance, feeding off each other's energy, and inspiring everyone around them to embrace their own uniqueness.</p><p>From that day on, whenever festivities graced the Emerald City, Polychrome and Scraps were inseparable on the dance floor, their enchanting performances leaving a lasting imprint on the hearts of all who witnessed them. And so, the friendship between the graceful dancing daughter of the Rainbow and the fun-loving Patchwork Girl grew even stronger, a testament to the beauty of embracing one's true self and celebrating the differences that made them who they were.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4"><div class="empty:hidden"><i>Polychrome appreciates that she inspired Scraps to let loose and be herself.</i></div><div class="empty:hidden"><br /></div></div></div><div class="flex justify-between lg:block"><div class="text-xs flex items-center justify-center gap-1 self-center pt-2 !invisible">Polychrome couldn't help but feel a warm sense of joy and fulfillment as she noticed how her dance had inspired Scraps to be her true self. Seeing her fun-loving friend embrace her uniqueness and let loose on the dance floor brought a smile to Polychrome's radiant face.<br /></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert dark"><p>After the festivities had ended, Polychrome and Scraps found a quiet spot in the lush gardens of the Emerald City to catch their breath and share a moment of reflection. Scraps looked at Polychrome with a grateful expression, her mismatched button eyes gleaming with happiness.</p><p>"You know, Polychrome, your dance was simply amazing! I couldn't help but feel like dancing along with you, but I didn't want to copy your moves," Scraps said, her voice filled with genuine appreciation.</p><p>Polychrome chuckled softly, her melodious laughter echoing through the garden. "Oh, Scraps, you were wonderful! Your dance was filled with so much energy and spontaneity. I loved every moment of it. You didn't need to copy me because you have your own unique style that is simply delightful."</p><p>Scraps beamed at the praise, her colorful patchwork glowing with pride. "Thanks, Polychrome! I've always felt a bit different from everyone else, but today, dancing with you, I realized that being different is what makes me special. Your grace and beauty inspired me to embrace who I truly am."</p><p>"That's the spirit, my dear friend!" Polychrome exclaimed, placing a reassuring hand on Scraps' patchwork shoulder. "In Oz, we celebrate uniqueness and individuality. It's what makes our land so magical. Embracing who you are is a beautiful thing, and your dance was a true reflection of your vibrant spirit."</p><p>As the two friends sat together in the moonlit garden, they shared stories and laughter, deepening their bond even further. Polychrome felt a sense of fulfillment knowing that her presence had encouraged Scraps to be herself fully and unapologetically.</p><p>From that day forward, Polychrome and Scraps continued to dance together whenever they had the chance. Each time they took the stage, their performances were filled with even more passion and joy, inspiring others to embrace their own uniqueness and follow their hearts.</p><p>In the land of Oz, their dances became legendary, a symbol of friendship, self-expression, and the beauty of being true to oneself. And as they twirled and leaped through the colorful tapestry of their lives, Polychrome and Scraps knew that their bond was a testament to the magic of acceptance and the power of inspiring others to let loose and be themselves.</p><p><i>Scraps listens to Polychrome talk about living on the rainbow and wishes she could go.</i></p><p>As the moon continued to cast its gentle glow over the garden, Polychrome and Scraps found themselves lost in conversation. Polychrome spoke animatedly about her life on the rainbow, describing the breathtaking vistas and the wondrous experiences she had enjoyed.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert dark"><p>"Scraps, you won't believe the beauty of living on the rainbow," Polychrome said, her voice filled with nostalgia. "It's like dancing on the very colors of the sky. Each day brings a new adventure as I travel from one end of the rainbow to the other. The hues blend and flow, creating a breathtaking display of light and magic."</p><p>Scraps listened intently, her button eyes reflecting both admiration and a hint of longing. "Oh, Polychrome, that sounds so amazing! I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to live on a rainbow. The thought of dancing among the colors of the sky sounds like a dream come true."</p><p>With a gentle smile, Polychrome replied, "It truly is a magical existence. But you know, my dear friend, you don't need to live on a rainbow to experience magic. The Land of Oz is filled with wonders and enchantment. You bring your own special magic to our world with your vibrant personality and unique dance."</p><p>Scraps nodded, absorbing Polychrome's words. "You're right, Polychrome. I may not be able to live on a rainbow, but I can find magic and joy right here in Oz. I have incredible friends like you and Dorothy, and the adventures we have together make every day extraordinary."</p><p>Polychrome placed a hand on Scraps' shoulder and said warmly, "Absolutely! The magic of Oz comes from the friendships we forge and the moments we share. Your presence brings so much happiness and laughter to all of us. You're an essential part of the tapestry that makes our land so special."</p><p>Feeling reassured, Scraps smiled brightly. "Thank you, Polychrome. I'm grateful for your friendship and for showing me that being myself is a wonderful thing. I'll cherish the memories of our dance together, and I promise to keep embracing my uniqueness."</p><p>Polychrome hugged her dear friend, a shimmering display of colors enveloping them both. "And I'll cherish the memories of our dance too, Scraps. Our friendship is a treasure, and I'll always be here to share in your adventures and celebrate your joyful spirit."</p><p>As the night continued, Polychrome and Scraps sat side by side, basking in the beauty of their friendship and the magic of the Land of Oz. While Scraps may have wished to live on the rainbow, she knew that her true home was among the friends who accepted and celebrated her for who she was—a vibrant and cherished member of the wonderful world they called home.</p><p><i>The Rainbow returns to the Emerald City to pick up Polychrome. Scraps says a loving goodbye to one of her best friends and makes up a little song about Polychrome to sing in tribute.</i></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between lg:block"><div class="text-xs flex items-center justify-center gap-1 self-center pt-2 !invisible">Polychrome hugged her friend Scraps tightly, tears of both joy and sadness sparkling in her eyes. "Oh, Scraps, my dear friend, thank you for the wonderful time we had together. Your dance and your friendship mean the world to me."</div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="flex p-4 gap-4 text-base md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl md:py-6 lg:px-0 m-auto"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert dark"><p>Scraps wiped away a tear with her patchwork sleeve, trying to maintain her cheerful spirit. "Oh, Polychrome, you're one of my best friends! I'm going to miss you so much, but I know you'll have an amazing time on the rainbow. Just remember, I'll be dancing and thinking of you here in Oz!"</p><p>With a playful grin, Scraps suddenly burst into a lively tune, singing a tribute to her graceful and radiant friend:</p><p>🎶 Oh, Polychrome, a rainbow bright,<br /> Your dance brings colors, what a sight!<br />With grace, you twirl upon the sky, <br />In Oz, your spirit soars up high. 🎶</p><p>🎶 From hues of red to violet blue, <br />You paint the sky with every hue, <br />A dancer of the rainbow's crest, <br />Your magic shines, you're truly blessed. 🎶</p><p>🎶 We danced together, side by side, <br />Our friendship's woven, far and wide, <br />Though now apart, our bond won't fade, <br />In heart and soul, our memories stay. 🎶</p><p>🎶 So, as you fly on rainbow's art, <br />Remember this, we'll never part, <br />With every dance, your colors gleam, <br />In Oz, you'll dance in every dream. 🎶</p><p>Tears welled up in Polychrome's eyes, touched by Scraps' heartfelt tribute. "Oh, Scraps, that's the sweetest song anyone has ever sung for me. I'll carry it in my heart wherever I go, and I promise to visit you and our friends in Oz whenever I can."</p><p>As the Rainbow gently descended, Polychrome climbed aboard with a final wave to her dear friends in the Emerald City. Scraps stood below, singing her song with love and pride, watching her friend ascend into the sky until she disappeared within the colorful arc of the rainbow.</p><p>And so, Polychrome returned to her home in the sky, carrying with her the cherished memories of her time in Oz and the love of her friends. Scraps continued to dance and sing, celebrating the magic of their friendship and looking forward to the day when the radiant dancer of the rainbow would grace the land of Oz with her presence once again.</p></div></div></div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></main></div></div></div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-48277684495587315422023-07-23T20:08:00.000-05:002023-07-23T20:08:02.859-05:00Ozma of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERku6O8YODDIyvzO7-O8yRxOBB9UBdLsQKzEkS9CcGreSKqb0VFahrhBup1MK0s6C5NKuBtP5PQB0kndvT9qCujHO-E6Dpv-jkdHtw3YiqfNGghnvx8XpAUatMl2cCTwFD-q20Uq8TNEUqdd9fHSlUCbVDQ0vDt9Gomsr_ibVAVi2P4ebQDk0kQ/s210/Ozma-of-Oz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="210" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERku6O8YODDIyvzO7-O8yRxOBB9UBdLsQKzEkS9CcGreSKqb0VFahrhBup1MK0s6C5NKuBtP5PQB0kndvT9qCujHO-E6Dpv-jkdHtw3YiqfNGghnvx8XpAUatMl2cCTwFD-q20Uq8TNEUqdd9fHSlUCbVDQ0vDt9Gomsr_ibVAVi2P4ebQDk0kQ/s1600/Ozma-of-Oz.png" width="210" /></a></div> The Civic Light Opera is back with one more Oz story, the third Oz book, <i>Ozma of Oz</i>, which they have decided will be their final entry. They've released (and I've reviewed) <a href="http://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-by-toronto.html"><i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i></a> and <i><a href="http://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-marvelous-land-of-oz-by-toronto.html">The Marvelous Land of Oz</a></i>, so to avoid being an Oz company for a long time, they're concluding with <i>Ozma</i> and going on to other stories.<p></p><p>The CLO is sticking with MP3CD to distribute their audiobooks. These are CDs that have MP3 files on them as a data track, allowing for a lot more audio than you'd get from a standard audio track on a CD. Modern CD players can play these, and you can also play them back in a computer with a disc drive or use it to copy the files to a portable device. Or you can do what I did and put it in a home theater DVD or Blu-Ray player, pull up the folder of MP3 files and just start playing.</p><p><i>Ozma of Oz</i> goes back to the Outside World (our world), where we find Dorothy and Uncle Henry on a trip to Australia on a stormy night. While looking around for Uncle Henry, Dorothy goes on deck, only to be washed overboard, finding refuge in a chicken coop. She awakens outside of the Land of Ev with Billina, a talking chicken. On their way to find out the best course of action, they meet the mechanical man Tik-Tok, and Princess Langwidere who has thirty interchangeable heads in her boudoir. But soon Dorothy and her companions fall in with the visiting princess Ozma of Oz, who's heading to the nearby Nome Kingdom to rescue the Royal Family of Ev from the Nome King.