Oz in the News 10.28.11

‘The Talk’ goes to Emerald City for Halloween  The Talk takes a walk down the yellow brick road for its Wizard of Oz-themed episode, airing Monday. Co-hosts Dorothy (Sara Gilbert), the Tin Man (Julie Chen), the Cowardly Lion (Sheryl Underwood), Scarecrow (Aisha Tyler) and Glinda the Good Witch (Sharon Osbourne) welcome guests Paula Deen and Cloris Leachman. Look for Deen to share her signature Monkey Bread and for Leachman to fly in as the Wicked Witch of the West. The show promises a special surprise guest Wizard of Oz.

John Goberman’s reasons to check out The Wizard of Oz with Orchestra  “You don’t realize when you see it that the orchestra is playing the whole time. To take the music off of the track was very difficult. And the score had been thrown away. A lot of the score had to be reconstructed from what’s on screen. A lot of the parts didn’t exist. You’re hearing the original music in a way that no one has since 1938. This is a very faithful reproduction of what was originally composed for this film.”

Off to see the Wizard  “There was a lot of great symphonic music that was written for film, but the form of the music doesn’t exist so it’s a little hard to listen to a film score without seeing what was written for it. So, what we did was take the music off the film, have the orchestra play it, and see what the orchestra is accompanying at the same time.”

Oz in the News 10.26.11

Vintage Classics Cover Competition: Winner Announcement   In March this year Vintage Classics, in conjunction with Young Times in The Times and Random House Children’s Books, launched a nationwide competition for a 7- to 12-year-old to draw the cover artwork for a new edition of THE WIZARD OF OZ by L. Frank Baum. The winner will be officially announced in The Times newspaper on Wednesday 26 October and the book published by Vintage Classics on 3rd November and available in bookshops throughout the country.

York College faculty member to have play published  John Baker, associate professor of communication and director of theater at York College, says that he screamed and shouted a bit when he got a recent letter in the mail from Big Dog Publishing. It was the letter he’d been waiting for, the one that represented a dream coming true. The letter was to inform him that his play, “The Patchwork Girl of Oz,” was being published. “It was really cool,” he said. “I am now a published playwright, which is something that I’ve always wanted…what it’s given me is validation.” Baker originally wrote the play, which is an adaptation of one of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, in 1998.  Baker says he’s been a fan of the Oz books for many years. “They are imaginative and well-written,” he said, noting that in his own time, Baum was as popular as J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series. Baker’s play will be available in the July 2012 Big Dog Publishing and Norman Maine catalogs.

Wheelock Family Theatre Singers to welcome author with song  Wellesley Books is partnering with the Needham Public Library and the Wheelock Family Theatre to present a highly entertaining evening in honor of  Gregory Maguire on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Needham Public Library.  The renowned author of “Wicked” will be celebrating the publication of his final book in the Wicked Years series, “Out of Oz.”   The evening will begin with a short but stunning medley of songs from the musicals Wicked and the Wizard of Oz, performed by young Broadway performer Katherine Leigh Doherty and other members of the Wheelock Family Theatre.  Gregory Maguire will then take the stage to greet fans with a presentation, followed by Q&A and a book-signing session.  Doors will open at 6 pm and books will be available for purchase at the library, starting at 6 p.m., courtesy of Wellesley Books.

Oz in the News 10.25.11

The Wizard of Oz Characters in West Roxbury  Are the characters of The Wizard of Oz living in the front yard of a Hastings Street home in West Roxbury? The Wizard of Oz characters seem so life-like by the yellow brick road (and yellow house).

The Wizard of Oz on the Big Screen with the Fresno Philharmonic  Interact with Wizard of Oz characters and enjoy pre-concert singing, entertainment and art in the lobby one hour before each concert. There will also be fun, kid-friendly and camera ready Wizard of Oz inspired props created by Pioneer Technical Center.

