Ozma of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 The Civic Light Opera is back with one more Oz story, the third Oz book, Ozma of Oz, which they have decided will be their final entry. They've released (and I've reviewed) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, so to avoid being an Oz company for a long time, they're concluding with Ozma and going on to other stories.

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.

Ozma of Oz 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.

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.

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 very familiar if you've ever seen a commercial for Taco Bell.

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.

Overall, it's a great presentation of the story.

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.

To get a copy, Joe has it for sale on his website, along with the first two Oz books as well as music CDs and notices of his upcoming audio versions of A Christmas Carol and Animal Farm.

The Marvelous Land of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 The Civic Light Opera Company has released their second unabridged audiobook, following from their first, reading L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz.

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.

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.

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 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 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.

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 Wizard 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.

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.

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.

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.

So yes, I'd recommend this production.

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.

The really cool announcement is that while you can buy a copy from an eBay listing, you can also buy it direct from Joe at his new website, which also offers the first one, copies of the Songs in the Key of Oz CD, the cast recording for his Wonderful Wizard of Oz musical and CD of him singing show tunes. Also teased is the upcoming audio book of Ozma of Oz and one for A Christmas Carol.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 You may have heard of this company before for their original musical adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 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.)

However, that's not what this review is about.

The company was going to revive their production of Oz 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.

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.

I was provided with a review copy, so thanks, Joe!

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.

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.

In addition to the fine vocal performances from the cast, the production uses classical music and sound effects to further liven up the production.

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.

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.

You can purchase a copy of the CD from eBay.

Audible's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Audio Drama

 If you look up Oz on Audible, you'll find a lot of options for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (or just The Wizard of Oz) from abridged to unabridged readings and various audio dramas.

Some years ago, Audible released an unabridged reading by Anne Hathaway as an Audible original. However, they've branched into audio dramas as well. It says Audible Studios is the publisher, so I don't know if it's a company they've put together or one that they fund or what. So now, there's also an audio drama version as an Audible original, which recently became one of the free titles for Audible subscribers to enjoy.

The cover credits Lydia West as Dorothy and Jim Broadbent as the Wizard. West is listed on Audible's page as being part of the UK drama TV show Years and Years, while Jim Broadbent should be familiar to many Oz fans who enjoy other fantasies as he played Professor Slughorn in the Harry Potter films and Professor Digory Kirke in the 2005 feature film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (The Audible page lists him as appearing in The Iron Lady and Moulin Rouge.)

Oz has of course been adapted for audio drama several times. The BBC has adapted it twice, while there were quite a number of short adaptations on children's records, there's been multi-reader audio books that try to do a hybrid approach of audio book and drama, there was Classic Wizard of Oz, the Los Angeles Children's Museum adaptation from 2000, the Monterey Soundworks adaptation, the Big Finish adaptation, Colonial Radio Theater adapted it and the next five Oz books (with Patchwork Girl still reportedly on the way) and most recently, Crossover Adventure Productions' The Chronicles of Oz, which has adapted the first three Oz books in a free but welcome manner. So there's quite a few to compare it to as you're not wanting for choice of audio dramatizations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Probably those last two are my preferred audio adaptations that I've listened to the most.

So, there's this new version, which runs over four hours long. It pretty much captures each episode from the book with a lot of the dialogue left intact, sometimes being rewritten, sometimes embellished, but very often expanded.

And I do mean expanded. There's no narrator and the characters talk a lot. Way more than they should. The adaptation is by Paul Magrs, who's penned a number of Doctor Who audio dramas as well as his own original fiction. Characters will talk and talk and talk, dragging out scenes for far longer than they need to be.

One needs to remember with Oz that Baum loved the theater and was an actor himself, and much of the dialogue in the Oz books comes from the fact that he got how to have characters communicate. I'm not saying the dialogue in the books stand on their own, but when they're expanded outside of filling in information the narrator isn't saying, it begins to feel tedious.

The story starts right off with Dorothy telling Uncle Henry about the cyclone. Lydia West sounds like a grown woman trying to emulate Judy Garland a bit. (The actress is very private about her life, but believed to be in her mid to late 20s.) The actress is a woman of color, and Uncle Henry sounds like an African-American man, so perhaps this production attempts to make Dorothy and her family people of color, but when you're working in audio only, it can easily get lost. Dorothy's age is also hard to determine. The first slight mention has a Munchkin exaggerate and call her a woman, but she and other characters say that she is a little girl. She doesn't sound like one.

Many of the people of Oz speak with accents derived from the UK. I'm generally fine with this as Oz is another country. The Scarecrow sounds like he's either from north England or Scottish, while the Tin Woodman sounds like a London guy, while the Lion has a bit of Bert Lahr along with his British accent. Broadbent does well as the Wizard, while the Winged Monkeys sound like they're from Brooklyn.