</p><p>If you're familiar with my previous reviews, you'll know what to expect. While the text is unabridged, the introductions and chapter titles are not read. Joe Cascone narrates with a full cast performing the dialogue, the cast returning from their roles in the previous two audiobooks.</p><p>To make it further stand out, classical music and sound effects are added. This is where I have to mention one thing. During the story, both Langwidere and the Nome King use bells to call for their subordinates or to be alerted. The same sound effect is used for all times, which is fine, it's just that this sound effect is <i>very</i> familiar if you've ever seen a commercial for Taco Bell.</p><p>Audio quality is good. I was playing it back with the audio going through the soundbar and found it sounded best if I used the music setting.</p><p>Overall, it's a great presentation of the story.</p><p>Again, we get a matching presentation in a jewel case, decorated with artwork by John R. Neill, photos of the cast, an introductory note from Joe, a cast list and a list of music used in the production. If you miss physical media, these are worth looking over.<br /></p><p>To get a copy, <a href="https://joetunes.ca/">Joe has it for sale on his website</a>, along with the first two Oz books as well as music CDs and notices of his upcoming audio versions of <i>A Christmas Carol</i> and <i>Animal Farm</i>.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-16657296929568578472023-07-16T12:40:00.000-05:002023-07-16T12:40:00.244-05:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: Wicked Movie Hype!<p>Jay, returning guest Angelo Thomas and new guest Tyler Varney discuss the upcoming two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked. They discuss the director, the cast, the decision to make two movies, the current state of Hollywood, the sneak peeks, the leaks, and where could we expect to see some original Broadway cast cameos?</p>
<p><a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/episodes/Wicked-Movie-Hype-e270nqq">Listen to the episode on Spotify.</a></p>
<iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/Wicked-Movie-Hype-e270nqq" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-62413519863307164732023-06-25T01:22:00.002-05:002023-06-25T01:28:25.159-05:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Movies of Oz - The Witches of Oz<p> Jay and Sam are joined by Angelo Thomas in breaking down the miniseries The Witches of Oz and its movie counterpart Dorothy and the Witches of Oz.</p><p>Angelo reveals behind the scenes details and gives us the scoop on the unrealized sequel.</p><p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/The-Movies-of-Oz-The-Witches-of-Oz-e265ffr" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-9893677247672824512023-06-11T18:24:00.006-05:002023-06-11T18:26:10.085-05:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: Ozma is a Trans Icon<p>Jay talks with Zoe O'Hallin-Berne about how important Ozma's story is to transgender Oz fans.</p><P><a href="https://www.stephenalexanderwillis.com/willowaudiobooks" rel="noopener noreferer" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Reading from <i>The Marvelous Land of Oz </i>performed by Stephen Alexander Willis for Willow Audio Books, used with permission.</a></p>
<p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/Ozma-is-a-Trans-Icon-e25ji5i" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-79010419201117624852023-05-20T20:52:00.014-05:002023-05-21T07:35:59.508-05:00The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Movies of Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's.<p>Jay and Sam waltz up and down the produce aisle as they look at Veggie Tales' <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Whimsical Wizard of Ha's</em> as the parable of The Prodigal Son is mixed with a Wizard of Oz parody.</p><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-royal-podcast-of-oz/embed/episodes/The-Movies-of-Oz-The-Whimsical-Wizard-of-Has-e24dl1n/a-a9samc5" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-34669981866728668182023-05-20T12:41:00.007-05:002023-05-21T07:35:10.264-05:00No, the Wizard of Oz isn't a political allegory<p> This comes up over and over online. Even in comments on this blog, I've seen it come up.<br /></p><p>The Wizard of Oz is a parable or allegory on Populism! Everything matches up! The Silver Shoes are the Silver Standard, the yellow brick road is the Gold Standard, the wicked witches are the east and west coast bankers, Dorothy is the common man, the Scarecrow is the farmers, the Tin Woodman is the industrial workers, and the Lion is William Jennings Bryan, who didn't win the presidency, while the Wizard is the president.</p><p>It's an interesting way to read it.</p><p>The political allegory of Oz took off after Gore Vidal referred to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150318074257/http://www.amphigory.com/oz.htm" target="_blank">an article by Henry Littlefield</a> in which he describes a view using the story of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> to explain the 1896 presidential election. He first came up with this to explain it to his class while teaching about the economic theory of Populism.</p><p>After it hit mainstream, it's been repeated over and over and gotten changed up (the Wicked Witch of the West's hostility is described by Littlefield as "she is Baum's version of sentient and malign nature," not being a banker).</p><p>Does this work? To a point, yes.</p><p>The problem is when the claim is made that this is what L. Frank Baum intended.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Why do we see fantasy as allegory?</span></b> <br /></p><p>Fantasy opened the door wide for allegory. With fantasy, writers could use utterly impossible scenarios to describe concepts they wanted to communicate.</p><p>The most famous allegory is John Bunyan's <i>The Pilgrim's Progress</i>. It uses a journey with fantastic monsters and strange locations to describe the life of a believer in Christianity, staying true to their teachings, sometimes getting sidetracked, but eventually making it to Heaven. It's the go-to example of an allegory because there's no mystery as to what the characters and places represent: the main protagonist is named Christian, he is told of the journey he needs to take by a man called Evangelist, he has companions named Pliable who turns back at the first danger he encounters, as well as his successful friends Faithful and Hopeful. While it's clear what it means, it's also a fantasy as Christian faces a monster he must battle and is later captured by a giant.<br /></p><p>In 1950, another fantasy was published with clear Christian themes: C.S. Lewis' <i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>. Likely, most of the people reading have read it themselves or have enjoyed some adaptation of it. Like the Oz stories, children go to a land where magic clearly exists, which Lewis clearly says is another world. During the events, one of the children, Edmund, is convinced to betray his siblings by telling the villainous White Witch about them and going to her after all of them enter the land of Narnia, putting them all in danger as the rest go to see the heroic Aslan who is trying to free Narnia from the Witch's reign. Aslan allows himself to be killed in place of Edmund, but as he is innocent, he resurrects and is able to finally defeat the Witch during battle.</p><p> Lewis would claim that the story and its sequels—forming the series The Chronicles of Narnia—were not allegories. In the third book, Aslan reveals to Edmund and his sister Lucy that he also exists in their world, but has another name. Aslan is no longer is a fantasy stand-in for Jesus, he's supposed to <i>be</i> Jesus in a fantasy world. (YouTube literary reviewer Dominic Noble has come up with the phrase "Aslan was Jesus' fursona.") The stories did contain strong Christian themes, but they weren't properly allegorical.<br /></p><p>One of Lewis' colleagues and friends, J.R.R. Tolkien, also wrote fantasy stories in <i>The Hobbit</i> and <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, which some began to interpret as an allegory of World War II. It's not hard to see as the story sees an entire world at war. Even places that aren't going to war are still affected by it. However, Tolkien refuted these claims saying his story was "neither allegorical nor topical." He would also say a key line that I think of when addressing allegory: "I think people confuse allegory with applicability."</p><p>So, back to Oz.</p><p>In allegory, when something is made to represent a concept, it needs to represent that concept consistently. For me, a big point of the story of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> that just doesn't get addressed is if the Wizard is a stand-in for a president, he abdicates his throne to help Dorothy. Where does this tie into a president leaving office? Furthermore, the Wizard names the Scarecrow his successor, but given the line of succession, the Vice President steps in as president, an incoming person wouldn't be made the president instead. Littlefield doesn't address this, and I haven't heard much about other interpretations addressing it either. A change in a country's leadership is a huge thing to discuss, but it's not addressed.<br /></p><p>This doesn't mean there's no merit to using Oz to talk about Populism or even teaching the 1896 election. But the problem is attributing this—to take the term from Tolkien—applicability to Baum as his intent.</p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Could Baum have intended an allegory?</span></b> <br /></p><p>Baum was not a Populist. He did not support William Jennings Bryan as might be assumed from the interpretation Littlefield proposed. Baum also wrote many other works both under his name and under pseudonyms and anonymously, some even set in his modern world and in places that actually exist. The most political Baum got was in <i>Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross</i>, which was actually revised given the United States' position in World War I changing between the first and second versions.</p><p>But when it comes to claiming Baum had allegorical intention in his work, generally only <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> is brought up. It was Baum's first novel, his previous fiction books being short story collections and poetry. Given his later work, he did much better in stories like <i>Queen Zixi of Ix</i> and <i>Sky Island</i> at creating strong, linear stories, while <i>Wonderful Wizard</i> is a series of story time episodes that link together into a clear narrative. Baum could produce some great work, but some of his other books fall quite short, and it'd be strange that early on in his literary career, he'd masterfully weave in a neat allegory that no one noticed for over fifty years.<br /></p><p>I have seen claims that the Wooden Gargoyles in <i>Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz</i> represent native Americans and the Awgwas in <i>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus</i> represent Jewish people, but the reasoning behind these was either not presented or very sketchy. Still, it's worth remembering that Baum was a white man from a well-off family in the late 19th century and while eventually becoming poor while caring for his own children (he wasn't good with money) and embracing his mother in law's views on feminism, he fell short in embracing other progressive ideals, his editorials on the Sioux being a dark stain on his legacy.