Boston Public Library to Host Authors in November and December  Gregory Maguire will talk about Out of Oz, the stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the extraordinary bestselling series begun with Wicked. Wicked, now a beloved classic, is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Rabb Lecture Hall, Central Library in Copley Square, 700 Boylston Street.

Oz in the News 10.24.11

Judy Garland Sound Board  Judy Garland Sound Board 1.2 is a iPhone Entertainment App which is developed by PowerSlave Developments. Play your favourite Judy Garland phrases from your iPhone! Hear our movie legend idol as often as you like…
(Auntie) Jo said, “now I have Judy in my pocket”, while Jackboy said of our Wizard of Oz app, “This app has completed my life…”
There’s also a selection of photos from days gone by as well as a biography and filmography!

The London Studio Recordings 1957-1964  It’s fascinating to hear a great singer in a state of transition. The cleaner vocalism of the 1950s is still apparent in 1960, although showstoppers such as “Chicago” and “San Francisco” are mere shadows of their future selves. In “Stormy Weather,” though, she became more emotionally restrained in later performances. And you will laugh to hear a British chorus trying to approximate “Swanee.”

Sedona Film Festival Presents Wizard of Oz Sing-Along in Sedona Arizona  Follow the yellow brick road and enjoy a trip to the Emerald City like you’ve never experienced before! Enjoy a journey to Oz with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion — and a whole lot of toe-tapping fun — as the Sedona International Film Festival presents “The Wizard of Oz Sing-Along” on Tuesday, October 25. Showtime will be 6 p.m., at the Sedona Performing Arts Center at Red Rock High School. The Film Festival is proud to welcome two of the three remaining cast members of the original film:  Margaret Pellegrini (who played one of the Munchkins) and Caren Doll (who was Judy Garland’s stand-in). Both have traveled extensively to Oz-related events and celebrations. They will introduce the film and host a Q&A discussion following the screening where they will take you on a trip behind the curtain in the making of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Oz in the News 10.22.11

Marianne’s magic at Palladium “Hannah was ill in the summer and I got to play the Wicked Witch. Afterwards there was a knock on the door and it was Andrew Lloyd Webber to tell me how much he enjoyed my performance. Not long after that I was given the part. It is everything I’ve dreamed of since I was performing in plays at Larkmead. It takes 15 minutes to spray me with the green paint and 40 minutes to get it off. But it’s worth it because I get to go on stage at the London Palladium.”

World AIDS Day concert to pay tribute to Judy Garland   Some of Australia’s leading musical theatre and cabaret performers will be performing the music made famous by the legendary performer. The annual concert, which kicks off World AIDS Day activities across NSW, features top artists like Ricki-Lee Coulter, Paul Capsis, Tim Draxl and Trevor Ashley.  The concert will take place on Monday November 21 at Verbruggen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with all performers backed by the 40-piece Sydney International Orchestra.

Library offers chills and thrills with trip through Oz  At the Superior Public Library, a handful of local artists are teaming up to transform meeting rooms into scenes straight from “The Wizard of Oz.”  Kathy Hubbard’s art class at the University of Wisconsin-Superior will decorate Emerald City. Head Start students will make the poppy field and a number of children from local day care centers will provide flowers for the set. Some of the librarians have been crocheting apples for the trees to throw, and many have volunteered to dress in costume for the event.

Oz in the News 10.20.11

Cult movie icon speaks at CMU  Born and raised in Michigan, actor Bruce Campbell returned home to share a piece of his mind with the students of Central Michigan University.  “I have a pivotal role in that (Sam Raimi’s Oz) but I can’t tell you that,” Campbell said with a smile. “Everybody we have ever worked with from Michigan is going to be in this movie…It’s all the women from Evil Dead, all the guys from Army of Darkness and Evil Dead Two. It’s everybody Sam has ever worked with because the cast is so huge. “Sam understands that if I’m going to be in his big shot movies, just give me something decent, give me a fun little scene with the star. In Oz I get to torment James Franco. I run the back gate of Oz, not the front gate. I’m the gate keeper and he ain’t getting in, that’s all I have to say.”