This brings me back to the writing. Clearly, this is a UK-based production. However, Dorothy, our lead character, is supposed to be American. Generally, this is okay, but eventually, Dorothy refers to her friends as "you lot" and even says "sounds a treat" when she hears about having to take the trip to Glinda's. These are not phrases a Kansas girl would be saying.

In Oz, in a concession to the MGM film, it's described that Dorothy's house lands in a Munchkin City, and Dorothy is given Oz lore 101 not from the Good Witch of the North, but by the Munchkin Mayor, who gets a name: Harold. He mentions Lurline enchanting Oz and also Oz maps, with a joke making a deep cut about how Professor Woggle-Bug put the Munchkin Country on the wrong side of the map of Oz he created, but to make up for it, the Munchkins look at their maps upside down. This moment also leads to Dorothy wondering why Toto can't talk, and it's just assumed that he hasn't been in Oz long enough for the magic to catch up to him. (He winds up talking just before Dorothy returns home.) The Deadly Desert gets a lore change in that it makes you lose your memories before finally claiming your life.

I wondered if Harold was replacing Boq, but no, when Dorothy and Toto head down the Yellow Brick Road, they stop at Boq's house, meaning we have two very similar sounding scenes back to back. And both of these Munchkins just talk way too much. Get on with the story already!

When the Tin Woodman tells his story, moments from it are dramatized. Again, there's no need for this except to make this adaptation take even longer. There's no similar treatment for the Scarecrow or Winged Monkeys' story, so it's an uneven presentation.

An odd addition comes after the farmhouse where the travelers stay before reaching the Emerald City. Dorothy reveals the man's injured leg has actually been transformed into an octopus tentacle after he delivered a letter revealing bad news to the Wicked Witch of the West. This doesn't really add anything to the story, and there's no resolution of the man's transformed leg after she's destroyed.

Dorothy is immediately skeptical of the green glasses, with her almost rejecting them when she re-enters the city after defeating the Wicked Witch. Later, the Scarecrow says he'll outlaw them. Despite adding other characters, the green girl who works in the palace/Jellia Jamb is dropped entirely.

The Winged Monkeys basically tell Dorothy how the Golden Cap works when they capture her, and when they drop her off with the Wicked Witch, they ask the Witch to "leave a review." If this type of humor had been used throughout, it might've made the entire production better.

Later, the giant spider actually speaks. That's really all I have to say about the story adaptation without getting into minutia.

The music is nothing great, with some old style moments of violin music to indicate changing scenes or passage of time. Colonial Radio Theater's Jeffrey Gage and The Chronicles of Oz's Tony Diana wrote some really good music for those productions, so in comparison, this is quite lacking. The sound effects weren't bad, but nothing remarkable, either.

Overall, I wasn't a fan. I've heard worse, but I've heard much better.

If you need a way to kill four and a half hours and have a subscription to Audible, you can listen to it for free. Otherwise, they sell it for under $5 if you want to listen to it.

Read-Along with Return to Oz

We now come to the next section in seeing how "Return to Oz" is adapted from film (back) to book for merchandise tie-in.   Here we have a Read-Along, whether it was with records or tape cassettes.

This is not the only Read-Along treatment, however, considering the scarcity of that other one, I may devote a post to that.  But for for let's focus on this one.

Like many other books that told the film's story, these pages were a condensed version using photographs instead of making new illustrations - which isn't a bad thing because there are some rarely seen images here.

The books are both square shaped with the Tape Cassette being not as wide as the Record, allowing the pictures inside to have a bit more imagery shown and seen on the furthest edge of the pages.
And yes, it's possible the covers have a slightly different tint to their colouring, depending on how they were printed (or exposed to conditions on shelf).

The voices, including a Narrator, are performed by a small cast of British-sounding sound-alikes, the best being a girl who sounds a lot like Fairuza Balk!