</p><p>People have also read the Army of Revolt in <i>The Marvelous Land of Oz</i> as a comment on the suffragette movement of the time, but Baum was a supporter of the suffragist movement, and in that book, Oz <i>is</i> under a woman's rule at the end and going forward, and the Army of Revolt meets another all-female army in Glinda's far more skilled and disciplined forces. <br /></p><p>Baum also makes Oz into a communist society without money by his sixth Oz book, <i>The Emerald City of Oz</i> in which everyone is able to get what they need thanks to a benevolent ruler operating a government that doesn't forget that it's supposed to care for the people. People provide for themselves and their fellow citizens and when they need more, they simply are given more by their local leaders. This isn't a reading of the subtext, it's actually spelled out in passages from <i>Emerald City </i>and <i>The Road to Oz</i>. Yet, we didn't see him advocating for a similar system in the United States.</p><p>Littlefield later clarified that he didn't mean to claim that his Populism interpretation was Baum's intent. However, his original article could easily confuse readers into suggesting it was intentional:</p><p></p><blockquote>Yet once discovered, the author's allegorical intent seems clear, and it gives depth and lasting interest even to children who only sense something else beneath the surface of the story. Consider the fun in picturing turn-of-the-century America, a difficult era at best, using these ready-made symbols provided by Baum. <i>The relationship and analogies outlined above are admittedly theoretical,</i> <i>but they are far too consistent to be coincidental,</i> and they furnish a teaching mechanism which is guaranteed to reach any level of student. </blockquote><p></p><p>(Emphasis mine.)</p><p>It's worth noting that Oz has been interpreted by a number of other philosophies and has even been seen as a reflection on contemporary relations between China and Japan. I even saw someone claim it was supposed to be a Christian story with Dorothy's friends representing God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (No other explanation was given, simply that three characters <i>must</i> represent the Holy Trinity.)</p><p>It's worth pointing out that stories mean a lot to many different people. Once they leave the creator and go out to the public, they're there for audiences to enjoy and part of that is finding meaning in them. It's impossible for everyone to exactly match up with the author's intent while creating the work, and Baum specifically wrote that he intended <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> "solely to please the children of today" in the introduction to the book.</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why shouldn't we say it's Baum's intent?</b></span> <br /></p><p>While everyone is welcome to read Baum's works and come away with their own interpretation, claiming their take on it is Baum's intent is to claim you know something you have no proof of. You don't even know what a close friend or family member might be thinking at this moment. Can you really claim you can tell what someone was thinking over 100 years ago?</p><p>We do have context for Baum's life in all of his works together and the biographical information researchers have turned up. Yet it doesn't really support the Populist interpretation as mentioned above.</p><p>Claiming without evidence colors views of a person unrealistically. These unfounded ideas can get sensationalized and spread far more quickly than their rebuttal. This goes on to this day where if someone makes a strong accusation on Twitter to someone, the accusation can get retweeted and shared, but a fair rebuttal and apology likely won't make the same waves.</p><p>Thus, when you're presenting information, it's important to make the distinction between something backed up by facts and evidence and what might be a fair assumption, and what is entirely conjecture. This is why in journalism, someone charged with a completely likely crime they may have committed is only said to have done it "allegedly."</p><p>It's why many fans bristle at simply labeling Baum "racist" even though we clearly have evidence to back it up from his articles on the Sioux to his use of stereotypes in his literature to even a few uses of the "n-word." While we can't deny Baum had racist views or views inspired by racism, coloring him as simply a racist ignores what else he was or can stop you from thinking about his work outside of that scope. It's important to understand all of who Baum was when reading his works critically.</p><p><a href="http://thewizardofoz.info/wiki/About_the_Oz_Books#Is_it_true_that_The_Wizard_of_Oz_was_written_as_a_political_tract.3F" target="_blank">I need to link to Eric Gjovaag's take on addressing this on his website's FAQ.</a> An earlier version of his answer was my first exposure to the idea and I did touch on some of the same points he did.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-77269345950010524022023-01-04T19:35:00.004-06:002023-01-06T18:43:18.700-06:00Why Warner Brothers' New Wizard of Oz and The Wicked Movies Shouldn't Connect<p><a href="https://screenrant.com/wizard-of-oz-remake-wicked-connect-good/"> Screenrant posted a piece by Kayla Laguerre-Lewis arguing that the two-part film adaptation of <i>Wicked</i> and Warner Brothers' Kenya Barris <i>Wizard of Oz</i> should connect.</a> I saw a link to the piece on Facebook, and of course, fans were disagreeing with the point or even the headline.</p><p>It's entirely possible for studios to collaborate. Right now, we have Sony's Columbia Pictures and Disney's Marvel Studios giving us Tom Holland's <i>Spider-Man</i> movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.</p><p>However, with Oz, it's completely possible for studios to make projects independently as long as they don't cross trademarks and copyrights and licenses. Warner Brothers owns the MGM film <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> through their absorption of Turner Entertainment, who had bought MGM's catalog in the 1980s.</p><p>Universal was always going to be the one to make the <i>Wicked</i> film adaptation happen as they'd backed the musical. And the primary source material of both, L. Frank Baum's book <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>, and the sequels he wrote to it are public domain, allowing for them to be freely exploited by anyone who can. <i>Wicked</i> is, of course, based on Gregory Maguire's novel <i>Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West</i>, a derivative work of the Baum story.</p><p>Oz has been adapted many times over the years, allowing for different artists to bring their own spins to the material, from the original musical adaptation that hit Broadway in 1903 to the 1925 silent film, to 2007's <i>Tin Man</i> and 2017's <i>Emerald City</i>. Some fare better than others with fans, others have fans split.</p><p>Gregory Maguire's <i>Wicked</i> was a difficult piece to adapt into a Broadway musical, with a huge overhaul of the story dropping a lot of elements. Yet the musical took off and has a life of its own, still aware of its roots in Maguire's text, Baum's creation and the MGM landmark adaptation.</p><p>The novel questions the nature of Good and Evil and where our perceptions lie, using a famous character whose name was more a description as a protagonist. It's also worth noting that the word "wicked" doesn't necessarily mean evil, but twisted. It has the same root word as "wreath," "wicker" and "wraith." It's something that has been changed from its original purpose.</p><p>The musical found a different way to handle it. Early in the musical, Glinda asks, "Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?" If we take the "twisted" definition, Glinda in the musical is also "wicked," not that she's evil, but that she found herself taking a different path than she anticipated. (In the novel, Glinda is far less of an active character after her school years.)</p><p>The thing is, <i>Wicked</i> is not the story of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>. <i>Oz</i> is the story of Dorothy Gale, a young girl thrust into a strange and unfamiliar world, looking for a way to get home, empowering other people to improve their lives. <i>Wicked</i> is adjacent to Dorothy's story, looking at the character held to be the villain of Dorothy's story in an alternate universe to the original Baum or MGM incarnations.</p><p>Oz fans are split on <i>Wicked</i> to this day. I wouldn't be surprised if there are fans of Maguire's novel who dislike the musical and vice versa. However, the property is in itself an example of what can be done with Oz when one is not constrained by another version.</p><p>Maguire's book decided to pull away from Baum's Oz (but brought over the green skinned witch from MGM) and create its own version with a more civilized ugly side. The musical adaptation used it as inspiration for a very different adaptation, not feeling constrained by its source material.</p><p>And the movie version of the musical is going to be in two films, likely involving new characters, plotlines and songs, again not constrained by its source.<br /></p><p>So why should Kenya Barris make his new interpretation of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> connect to another version? It's likely not going to be the MGM film again, and it won't be exactly like Baum's book (though I hope we'll see the basis).</p><p>I don't want to see an artist make their version of Oz be forced to fit some inter-corporate synergy. I want them to offer their own version, unique and able to be what it wants. Not the other side of <i>Wicked</i>. And as <a href="http://chroniclesofoz.com"><i>The Chronicles of Oz</i></a> proved, you can nod your cap to other versions lovingly while not constraining yourself to them.</p><p>Now what do I have to do to get an Oz movie featuring Ozma, Scraps and Polychrome?<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-18699189059458391352022-12-28T19:26:00.007-06:002023-03-06T03:24:14.797-06:00Mr. Hoffmann and Mr. Baum<p> When people discuss the classic young female heroines of fantasy literature, they usually get down to three: Alice from Lewis Carroll's <i>Alice</i> stories, Dorothy Gale from the Oz books, and Wendy Darling from J.M. Barrie's <i>Peter Pan</i>. There's others who could make the cut (Betsy, Trot and Ozma could back up Dorothy), and some get ignored, whether for near obscurity (Anthea and Jane from E. Nesbitt's <i>Five Children and It</i>), and others are left out due to copyright concerns (Jane and Barbara Banks from the <i>Mary Poppins</i> stories, Susan and Lucy Pevensie from <i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i>), but there's one before Alice who routinely gets ignored: Marie Stahlbaum.</p><p>Marie is from E.T.A. Hoffmann's <i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King</i>, originally published in 1816. Maybe Marie doesn't usually get lumped in because the story was originally written in German and all the others are written in English. Or perhaps as the story opens at Christmas, it gets considered a Christmas story while the others aren't necessarily tied to a holiday. And there's also the fact that the public at large is less familiar with the original text than they are a highly streamlined version of the story that gets adapted into countless ballet variations every year.</p><p>Wait, the original text gets ignored for a popular streamlined adaptation? Oz fans, we know the feeling.</p><p>Interestingly, there's several parallels with Oz. Alexander Volkov rewrote <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> in Russian as <i>The Wizard of the Emerald City</i>, naming characters Baum hadn't and changing names. Similarly, Alexandre Dumas (yes, the <i>Three Musketeers</i> guy) rewrote Hoffmann's story in French as <i>The History of a Nutcracker</i>. The Nutcracker prince got the name Nathaniel (yes, Hoffmann didn't name the title characters, Baum also didn't name the Wizard until <i>Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz</i>), and Marie's family name was changed to Silberhaus. Dumas' version helped launch the story into wider consciousness and is the version the ballet was based on.<br /></p><p>In the original production of the ballet, Marie's name was changed to Clara for the first time, carrying over into later adaptations of the story. I suspect it was to prevent any connection drawn to the daughter of librettist and choreographer Marius Petipa, the famous ballerina Marie Petipa. In Hoffmann's original story, Clara is the name of a doll Marie gets for Christmas. Some claim the name gets swapped between them, but I've only seen one adaptation of the <i>Nutcracker</i> have the doll named Marie when our heroine is named Clara. (Disney's recent takes on the story find ways to use both names.)<br /></p><p>Regardless of the name, Marie (as I'll call her) is explicitly said in the original text to be only seven years old when the main action of the story takes place. This makes her the same age as Alice, and around the same age a lot of readers assume Dorothy is on her first adventure in Oz.<br /></p><p>It is well known that Alice was named for Alice Liddell, a girl that Lewis Carroll was friendly with. It's also believed that Baum named Dorothy for his late niece, Dorothy Gage. Just like them, Marie and her brother Fritz were named for Marie and Fritz Hitzig, children of a dear friend of Hoffmann's, Julius Eduard Hitzig. It's believed that he expressed himself through the mysterious Godfather Drosselmeyer, who presents the the Stahlbaum children with an elaborate clockwork castle. In real life, Hoffmann created a cardboard castle for the Hitzigs while spending the holiday with them. Then the next year, he delighted them with his new story inspired by the festivities.<br /></p><p>Similar to Baum, who tried to improve on <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> (although it became his claim to fame), Hoffmann took to heart much of the criticism of <i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King</i>, later producing <i>The Strange Child</i>. Both stories appear in his collections <i>The Serapion Brothers</i>, in which his stories are presented with a framing device of writers who share their stories with each other and critique them. (English translations of <i>The Serapion Brothers</i>, save print on demand affairs, are long out of print with publishers favoring new translations of selected Hoffmann stories. Luckily for us, we have Project Gutenberg to give us Alexander Ewing's serviceable if outdated translation.) Hoffmann has the other writers call out some of the story's weaknesses.<br /></p><p>Lothair, the fictional writer who <i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King</i> gets attributed to, declares: "I think it is a great
mistake to suppose that clever, imaginative children—and it is only
they who are in question here—should content themselves with the empty
nonsense which is so often set before them under the name of Children's
Tales. They want something much better; and it is surprising how much
they see and appreciate which escapes a good, honest, well-informed
papa."</p><p>One could imagine Baum saying the same thing. In his introduction to <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> (a simple piece that is often overlooked when evaluating his work), he writes "every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal." Two years later in the piece "What Children Want," he wrote "Positively the child cannot be satisfied with inanities in its story
books. It craves marvels – fairy tales, adventures, surprising and
unreal occurrences; gorgeousness, color and kaleidoscopic succession of
inspiring incident."</p><p>I would hesitate to claim that Baum read Hoffmann. To be sure, it wouldn't be impossible as English translations of Hoffmann were available. However, Hoffmann is one of the earliest writers of what became modern science fiction and gothic fantasy. In many of his fantasies, such as <i>The Golden Pot</i>, we find a person living a normal life when they happen to witness something wonderful. A serpent under a tree becomes a lovely woman, a tiny flea helps a young man see beyond the deceptions thrown in his way, a miner sees a fantastic underground kingdom, a little girl sees a damaged nutcracker's eyes sparkle, or a bedridden invalid interprets the goings on outside his window. In a similar vein, Baum made a common but terrifying Kansas cyclone become the gateway to an incredible adventure.</p><p>Hoffmann is known to have inspired writers Baum would almost certainly have read, such as Edgar Allen Poe and also Charles Dickens, who Baum claimed was a favorite. (In fact, some wonder if Dickens' nickname Boz was actually the inspiration for Baum's most famous creation.) So even if Baum didn't know Hoffmann directly, some inspiration passed along.</p><p>There are other similarities between Baum and Hoffmann. Given their lifespans, they both settled into the life of an author late in their lives, with Baum picking up on children's writing in the last 22 years of his life. Hoffmann began publishing his stories in his last decade of life. Both were fairly progressive in their views and enjoyed music and the stage, Baum writing many pieces for the stage in his life, and Hoffmann created the opera <i>Undine </i>and composing music on his own. And yet as varied and fascinating careers as both men had, both are remembered chiefly for a fantasy work for children they produced: <i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King</i> and <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>. And both works inspired far more popular dramatic adaptations famous for their music: <i>The Nutcracker </i>ballet scored by Tchaikovsky and MGM's classic film <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>.</p><p>In fact if we may go further, both of these famous adaptations often under serve their heroines. Judy Garland's Dorothy is less headstrong than her literary counterpart, relying on her friends to rescue her from the Wicked Witch of the West when she's captured and her defeat of the Witch being a happy accident. Baum's Dorothy also accidentally kills the Witch, but in an act of defiance. Don't get me wrong, Judy is still a powerhouse of a performer in the film, but her character could have stood up to the Witch a little more.<br /></p><p>In <i>The Nutcracker</i> ballet, Marie (or Clara, depending on the production) is largely passive until she happens to throw her shoe at the Mouse King. In Hoffmann, Marie only wishes throwing her shoe was the end of the Mouse King. Instead of immediately being whisked to a fairyland, she awakens in bed with a nasty cut in her arm and her parents chiding her for being careless. While she's recovering the Mouse King comes to her at night and demands her Christmas candy and then her sugar dolls in return for not destroying the Nutcracker. (And note, with German customs, her injury means she had to sit out most of her family's Christmas celebrations, so those are all she had left of her holiday.) She finally realizes the Nutcracker needs a new sword and manages to procure one from her brother, allowing the Nutcracker to finally defeat the Mouse King. The Nutcracker hails her as the reason for his victory.<br /></p><p>Baum and Hoffmann, despite coming from different cultures and different times, seem to have nearly been on the same wavelength when it came to their sensibilities, writing of the mundane turning into the bizarre and fantastic, and even describing wondrous fantasy worlds.</p><p>So, if one is going to have Dorothy meet up with Alice and Wendy, perhaps they should also make room for a little German girl.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-20267556121479132642022-12-15T18:17:00.002-06:002022-12-18T08:40:47.253-06:00The Marvelous Land of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynxlma01eYKrQcyzkP5QBKcqi3zg6U5AIeTpou1fvNz0o-exvpXccbokZDlZ_Sbdnd_-u_k-zeKGBueHxJKjLZugDGaWtckAgPHXcfqAU8PVYSmq7FUwlF39tPMQpOaKalIocygb66I7Rh4PpBVyMuoERYnCiD4IalV3XjqWWMmgenbkKUXs/s211/The-Marvelous-Land-of-Oz.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="211" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynxlma01eYKrQcyzkP5QBKcqi3zg6U5AIeTpou1fvNz0o-exvpXccbokZDlZ_Sbdnd_-u_k-zeKGBueHxJKjLZugDGaWtckAgPHXcfqAU8PVYSmq7FUwlF39tPMQpOaKalIocygb66I7Rh4PpBVyMuoERYnCiD4IalV3XjqWWMmgenbkKUXs/s1600/The-Marvelous-Land-of-Oz.png" width="211" /></a></div><br /> The Civic Light Opera Company has released their second unabridged audiobook, <a href="http://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-by-toronto.html">following from their first</a>, reading L. Frank Baum's <i>The Marvelous Land of Oz</i>.<br /><p></p><p>It's currently only on MP3CD, allowing for a much longer runtime than a traditional audio CD. The production runs for nearly four hours. Some more modern CD players can play MP3CDs (if you're not sure, check your manual or packaging, if you still have them), or you can play it on a home entertainment disc player, or play it on a computer with a disc drive or use the computer to copy the files to a device.</p><p>For my listen through, I used my home entertainment setup, popping it in my 4K disc player and playing it through my soundbar. (I did have to select the "music" profile on the soundbar's remote to make it sound fine.) Wound up playing it from beginning to end.</p><p>If you're not familiar with the second Oz book, it takes place largely inside the realm of Oz, no outside characters visit, Baum breaking away from the formula he established in <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>. Our protagonist is a boy named Tip, who lives in the northern Gillikin Country of Oz with Mombi, an old woman who secretly practices magic. When Mombi brings Tip's creation Jack Pumpkinhead to life, she announces her plan to transform Tip into a statue, forcing him to take Jack and flee to the Emerald City. However, the Emerald City is being invaded by an all-female army, seeking to overthrow the Scarecrow. Tip, Jack, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and more new characters embark on an adventure that leads them to discover startling secrets from Oz's history.<br /></p><p>I want to commend Joe Cascone and company for continuity. It's quality narration by Joe Cascone, with a cast of performers hopping in to give their own interpretations of the characters. Cast members from the <i>Wizard</i> audiobook reprise their roles when available, and others pop up in new roles, for example, David Haines, the Cowardly Lion of the company of stage and audio, takes on Jack Pumpkinhead.</p><p>In addition, sound effects and classical music are used to enhance the experience. There were times that the sound effects sounded so realistic I had to check on my cat to make sure she wasn't causing some sort of mischief.</p><p>I was pleased and entertained by the new production. Some of the casting made the characters sound older than I would personally want them to be, but it was all right. I was particularly pleasantly surprised that Mickey Brown as Mombi didn't go for a cackling witch voice as many depictions often do. A lot of fans simply interpret Mombi as another witch like the Wicked Witches of the East and West, but I feel the character is more complicated than that, and making her sound like someone who could pass for an ordinary Gillikin woman plays into that.</p><p>Again, if you wanted a reading of chapter titles, the dedication and introduction, they aren't here, allowing you to immediately get immersed in the story. The way I was playing it, the track names popped up on my TV's screen.</p><p>So yes, I'd recommend this production.</p><p>Again, the CD is in a jewel case complete with a four-page booklet with some explanatory text about the story and images to illustrate the story. A cast list is in the tray card and photos of the cast are in the booklet.</p><p>The really cool announcement is that while you can <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/265967250636">buy a copy from an eBay listing</a>, you can also<a href="https://joetunes.ca/"> buy it direct from Joe at his new website</a>, which also offers the first one, copies of the <i>Songs in the Key of Oz</i> CD, the cast recording for his <i>Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> musical and CD of him singing show tunes. Also teased is the upcoming audio book of <i>Ozma of Oz</i> and one for <i>A Christmas Carol</i>.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-79609579534722378652022-12-10T13:19:00.006-06:002022-12-11T06:45:48.396-06:00The Wicked Movies Have Begun Filming<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Well, the title says it all. Film has begun rolling (metaphorically