This is actually a good and nice short adaptation of the film, but with subtle changes to the context that many people wouldn't notice:
* Billina is described as Dorothy's pet
* Aunt Em does mention taking Dorothy to see a doctor, but Doctor Worley is not mentioned by name or even actually acknowledged (but he is in a photo).  It is Nurse Wilson who gets the attention, who straps Dorothy to a table and "a huge electric machine" - the lightning allows a blonde girl to suddenly free Dorothy and escape with her into the storm.
* No mention of finding the old farmhouse (or a lunch-pail tree, but it its pick is seen in photo), just the broken yellow brick road which leads to the ruined Emerald City - there Dorothy encounters the Wheelers, the Head saying how "the Nome King rules now" and that they should take Dorothy to Mombi because "you know of the Scarecrow" - Dorothy escapes them.
* Tik-Tok is still under His Majesty the Scarecrow's instructions to wait for Dorothy, he somehow knows of Princess Mombi and takes Dorothy to her, without fighting the Wheelers (this moment uses an image of the two characters underground, not in the hidden chamber).  Tik-Tok also knows that the Nome King hates chickens and hides Billina in Jack's head when they arrive on the Mountain later.
* While it is established that the Nome King has the Ruby Slippers ("Things have changed since you were last here, Dorothy.  Did you know you left something behind?"), there is nothing about his transformation - he apparently only offers the game for DOROTHY to play, but if she guesses wrong then she and her friends will be turned into ornaments just like the Scarecrow.
Naturally, Dorothy makes a lucky guess "The pincushion! It's green - like the Emerald City!"
* Oddly, despite the image of a GIANT Mountainous Nome King, he is written to "burst angrily through the door" - there is no mention of Mombi following Dorothy to warn him, being caged or any of her demise/punishment being mentioned.  Only the King's demise is retained and Dorothy reclaiming the Ruby Slippers to make her wishes (which is returning to the Emerald City and "all life to be returned to this land" separately).
* Scarecrow suggests Dorothy to be Queen, which she wants to but can't and wishes, allowing the blonde girl to step out from the glass as Ozma, long lost queen of Oz (again, Tik-Tok knows!).
* Ozma is on the throne (only the image shows her wearing the Ruby Slippers - no confirmation in text) and that allows Dorothy to say good-bye promising to never forget her friends, as a mist carries her back to Aunt Em, worried that Dorothy had drowned but is glad to be safe and welcomes her back, saying she will "never worry about your dreams again!"

So here is an actually decent short retelling of the film, even if it loses some vital key details with some minor bad guys and gives Tik-Tok slightly more of a role.

As good as it is having a book that includes rare photographs from the film, I do now wonder what it would be like if it had been given nice new illustrated paintings, like the Disneyland Records?

The Chronicles of Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Sometime back, I noted that my own The Royal Podcast of Oz was the only podcast I could find dedicated to Oz. And while that's still true, there is another podcast that's doing Oz: Crossover Adventure Productions.

This podcast presents something I'd love to do: full audio dramas with sound effects, a full cast and music. They seem to be famous for Doctor Who dramas, but more recently, they've finished the first season of The Chronicles of Oz, which adapted The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in six episodes.

To be fair, I'm about to start the final episode, but I think I've heard enough to give a good review of it. And I do mean good.

If you're reading this, chances are you've read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and know the story, and yes, despite this being a "reimagining," it follows the plot of the book pretty well. The difference is how they do it.

It's clear that the writer behind the series—Aron Toman—knows his Oz and decided to present an Oz based on the entire Baum series, presented as a unified world. Lurline, Ozma, Jinxland, Oogaboo, Zixi and Mombi get name dropped. The Wicked Witch has an assistant named Ugu.

However, it's not quite as if this is going to be for all ages. There's some language parents would likely not want young listeners listening to, and this take on Oz gets more on the violent side. The death of the Wicked Witch of the East prompts civil war in Munchkinland. Boq is reimagined as a Munchkin who volunteers to see Dorothy to the Emerald City, but he's no longer around by the time Dorothy meets the Scarecrow. This is just giving you an idea of what you're in for, not a list.

There's some additions and changes to streamline the story and make it more dramatic, but since this is a free-to-access podcast, I'm going to let you discover it for yourself.

The voice cast does a very good job and manages to be very entertaining with the script. Being an Australian-based podcast, some non-American accents are present. The sound effects are nicely done and the music is excellent. So, it's not just a free audio drama, it's a free quality audio drama.

That said, I wound up enjoying the presentation. This is what I'd want from an Oz for more mature audiences, one that focuses on mature storytelling over reveling in mature subject matter. Looking forward to finishing the series on my way to work tomorrow morning, and look forward to future Oz stories from this podcast.

You can download the mp3 files from their website, or you can listen to the series on YouTube, or subscribe through iTunes or search "Crossover Adventure Productions" in your favorite podcast app, and if that fails, you can give it the link to this RSS feed.

Anne Hathaway reads "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

Four years ago, Audible released a collection of famous actors reading classic books. One they highlighted—and certainly of interest to Oz fans—was Anne Hathaway (now known for Les Miserables, The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, Interstellar, and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland) reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The number of audio book versions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are not in short supply. Searching Audible reveals several abridged, unabridged and dramatized versions, and there are many more not available through Audible. The book has been public domain for sixty years now, and we've had vinyl records, audio cassettes, compact discs, and now digital audio formats to release recordings of the story to. So, even though I think Anne Hathaway is a great actress and fantastic talent, it wasn't exactly a priority to check out another one of these. (Particularly since Audible's monthly plan can be tricky to get out of, although it's not required to purchase their audiobooks.)