since most movies are shot on digital) on director John M. Chu's
two-part film adaptation of the musical <i>Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz</i>. <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Along with the news, more casting of principal roles have been announced. I say this because with casting announcements, there's an inaccurate perception that the roles are cast as they're announced. They need time to make sure songs are arranged to bring out the best performances and costumes are ready to go. Rather, they get cast well ahead of time. Announcing them is part of the publicity for the film.</p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /><img alt="JEFF GOLDBLUM | DICE" class="n3VNCb KAlRDb" data-noaft="1" data-popupalt-original-title="null" src="https://dice-media.imgix.net/attachments/2021-11-08/2d39e6d7-20a9-4b3f-bb85-9835c895e3fc.jpg?rect=0%2C208%2C900%2C900&auto=format%2Ccompress&q=80&w=722&h=722&fit=crop&crop=faces%2Ccenter" style="height: 213px; margin: 0px; width: 213px;" title="JEFF GOLDBLUM | DICE" /><br />Jeff Goldblum has been confirmed as playing the Wizard in the movies. He should need no introduction, but if you're not familiar, he made his big break in David Cronenberg's remake of <i>The Fly</i> in 1986, then went on to feature in 1993's <i>Jurassic Park</i> and 1996's <i>Independence Day</i>. More recently, he's played the Grandmaster in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in 2017's <i>Thor: Ragnarok</i>. He also leads Disney+'s <i>The World According to Jeff Goldblum</i> and is commonly seen in commercials for Apartments.com.</p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /><img alt="Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) - MyDramaList" class="n3VNCb KAlRDb" data-noaft="1" data-popupalt-original-title="null" src="https://i.mydramalist.com/rjwQm_5f.jpg" style="height: 271px; margin: 0px; width: 228.585px;" title="Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) - MyDramaList" /><br />In addition, Michelle Yeoh has been cast as Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Shiz University. The casting is unexpected but a welcome surprise. The Malaysian actress has featured in several roles in film and television over the years, more recently joining the <i>Star Trek</i> franchise in the first season of <i>Star Trek: Discovery</i>, playing two roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in <i>Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2</i> and <i>Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings</i>, and starring in this year's sci-fi hit <i>Everything Everywhere All At Once</i>.</p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /><img alt="Wicked' Movie: Ethan Slater Joins Cast Opposite Ariana Grande - Variety" class="n3VNCb KAlRDb" data-noaft="1" data-popupalt-original-title="null" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ethan-slater.jpg?w=1000" style="height: 213px; margin: 0px; width: 349.18px;" title="Wicked' Movie: Ethan Slater Joins Cast Opposite Ariana Grande - Variety" /><br />Ethan Slater has been cast as Boq, one of the students at Shiz University who crushes on Galinda but ends up involved with Nessarose, Elphaba's sister. The role is highly changed from the Gregory Maguire novel in which he is the Munchkin farmer from the original Baum book, he just happened to have brushed shoulders with Glinda and the "wicked" witches back in the day. Slater received a Drama Desk award for his lead role in <i>Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical</i>, a role he later reprised for a filmed television version.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img alt="Marissa Bode - IMDb" class="n3VNCb KAlRDb" data-noaft="1" data-popupalt-original-title="null" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMGJkNmVhZjktYTZkOC00MjU2LTgzYTUtNGIzZmU2NmRjYmI3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTcyOTczOA@@._V1_.jpg" style="height: 271px; margin: 0px; width: 481.778px;" title="Marissa Bode - IMDb" /><br />After these featured castings, a number of smaller roles were announced: wheelchair using actress Marissa Bode is making her feature film debut as Nessarose. <i>Saturday Night Live</i> cast member Bowen Yang and actress Bronwyn James are playing Pfanee and ShenShen, two Shiz classmates who are depicted as good friends with Galinda. Aaron Teoh will be playing Avaric, Fiyero's footman and driver. Colin Michael Carmichael will be playing Dr. Nikidik, the teacher who replaces Dr. Dillamond.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img alt="Keala Settle Talks 'Hiding' From the Spotlight Before 'The Greatest Showman' Success; Plus, Fifth Harmony's Hiatus | Billboard – Billboard" class="n3VNCb KAlRDb" data-noaft="1" data-popupalt-original-title="null" src="https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/media/02-Keala-Settle-march-4-2018-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024" style="height: 271px; margin: 0px; width: 409.903px;" title="Keala Settle Talks 'Hiding' From the Spotlight Before 'The Greatest Showman' Success; Plus, Fifth Harmony's Hiatus | Billboard – Billboard" /><br />The most surprising casting is Keala Settle as Miss Coddle. The actress and singer featured as a bearded lady in 2017's <i>The Greatest Showman</i>, impressing audiences with her singing voice. The character is seemingly original to the film adaptation. Given her incredible pipes, it's suspected she'll be singing one of the new songs Stephen Schwartz has been penning for the film.<br /></p></div><p>Still to be announced is who's playing Dr. Dillamond. Given that the character is a goat, it is entirely possible that the role will be played by a stand-in during principal photography and created with CG in post-production, to be voiced by a yet to be announced surprise star.<br /><br />Other roles yet to be confirmed are Frex and Melena, Nessarose and Elphaba's parents. It's also hoped that original Broadway cast members of the musical—especially stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith—will be appearing in cameos.</p><p>While <i>Wicked</i> isn't every Oz fan's cup of tea, it's exciting to have a film project to look forward to, and I'm very interested to see John Chu's new incarnation of the story.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-90652715899629916222022-09-27T17:21:00.001-05:002022-09-27T17:24:01.023-05:00The Surprising State of Hollywood and Oz<p> The latest bit of casting for the movie adaptation of <i>Wicked</i> is that Jonathan Bailey will be playing Fiyero in the two films.</p><div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="20286129" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1.3913" data-width="100%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/bridgerton-jonathan-bailey-anthony-jonny-gif-20286129">Bridgerton Jonathan GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/bridgerton-gifs">Bridgerton GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script> <p><br /></p><p> Bailey has been acting since he was seven years old on stage, film and television, most recently getting international attention in Netflix's hit show <i>Bridgerton</i>. He's experienced in musical theater, so if anything, he's overqualified for a major film adaptation of a Broadway musical hit.</p><p>There is one note about the role of Fiyero I want to presence. In Gregory Maguire's <i>Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West</i>, the character is inspired by African tribes, described as having dark skin and tribal tattoos. In the original Broadway cast, Fiyero was played by a Caucasian actor, Norbert Leo Butz. The character's depiction was largely changed, making him a spoiled and self-absorbed member of a notable family in Oz.</p><p>To be fair to the musical, the character was played by men of color in different casts, notably Idina Menzel's then husband Taye Diggs. But still, largely, a role originally envisioned as a person of color was cast with a white person. While I've heard people dismiss the importance of the role, this is the very definition of what is called "whitewashing." I had hoped they might go with a person of color for the movie, but that's seemingly not going to be the case. It might not be as egregious as a culturally important character of color being whitewashed, but it's a missed opportunity, particularly as this two-part film adaptation might be the only version of the musical some people will get to see.</p><p>Before the <i>Wicked </i>movies come out, Universal, the studio behind them, might have even more importance to Oz fans.</p><div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="18282179" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1.73913" data-width="100%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/universal-pictures-logo-intro-universal-studios-gif-18282179">Universal Pictures Logo GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/universal+pictures-gifs">Universal Pictures GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script><p><br /></p><p>Universal's TV arm is NBC, and they're both owned by Comcast, one of the big telecommunications companies in the United States. Without checking further credits, NBC/Universal control the rights to the movie adaptation of <i>The Wiz</i>, <i>The Wiz Live!</i> and the one-season TV series <i>Emerald City</i>. Universal is producing the <i>Wicked</i> films as they are a producer on the stage show, which for a movie studio, generally means that they get to make the movie adaptation. (It's not always the case, in fact Fox helped bankroll <i>The Wiz</i> but turned the movie rights over to Universal.) Universal Music Group, of course, released the original cast recording album for <i>Wicked</i>.</p><p>If you've been paying attention to elsewhere in Hollywood, you probably know about the shakeup over at Warner Brothers as they're merged with Discovery, cancelling movies and shows in various stages of production, pulling titles from HBO Max, which they plan to merge with the Discovery+ platform in time.</p><p>Warner Brothers had bought up and has basically absorbed Turner Entertainment, who had bought up MGM's catalog of movies, which included MGM's <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>. Under their ownership, Warner Brothers has only made a few spinoffs from the property, notably the two Tom and Jerry crossover movies and the animated series <i>Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz</i>. There have recently been two new film adaptations of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> announced from Warner Brothers, Nicole Cassell's film version with WB subsidiary New Line Cinema, and more recently, Kenya Barris writing and directing a new adaptation that's been buzzed as a remake/reimagining of the MGM film, set with Warner Brothers proper. There's also been an animated adaptation of <i>Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of the Wizard of Oz</i> announced, but it's been a long time since we've heard any news. Given the track record Warner Brothers has had, if any of these project are actually made, it'll be a surprise.</p><p> So, why am I talking about Warner Brothers?</p><p>It's not publicly confirmed, and not expected to be as investors wouldn't want to hear this news, but the current state of Warner Brothers has been assessed by analysts as getting ready for yet <i>another</i> merger, expected to occur in the next couple of years. And who's most likely going to grab up WB?</p><p>Comcast/NBC/Universal.</p><p>Mergers haven't been great as this means redundancies and people lose jobs. In recent history, we have the merger of Disney and what was then 20th Century Fox to look back to. However, the changing landscape of the entertainment industry seems to be requiring consolidation as Warner Brothers is trying to eliminate a lot of debt. A little hint seems to be Disney poised to buy out Universal's shares of Hulu, which would help with clearing the merger as Universal would have less of a presence in the streaming market with just their platform Peacock, so buying up Warner Brothers/Discovery with their own services will be less of an issue.<br /></p><p>But if this does happen, that would mean that before it goes public domain, the MGM film <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> will be controlled by Universal, the same studio who already has a handful of other notable Oz properties. It would likely be too late to affect production of the <i>Wicked</i> films so they could have visuals clearly meant to evoke the MGM film. It would also unite the Rankin-Bass catalog of Christmas specials which were split between the two studios, including <i>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus</i>, which Universal also distributes another animated adaptation of.</p><p> A big plus for theme park goers, however, could be the introduction of Oz properties to Universal's parks.A Warner Brothers park in Australia is going to be adding an Oz-themed area, but in major theme parks in the United States, Oz is absent. But with Universal also seemingly set to be finally losing their licenses to Marvel properties in parks and on screen, they will be needing to re-theme rides and attractions and there's always new attractions that get brought in. Could Oz help fill some gaps? We'll see.</p><p>As of yet, this is all speculation, but it's based on speculation by analysts in the industry. If this pans out, that means Universal will become a very important studio for Oz fans.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-76574695164881417242022-04-27T09:30:00.001-05:002022-04-27T09:30:40.866-05:00Two Wicked movies on the way!Director Jon M. Chu gives us a major update on the film adaptation of the <i>Wicked </i>musical.<div><br></div><div>He claims that they don't want to damage the property by trimming it down by cutting songs or deleting scenes and have instead opted to expand the adaptation into two films.</div><div><br></div><div>Fans are skeptical. <i>Wicked</i> runs at a good pace, so why would a film version need to be much longer? The songs, admittedly, are mostly indispensable. Sure, there's some you could delete and write around, but if you were going to do that, why are you making a <i>musical? </i>And there's always the cynical outlook that by splitting it into two films, the studio hopes to double their profits, especially with a built in audience.</div><div><br></div><div>Personally, I'm hoping to see the film version be a very different beast than the musical. In my opinion, the dialogue might be the weakest point of the show, so doing an overhaul for film could be a big improvement.</div><div><br></div><div>There's elements from the Gregory Maguire novel that could come back. I doubt we'll get some of the more mature scenes added in, but maybe we'll get more details like Fiyero being a person of color and his tattoos.</div><div><br></div><div>Ariana Grande has confirmed she's reading the original Baum Oz books to prepare for the role of Glinda. Could it be that they want to have her grow into a character more like Baum's original? Are we going to see Easter eggs for the original series? We'll see.</div><div><br></div><div>As of yet, there are no further castings announced. I'm sure some roles have been cast, they're just not ready to announce them. They have confirmed, however, that the films are intended to release during the Christmas season in 2024 and 2025.</div><div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div></div>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-5373700221964125772021-12-24T11:42:00.003-06:002021-12-24T11:43:46.650-06:00Oz's Other Christmas Cousin<p><a href="https://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2021/12/when-oz-and-christmas-collided.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUeCjU3mnUpW7d7ghLucgIA3vXgKCJUoyu-xA9IklhmUYjWzCj_ENX37_Lf2L4zQKHIJchNM0304L_3EFQyw5ZRZayzY_iN2N2t9YwChSlRxKYRF4fBMMod7EVJn5tivamF8_Y26-9wUCLH6MgnWer59Kxa7FF9ty9oG7vx3g_Jvn0U-Y2nek=s600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUeCjU3mnUpW7d7ghLucgIA3vXgKCJUoyu-xA9IklhmUYjWzCj_ENX37_Lf2L4zQKHIJchNM0304L_3EFQyw5ZRZayzY_iN2N2t9YwChSlRxKYRF4fBMMod7EVJn5tivamF8_Y26-9wUCLH6MgnWer59Kxa7FF9ty9oG7vx3g_Jvn0U-Y2nek=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <a href="https://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2021/12/when-oz-and-christmas-collided.html">In my last blog,</a> I called <i>Babes in Toyland</i> a "Christmas favorite cousin" of Oz. Well, turns out, if we're counting that, there's another one I missed.<p></p><p>In 1937, audiences of radio stations working with Transco (the Transcription Company of America) were treated to <i>The Cinnamon Bear</i> for the first time. Airing six days a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas, audiences enjoyed the adventures of Judy and Jimmy Barton, siblings who were preparing to decorate their family Christmas tree when they try to locate the silver star tree topper. Suddenly, they're assisted by Paddy O'Cinnamon, a ginger colored ornament shaped like a bear who informs them that the Crazy Quilt Dragon stole the star and absconded to the fantastic world of Maybeland. Paddy helps the siblings "de-grow" so they can ride in his airplane where their series of adventures begin.</p><p>Judy and Jimmy meet all sorts of characters in Maybeland, from talking animals to candy-loving pirates to the noble Queen Melissa to the nasty Wintergreen Witch to Santa Claus himself. Also, it's a musical.<br /></p><p>In labeling this a "cousin" to Oz, there needs to be shared DNA with Oz. In a promotional record for the series, a producer on the show reveals the writer had been asked to come up with a Christmas-themed story in the vein of <i>Alice in Wonderland</i> and the Oz books. In 1937, film hadn't yet begun to roll on MGM's <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> so the Oz books and the original musical extravaganza were the dominant forms of Oz in the public's consciousness. In fact, the most recent Oz books were by Ruth Plumly Thompson, who had published sixteen or seventeen (depending on when in 1937 we're talking) books in the series.</p><p><i>The Cinnamon Bear</i> certainly harkens back to many of Thompson's plot devices, with a long series of adventures that could easily be written out, but are enjoyable anyway. Queen Melissa feels like Ozma, as she's a ruler who has outlawed witchcraft in her domains (the Wintergreen Witch even remembers that before Melissa's rule, she could do as she pleased). In addition, she happily helps people who come to her for aid, or can send them to someone who can help. Even the Wintergreen Witch's fate feels like something Thompson would've come up with.</p><p>Being this old, <i>The Cinnamon Bear</i> is public domain now and available in many ways, from CDs and cassettes to audio downloads from various places. <a href="https://archive.org/details/CinnamonBear">I'll link you to where to get it on Internet Archive</a>.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlgPG3AkMIljNMeYOTjfp7i5uAvsACt4W8hnXbD8whKIUS23_9K-vdU-BTVV2XzF3KVLJnBXCBKf-wQqifMrUz8aNupfBzsnTmG2IUngzNRZEh3xAovtG7X2yMeVUEzyrmhX_hIiBgQcAAi75WyI1l9JDDGIgv73gnDmYM09biGWOZXrGmSpI=s500" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlgPG3AkMIljNMeYOTjfp7i5uAvsACt4W8hnXbD8whKIUS23_9K-vdU-BTVV2XzF3KVLJnBXCBKf-wQqifMrUz8aNupfBzsnTmG2IUngzNRZEh3xAovtG7X2yMeVUEzyrmhX_hIiBgQcAAi75WyI1l9JDDGIgv73gnDmYM09biGWOZXrGmSpI=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br />I'm actually surprised that it didn't get a cheap direct to video animated adaptation in the 80s or 90s as it's begging to become an animated version. However, it has received an update: this year, in fact. A new version debuted this year as one of Audible's original podcasts, available only to subscribers. As I write, it has wrapped. It updated the storytelling style, being tongue in cheek with a little bit of a cynical edge for the narrator and Judy and Jimmy.<p></p><p>The remake features an all-star cast, starring Alan Cumming as Scotty O'Cinnamon (the original Cinnamon Bear was Irish, Alan Cumming is Scottish and the character was renamed and given a tartan bow instead of his original green one) and Ryan Reynolds as Santa Claus. The story is largely the same, with the last several episodes featuring Santa Claus getting the biggest changes, trying for a more epic and dramatic conclusion.</p><p>So there's actually two versions to check out! <br /></p><p>By the way, I need to thank fellow OzCon International attendee Tim Tucker for tipping me off to check it out.<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-48176727225875447922021-12-16T02:13:00.008-06:002021-12-18T09:01:20.561-06:00When Oz and Christmas Collided<p> People love the holidays, and people love Oz. So what if they met? Well, they have. Many ways, in fact. So, let's look at some examples. However, it has to be a notable connection between the two, or either their Oz connection or Christmas contribution has to be notable. Thanks to the many stage and film productions of Oz, and the insane glut of Christmas productions, if we were to talk about every person who's played an Oz role or covered an Oz song and also been in a Christmas production sometime, we'd be here forever.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFb2V-0-mp3sTi4giUQk6nbLShUcr8GtOdOybUsIJ3fOSRqp7M7VWUiskNigCnXAA8JmS5oOKf_HffkqZhXsWYKNa-WHzfONzHwPIr_QCnxMBTJumVEW7MU9W836EnF-pS-xJtg/s1489/Baum+on+Porch.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="1489" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFb2V-0-mp3sTi4giUQk6nbLShUcr8GtOdOybUsIJ3fOSRqp7M7VWUiskNigCnXAA8JmS5oOKf_HffkqZhXsWYKNa-WHzfONzHwPIr_QCnxMBTJumVEW7MU9W836EnF-pS-xJtg/s320/Baum+on+Porch.png" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br />L. Frank Baum and Santa Claus</b><p></p><p>L. Frank Baum, the author of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> and its first several sequels, loved making a good Christmas for his sons. If he could make Christmas morning a production, he did. One of his sons recalled one year when he had set up four Christmas trees, one for each of them. And he loved incorporating Santa Claus into it.</p><p>Reportedly, when Christmas 1900 rolled around, Baum didn't have money to buy his family presents. As he'd published some new books that year—including <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>—he went to the publisher to ask for an advance on his royalties. Instead, they cut a check for royalties owed so far on <i>Oz</i>. The Baum family story (always of dubious authenticity, but a good story) says that he didn't look at the check before heading home. His wife, Maud, was ironing a shirt when he got home and handed her the check. She was surprised to find it was for $1,423.98 (in today's money, that's comparable to about $40,000) and burned a hole in the shirt.<br /></p><p>I'm sure Baum had to have written some holiday themed items for his boyhood newspapers, <i>The Roselawn Home Journal</i> and <i>The Empire</i>.