Not long ago, I had an offer for two free Audible titles, and decided to finally get Anne's version of Oz. It took me some time to listen to it, but I finally did.

The recording is simple and straightforward. Unlike other audio books, there aren't attempts to add music or sound effects to liven up the proceedings. It's just Anne reading the book. However, it's a good reading. Anne reads at a gentle pace, running under four hours. (Other unabridged versions run from about three and a half to four and a half hours.) This is absolutely one you could let your kids listen to chapter by chapter for a bedtime story.

Being an actress, Anne puts on a different voice for each character, keeping them charming. Dorothy is a nice sounding child, the Scarecrow is a little gruff, the Tin Woodman sounds calm, while she does a bit of a Bert Lahr tribute for the Cowardly Lion. Her Wicked Witch is wicked, her Glinda is good, her Wizard has a drawl to his voice, Omby Amby sounds like a drill sergeant, while her Jellia Jamb sounds a little German. I liked her Queen of the Field Mice, she sounds posh and trilly.

Overall, Anne does a great job with this, and that is what makes me recommend it if you're looking for an unabridged audio book version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and aren't satisfied with the free versions from sites like Librivox or a previous one you may have heard.

Big Finish's Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Review

Some Oz fans got rather excited when they heard Big Finish Productions would be releasing an audio version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this September. Famous for their officially-licensed Doctor Who audio dramas (which gave many of the later classic Doctors a chance to further define their roles) and a great dramatization of The Picture of Dorian Grey, hopes were high for Oz, joining their new series of audio productions based on classic literature.

It must be noted that Big Finish is a British company, and any actors voicing American characters are usually British actors attempting American accents.

This is, of course, not the first time a full-scale audio dramatization of the story has happened. The BBC has twice offered audio productions, and in the US, Monterey Soundworks, Colonial Radio Theater and the Children's Museum of Los Angeles have also produced adaptations. (There's also been several for kiddie records and the "Classic Wizard of Oz" set.)

Seemingly, Big Finish is quite aware of this and decided to do something different in their adaptation. The production starts well enough with a male character narrating (it's unclear on if it's the Wizard, supposedly Baum, or someone else entirely) and the tornado striking Kansas, but when we get to Oz, our first scene is the Wicked Witch of the East asking the chipmunk-voiced Munchkins who stole her Golden Cap. During Dorothy's journey, we cut over to the Wicked Witch of the West hearing news about Dorothy and her journey. From the journey south to the end, the Good Witch of the North takes over as narrator.

While the Munchkins, the witches (good and wicked), Dorothy and the Wizard sound passably American, Dorothy's friends are clearly not attempting to sound American, the Lion even using the term "blighters."

There are several story changes. The Tin Woodman tells his backstory, but his girlfriend is absent from it. Instead, the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted him to cut himself to pieces because she didn't want him cutting down her trees. All the troubles on the yellow brick road are condensed into two episodes: facing the Kalidahs as they try to get across a bridge, which causes the Field Mice to pledge allegiance to them. Then, they encounter the poppy field, where the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman simply call the mice to rescue Dorothy, Toto and the Cowardly Lion. When they head west, the Monkeys automatically are sent out, and it's revealed the Wicked Witch is marshaling an army to attack the Emerald City, and has a thing for spiders. On the journey south, they find Dainty China Country invaded by the destructive Hammerheads, who they fight briefly before calling the monkeys to take the Hammerheads away, but this can't be done, so they are requested to take them to Glinda's air palace instead. At Glinda's palace, she's been trapped in there for months after the Wicked Witches stole her Silver Shoes and Golden Cap and set a giant spider to keep her captive.

The problem I had with the story changes were that in all the episodes, Dorothy's friends were pushed to the side as Dorothy was made the heroine. This felt as if the writer didn't understand how Baum had the characters function. Dorothy is yes, a heroine, but her friends—who feel their vulnerabilities strongly—are supposed to rise to the occasion. Having Dorothy work out how to solve all the problems takes away from their development. In addition, we know Baum's Glinda would never let herself be caught like that!

I suppose production values are very good, except they tried to make it sound like a kiddie fantasy. John Troutman—who is typically a fan of Big Finish productions—was very turned off by the high-pitched Munchkin voices. The Queen of the Field Mice also has a definitely increased pitch, which might actually be overdone. My thought is that if you want a character to sound small, increase pitch and lower the volume of their voice. Big Finish did not do the latter.

I can't recommend this for someone who wants a good audio dramatization of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I'd recommend Colonial Radio Theater or even the Los Angeles Children's Museum's way too long version over it. If you're a fan who wants to experience a lot of different versions of Oz, then go ahead and give it a shot, but know that this isn't a great example of Big Finish's offerings, either.

An MP3 version can be bought with and without a CD copy from Big Finish, or you can order a CD from Amazon.