However, I don't believe a complete record of these exists, and the
little of what remains hasn't been reprinted much. There were also
Christmas-themed entries of "Our Landlady" for <i>The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer</i>. <br /></p><p>I've written extensively about Baum's works featuring Santa Claus over the years (<a href="http://newwwoz.blogspot.com/search/label/Santa%20Claus">I set up a tag for it</a>), but I'll give you a sum up. Santa Claus, in Baum's fiction, first appeared in "Little Bun Rabbit," the last story in his first published children's book, <i>Mother Goose in Prose</i>. The same book also featured a story about "Little Jack Horner" and why he was so good that he remarked about it when he pulled a plum out of his Christmas pie. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3BHKpCTnHp8peHUpl_WUgzyBG440CrVaVU6U0_JFLfCkOcSfg2CnZicorlAKQ5Z8Q4riY2nzlm2qADkEqsKT-CtPkIAw4U74qtCazbADPpd6qWxIh_oz7YNK4zg7VhDkAyj8BQ/s285/220px-LifeAndAdventuresOfSantaClaus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="220" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3BHKpCTnHp8peHUpl_WUgzyBG440CrVaVU6U0_JFLfCkOcSfg2CnZicorlAKQ5Z8Q4riY2nzlm2qADkEqsKT-CtPkIAw4U74qtCazbADPpd6qWxIh_oz7YNK4zg7VhDkAyj8BQ/s0/220px-LifeAndAdventuresOfSantaClaus.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br />Then 1902 brought <a href="https://thelibraryofoz.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-life-and-adventures-of-santa-claus.html"><i>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus</i></a>, a novel-length biography about Santa Claus' life which would introduce the Forest of Burzee into his fairy tales, and offered the first time two of his works crossed over, as it's mentioned that Santa Claus gets the candy he delivers from Phunnyland, the setting of <i>A New Wonderland</i>, which would later be revised into <i>The Magical Monarch of Mo</i>. (In <i>Outsiders from Oz</i>, I reaffirmed that this is still the case with a nice little explanation.) Baum's Santa differs from the general lore that's sprung up since, as he lives in Laughing Valley, which is near Burzee. As Baum's fairy tales developed, this put him across the desert from the Land of Oz. His first reindeer did not share the names given in the classic "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" poem by Clement C. Moore. The book has been adapted for television, stage and audio many times.<br /><p></p><p>Baum's Santa Claus would reappear in the short story <a href="https://thelibraryofoz.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-kidnapped-santa-claus-by-l-frank-baum.html">"A Kidnapped Santa Claus"</a> and in one of the entries of <a href="https://thelibraryofoz.blogspot.com/2015/04/queer-visitors-from-marvelous-land-of.html#santa"><i>Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz</i></a>. Finally, he crossed over to Oz properly in <a href="https://thelibraryofoz.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-road-to-oz-by-l-frank-baum.html"><i>The Road to Oz</i></a> when he attends Ozma's birthday party with a company of ryls and knooks. Later, he helps the Wizard send all the guests return home in bubbles, including himself, as he knows where everyone lives.</p><p>In 1905, Baum's publishers, Reilly & Britton published a set of classic children's stories titled <i>The Christmas Stocking Series</i>. In each volume was<a href="https://thelibraryofoz.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-christmas-stocking-by-l-frank-baum.html"> a short piece by Baum about the history of the Christmas stocking</a>.</p><p><b>W.W. Denslow</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV7pt05wS3IStBV8qZlkmTct_CO4PVRs1IP8_vVq6vOr77V8sFixKnSbPL_xXhp6ZMtfgHv45EYmbOBtNqSO7r9solIbr5NB8f8Gg3VvZJ3yGTotGy289_YdDdhwfVLTt62g2HA/s580/scarecrow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV7pt05wS3IStBV8qZlkmTct_CO4PVRs1IP8_vVq6vOr77V8sFixKnSbPL_xXhp6ZMtfgHv45EYmbOBtNqSO7r9solIbr5NB8f8Gg3VvZJ3yGTotGy289_YdDdhwfVLTt62g2HA/s320/scarecrow.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><br />Denslow, the original illustrator of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> and joint copyright owner, of course turned out holiday themed work in his illustration work. But there's a couple that directly crossed over with Oz. Denslow put out his own newspaper page, <i>Denslow's Scarecrow and Tin-Man</i>, which told adventures of the pair (and often the Cowardly Lion<b> </b>as well). The first entry was titled "Dorothy's Christmas Tree," telling of when Dorothy was stuck in Oz and it was Christmas time.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcM3E5dwgY-WVwI3I96hH84iUX-3RzvIL_3LQQbRz4EWtJ0Cd2M5Wc-77hpfn_3q7nQCFe2XL73qup_xXM5p6Sf-YN7tmx8fopHaTbu4m3UypnxHXskKBgbEol9uoGlOlysw7QVw/s581/28_Denslows_Night_Before_Christmas+-+Copy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="422" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcM3E5dwgY-WVwI3I96hH84iUX-3RzvIL_3LQQbRz4EWtJ0Cd2M5Wc-77hpfn_3q7nQCFe2XL73qup_xXM5p6Sf-YN7tmx8fopHaTbu4m3UypnxHXskKBgbEol9uoGlOlysw7QVw/s320/28_Denslows_Night_Before_Christmas+-+Copy.png" width="232" /></a></div><br />Later, in <i>Denslow's The Night Before Christmas</i>, his picture book edition of the famous poem, a toy Tin Woodman was seen peeking out of Santa's sack.<b> </b><br /><p></p><p><b>The Other Royal Historians</b></p><p></p><blockquote>"Santa Claus is one of the most beautiful things that can come into a child's life." — Ruth Plumly Thompson</blockquote><p></p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9gK7q9Ur2hprEEtgGIlduG1uQBlKehKGJrHScgK0KntHAivHMhv0D3STfWLfPhqvH59J-0jqKqcMmBXhbODnAcxev5n65s3ncxNX1J2L4ASa5w8yLzvb7AJFs76bL5_-Njr09J_vxarwZh_vPVVHdud8EaY9BUEfrEfunO7-BK6zNLXH4g5o=s1338" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="998" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9gK7q9Ur2hprEEtgGIlduG1uQBlKehKGJrHScgK0KntHAivHMhv0D3STfWLfPhqvH59J-0jqKqcMmBXhbODnAcxev5n65s3ncxNX1J2L4ASa5w8yLzvb7AJFs76bL5_-Njr09J_vxarwZh_vPVVHdud8EaY9BUEfrEfunO7-BK6zNLXH4g5o=s320" width="239" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scanned and provided by Marcus Mebes<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /> </b>While working for the Philadelphia <i>Public Ledger</i>, Thompson wrote many Christmas pieces for children. While working there, she established "The Santa Claus Club," which would help get toys to needy children.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPKU69gCHvhweSbHE45ox_8Zcy_3oP8WG58gq9B6uKSV4hYQHDLx_BMXttEJGNjcbKmhTLqlZQg3O8p8P5RHYJ_faDp5Qk5CJWAKDGL-oHuw_FR2RPjTFEByyH0htWAsKiwKk0w/s273/5235481.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="201" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPKU69gCHvhweSbHE45ox_8Zcy_3oP8WG58gq9B6uKSV4hYQHDLx_BMXttEJGNjcbKmhTLqlZQg3O8p8P5RHYJ_faDp5Qk5CJWAKDGL-oHuw_FR2RPjTFEByyH0htWAsKiwKk0w/s0/5235481.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><p></p><p>While Santa Claus didn't cross over into Thompson's Oz books, she did write a poem in which Santa relaxes after his Christmas travels in the Emerald City and later an original poem in a 1966 <i>Baum Bugle</i> contained a Christmas Oz poem by her. References to Christmas appear in <i>Jack Pumpkinhead in Oz</i>, <i>Captain Salt in Oz</i> and <i>Speedy in Oz</i>. (Thanks, Nathan DeHoff!) She also wrote a book titled <i>The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa</i> in which a Santa who lives in the North Pole goes on a seabound voyage to discover new Christmas presents. The book was illustrated by John R. Neill, illustrator of over thirty of the Oz books and author of three of them, and published by Reilly & Lee, the official publishers of the Oz books after <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2D6jbHFu3w3LYzAB-uoTfSwGusjzRygzbUk6hobvkrDCM58tFnhNzOSzClEHEYOmOnVPj1xgE4IKiSXS0jaWhCodEFmWTCCd9NZr4KmvglRdFAtGUj_NNGWwA8TjFKZlDYyt1g/s248/Neill+Santa+Claus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="209" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2D6jbHFu3w3LYzAB-uoTfSwGusjzRygzbUk6hobvkrDCM58tFnhNzOSzClEHEYOmOnVPj1xgE4IKiSXS0jaWhCodEFmWTCCd9NZr4KmvglRdFAtGUj_NNGWwA8TjFKZlDYyt1g/s0/Neill+Santa+Claus.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />Reilly & Britton, Baum's publishers (they changed the name to Reilly & Lee in 1919), issued many reprints of classic works in their early catalog and had John R. Neill illustrate them. Two little books Neill illustrated were <i>The Night Before Christmas</i> and an adaptation of Charles Dickens' <i>A Christmas Carol</i>. (Thanks, David Maxine, for reminding me of the first one.)<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-T-pkwQMwI5Vfj61mnpC1ceQ6QBwsLzYSeMc9NYJ4mASEaaOSHVINl_6D7irwND8gFiHi4iZToW8VZ2Zzju5oYKmm4zFRHvxkSxmLk7mNyeLhu1AiR-NCFUgn8kjJ2FMSnLlyA/s822/NeillChristmas+Carol.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="697" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-T-pkwQMwI5Vfj61mnpC1ceQ6QBwsLzYSeMc9NYJ4mASEaaOSHVINl_6D7irwND8gFiHi4iZToW8VZ2Zzju5oYKmm4zFRHvxkSxmLk7mNyeLhu1AiR-NCFUgn8kjJ2FMSnLlyA/w169-h200/NeillChristmas+Carol.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><br />While it's hard to think of any more notable Christmas work by Neill, given his extensive work in illustration, I'm very sure he must have turned out many Christmas pieces over time. Jack Snow, however, wrote at least two Christmas stories, "The Magic Sled" and "The Animals Christmas Tree." Rachel Cosgrove Payes and Eloise Jarvis McGraw would occasionally used Christmas in their works, but don't seem to have written stories that were themed around Christmas. (If I'm wrong, I welcome correction, the comments are open.)<p></p><p><b>Oz has a Christmas favorite cousin.</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnswCB19eMjfCZzRimGyD3hY_tf5BP7D-rxD8A-z99qnYOYOJ1NGfR0cTnBZ8KRVSENoME99TX5SizDcTD2zn4qA7WFsptL7YYTeNn8BFbiZE73nUm7__geXc9nOBOav4iqcGKxw/s500/Babes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnswCB19eMjfCZzRimGyD3hY_tf5BP7D-rxD8A-z99qnYOYOJ1NGfR0cTnBZ8KRVSENoME99TX5SizDcTD2zn4qA7WFsptL7YYTeNn8BFbiZE73nUm7__geXc9nOBOav4iqcGKxw/s320/Babes.jpg" width="204" /></a></i></div><i><br /><a href="https://jadavisofmo.blogspot.com/2013/12/babes-in-toyland.html">Babes in Toyland</a></i> might not have begun as a Christmas show, but it quickly became associated with the holiday in <a href="https://jadavisofmo.blogspot.com/search/label/Babes%20in%20Toyland">its many incarnations</a> on stage, screen, print and eventually radio and audio. The thing is, its original stage incarnation was launched by Fred Hamlin and Julian Mitchell, looking for their next big hit after their famous stage adaptation of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> that became <i>the</i> musical version until the MGM film adaptation. Just about every screen adaptation of <i>Babes in Toyland</i> would have some Oz connection, from Oz fans in the cast, or actors who'd played Oz characters before, such as Oliver Hardy and Ray Bolger, or, in the case of 1985's TV version, shamelessly stealing the "it was all a dream brought about by an accident" device of the MGM film, complete with cast members doubling as characters in the young female protagonist's everyday life and characters in Toyland.<br /><p></p><p><b>Judy</b></p><p>Of course, MGM's choice for Dorothy Gale, Judy Garland, sang many Christmas songs over her career. In fact, it's said her first performance was none other than a performance of "Jingle Bells."</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CreWsnhQwzY" width="320" youtube-src-id="CreWsnhQwzY"></iframe></div><br />However, there's two I want to highlight right now. The first is the song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," which she introduced in 1943's <i>Meet Me In St. Louis</i>. In the scene, her character is trying to cheer up her little sister (played by Margaret O'Brien), who doesn't want to move away from their St. Louis home. Reportedly, Judy found a number of the song's lyrics depressing and with a co-star and director on her side, got the lyrics revised, notably changing "Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last; next year we may all be living in the past" to "Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light; next year all our troubles will be out of sight." Reportedly, Judy had said, "I'm not singing that to little Margaret O'Brien!" And that's how Judy Garland used her star power to make a song from a movie into a Christmas mainstay.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4AfQbgk970E" width="320" youtube-src-id="4AfQbgk970E"></iframe></div><p><br />The other song is her cover of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Bing Crosby. With additional lyrics and scatting, this version is more fun and livelier than most versions. And by the way, who wouldn't want to see Judy as Dorothy and Bing as perhaps the Wizard doing a music video for this?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kizDr7fu9vk" width="320" youtube-src-id="kizDr7fu9vk"></iframe></div><br />In addition, in 1950, Judy appeared on Lux Radio Theater to star in their adaptation of MGM's <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, the only time she revisited the role of Dorothy Gale. The air date? December 25, Christmas Day. <br /><p></p><p></p><p><b>The Animated Special</b></p><p><i>Dorothy in the Land of Oz</i> isn't exactly a Christmas special, but the last song in it is prompted when Dorothy tells the villainous Tyrone the Terrible Toy Tinkerer that he could spread happiness with his toys instead of being a villain, pointing out that Christmas is soon, and he also lives in Oz. "Toys? Christmas? Oz? I don't get the connection," he mutters, and Dorothy launches into the sweet little ditty "Christmas, Toys and Oz." During the song, a snowy take on Oz is seen as well as Oz children opening presents.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFTgPPGOa4KvjdMSF5_NTOUqosDmqWo_UaGJDAdhejALnEAxct4pSUVH9LbR-VStg39aSAh9A9PpRzNBix4i7w6ly8Yvggs_14H2y_hbobwwY1FFAELuHUN5-tda-4A5X8DcmuA/s501/Screenshot_20211212-193032_YouTube.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="501" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFTgPPGOa4KvjdMSF5_NTOUqosDmqWo_UaGJDAdhejALnEAxct4pSUVH9LbR-VStg39aSAh9A9PpRzNBix4i7w6ly8Yvggs_14H2y_hbobwwY1FFAELuHUN5-tda-4A5X8DcmuA/s320/Screenshot_20211212-193032_YouTube.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The special was written and produced by Romeo Muller, who had written many specials for Rankin-Bass, including their first two specials in 1964, <i>Return to Oz</i> and <i>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</i>. The production was made under the seemingly short-lived Romeo Muller Productions. Rankin-Bass produced a stop-motion adaptation of <i>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus</i>, but Jules Bass wrote the script for it under the pseudonym Julian P. Gardner.<br /><p></p><p>Oz fans generally use the title <i>Dorothy in the Land of Oz</i> because it's available on DVD under that title, but over the years, the title was switched out for a variety of other titles and a few edits were made. A book adaptation was titled <i>Dorothy and the Green Gobbler of Oz</i>. The original version, which is the one on DVD, is more of a Thanksgiving special.<br /></p><p><b>Santa Claus is Oz canon!</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr54kO_wxVChfSrSXlHamP3Y-yQ3gTfc32zpoB0SqCvnAsTaP2EU7J6C32TzaANGmLoSzTMQOZbxtjh5pBgf9tEvodSsLoUMkOZ7wIm3QemSkUQ3Qaim1ajQV2R02uARDldeNvzA/s1004/santa.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="730" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr54kO_wxVChfSrSXlHamP3Y-yQ3gTfc32zpoB0SqCvnAsTaP2EU7J6C32TzaANGmLoSzTMQOZbxtjh5pBgf9tEvodSsLoUMkOZ7wIm3QemSkUQ3Qaim1ajQV2R02uARDldeNvzA/s320/santa.png" width="233" /></a></div><p><br />Oz fans haven't ignored that Santa Claus is Oz canon, and new Oz stories have had some connection to it, such as Robin Hess' <i>Christmas in Oz</i>, Richard Capwell's <i>Santa Claus in Oz</i> or Nathan DeHoff's "Jinnicky Saves Christmas," and Sarah Crowther reminded me that Santa Claus officiates the wedding of the Scarecrow and the Patchwork Girl in <i>The Patchwork Bride of Oz</i> by Gilbert M. Sprague. This is but just four examples with more short fiction and fan-written books having Christmas themes or using Santa Claus or lore from <i>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus</i>.</p><p>So, are there Oz and Christmas connections I missed? Are there Oz memories from Christmas time you want to share? Sound off in the comments!<br /></p><p></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-90562888519860356432021-11-05T19:57:00.002-05:002021-11-14T13:19:04.393-06:00The Wicked movie has its leads!<p> Recently, the <i>Wicked</i> musical was criticized for never having cast Elphaba with a woman of color. The actress playing the character has to wear green makeup covering her face and hands throughout the musical, so her physical appearance is already altered.</p><p>The <i>Wicked</i> movie, after years of development, finally made some announcements after hiring <i>In The Heights</i> and <i>Crazy Rich Asians</i> director John M. Chu: they're filming in London and they've cast their leads.</p><p>Singer and actress Ariana Grande will be playing Galinda/Glinda and actress Cynthia Erivo will play Elphaba.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiCk3jVki3tvLj3XtuFGmKFa4oi6ck6ZEPAVTz3D5UDtxPLYDL0OUGjSzEnNLHY0L2UJplDY5t5DQyTMAHN9g5Hh8szrrqUskN8P0LP65Rprsi1GPG35Gk7_pvUgf5zBdOrcX0Q/s800/121087-11.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiCk3jVki3tvLj3XtuFGmKFa4oi6ck6ZEPAVTz3D5UDtxPLYDL0OUGjSzEnNLHY0L2UJplDY5t5DQyTMAHN9g5Hh8szrrqUskN8P0LP65Rprsi1GPG35Gk7_pvUgf5zBdOrcX0Q/s320/121087-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> That's right, Elphaba will be played by a woman of color.<br /><p></p><p>I'm not going to claim to be too familiar with the work of either. I've never been in much of Ariana's target demographic. I did see <i>Hairspray Live!</i> in which she played Penny, and <a href="http://newwwoz.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-music-from-oz-popular-song.html">I've blogged about Mika's "Popular Song"</a> where she sings with him and appears in the radio/music video version which uses "Popular" from <i>Wicked</i> as a basis.</p><p>Cynthia Erivo starred in <i>Harriet</i>, the Harriet Tubman biopic from a couple years ago. Last year, she voiced Madame Moonshine, "the witchy little owl" in a Hank the Cowdog podcast, singing the song "Disorientation" alongside Matthew McConaughey. She also took part in <i>Wicked in Concert</i> on PBS.</p><p>There's a seven year age difference between the two, however, this is a movie, there's various makeup and digital tricks to make the actresses look younger or older as needed, and one of them is going to be made to have green skin throughout.</p><p>We're now awaiting the rest of the cast, such as who'll play the Wizard (Tara and EmKay of Down the Yellow Brick Pod have been putting forward Andre DeShields), Madame Morrible, Boq, Fiyero, Nessarose and other cast members.</p><p>Anyway, this is definitely good news for the movie as we'd had no confirmed cast members before, which didn't suggest a lot of activity on the project. If the production doesn't meet with any more issues, we should be getting it in the next few years. 2022 might be too soon, 2023 looks good, though they'll likely aim for a holiday release, so we should expect to wait two years. (It was previously slated for December 2019, before being taken off the release schedule and the date given to the film adaptation of <i>Cats</i>.)<br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18996311.post-4500539668633476502021-10-23T18:58:00.002-05:002021-10-24T15:04:20.707-05:00The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPrZrL2-wKQyu52LGqRZlfusA1__3DET5ld7jGQfIIiDOVFY8knp_z-W_BUkCn8dVA19W9sHO7XiHdhVRClj7GY0sCrH8qK1osK25ges5ZQ7l7naOeQHmBhK0OEUYvMi5wfhs3A/s1600/s-l1600.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1428" data-original-width="1600" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPrZrL2-wKQyu52LGqRZlfusA1__3DET5ld7jGQfIIiDOVFY8knp_z-W_BUkCn8dVA19W9sHO7XiHdhVRClj7GY0sCrH8qK1osK25ges5ZQ7l7naOeQHmBhK0OEUYvMi5wfhs3A/s320/s-l1600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> You may have heard of this company before for their original musical adaptation of <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>, with music by the late James P. Doyle. The musical proved popular with audiences and has been revived several times over the years. (However, it has yet to make it outside of Canada, save for a two-man concert version that was performed by director Joe Cascone and his partner David Haines at OzCon International one year.)<p></p><p>However, that's not what this review is about.</p><p>The company was going to revive their production of <i>Oz</i> yet again when they had to cancel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they decided to make some Oz happen another way by producing an audio book production of the original book.</p><p>The resulting production is now available on an MP3CD. The format is a CD that contains audio as MP3 files burned onto it as a data track. There are some CD players that can handle them, or you can play them on modern home theater disc players, or you can use a computer with a disc drive to play them or copy the files to a device.</p><p>I was provided with a review copy, so thanks, Joe!</p><p>The runtime is about three hours and twenty minutes. This is shorter than many other unabridged versions. This all depends on the tempo of the reader, but in this case, it's not one reader. They have a cast performing the dialogue with Joe Cascone reading the rest of the book. Listeners of The Royal Podcast of Oz will be familiar with this style as we've done it for several L. Frank Baum stories. It offers a faster pace to the storytelling as the reader doesn't need to change their vocal performance, another performer leaps right in and takes care of the character's voice.</p><p>There's some who might bristle at calling this unabridged as the introduction and dedication are not included. It's not the only audio book version that omits these.</p><p>In addition to the fine vocal performances from the cast, the production uses classical music and sound effects to further liven up the production.</p><p>The result is a very pleasing production. Usually when I listen to audio books and podcasts, I turn up the speed a little. This time, it was an easy listen without doing that.<br /></p><p>The CD features a booklet, a simple four-panel (one piece of paper, folded in half) with the front cover an adaptation of a promotional poster by Denslow, some text explaining the production, photos of the cast, and a track list. The back cover features a list of the music used and a cast list.</p><p><a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/255188035823" target="_blank">You can purchase a copy of the CD from eBay.</a><br /></p>Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03766446206846532440noreply@blogger.com0