Evening of ‘Wicked’ recollections, songs set at Edgerton Center  “We will be doing a few of the songs from `Wicked,’ ” said Dee Roscioli, 34, of the selections audiences can expect during two “Women of Wicked” performances on Saturday, Oct. 22. “We will take one or two and do them in an unexpected way. And we’ll be performing other songs that we enjoy singing.” Roscioli, who has played Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West, in several productions of the popular, award-winning musical “Wicked,” will be joined by fellow Broadway performers and friends Katie Rose Clarke and Jennifer DiNoia. In addition to performing, the trio expects to share some behind-the-scenes stories.

Oz in the News 10.15.11

Cartoon Art Museum celebrates The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  At the dawn of the 20th century,  L. Frank Baum created a world of wonders that was to hold a permanent place in the culture of America: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Then in 1904, to promote his second book, Baum, along with master cartoonist Walt McDougall, brought his famed characters to Earth in a new medium, the comic strip.  Famed Oz illustrators W.W. Denslow and John R. Neill also launched their own syndicated comic strips in the early 20th Century.  The Cartoon Art Museum’s exhibition will include a selection of tearsheets from these talented artists: McDougall’s Queer Visitors from Marvelous Land of Oz, Denslow’s Father Goose and Billy Bounce, and Neill’s Nip and Tuck, courtesy of historian and publisher Peter Maresca of Sunday Press.  Acclaimed writer and artist Eric Shanower’s first Oz comic, The Enchanted Apples of Oz, was published in 1986, beginning his 25-year (and counting!) association with Baum’s characters.  This exhibition will feature highlights from five of Shanower’s Oz graphic novels, as well as a selection of art from his latest series of Eisner Award-winning Oz adaptations for Marvel Comics illustrated by Skottie Young.  Additional collaborators include Anna-Maria Cool and the legendary Ramona Fradon.

Interview / Salman Rushdie is not afraid  He wrote his first book, “Over the Rainbow” – inspired by “The Wizard of Oz” – when he was ten. It was a portent of his flirtation with cinema – in recent years he has taken part in more than 40 films and television programs, mostly playing himself. In an essay Rushdie wrote about the film version of “The Wizard of Oz,” he described his father as being “prone to explosions, thunderous rages, bolts of emotional lightning, puffs of dragon-smoke.” In short, he was the great, magical, horrible Oz. In time, he noted, he understood that his father had been a good man but a bad wizard.

Q&A: Stephen Schwartz  “We’re in trouble as a society right now. However red or blue you are, it’s clear we’re pulling apart. A lot of things in life seem to have failed us. ”

Judy Garland Art Video Wins Major Art Scholarship  The two-channel After the Rainbow video piece by sisters Dan and Dominique Angeloro – who collaboratively work under the name of Soda_Jerk – was named the winner of the $60,000 scholarship earlier this month. Beating out 11 other finalists for the honour, the judging panel was unanimous in its praise for the video work – first exhibited in 2009 – which re-imagines classic film Wizard of Oz, with a twister instead transporting a young, hopeful Judy Garland into the future where she encounters her disillusioned adult self.

Oz in the News 10.12.11

Theater review: Briskey belts it as Garland at Carnegie Hall  Despite the title, the show is not simply a re-creation of Garland’s lauded concert – which was recorded for an album that won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year (the first time a woman won in that category). Yes, the show gives a taste of many of the songs from the concert. But it also includes other tunes that were pivotal in Garland’s life – because the primary focus of the play is on telling her melodramatic true story.

“Literary Witches” to Alight Oct. 28 at Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival  “From Elphaba to Rowena Ravenclaw, witches rule pop culture these days,” said Elizabeth Stearns, the Waukegan library’s assistant director of community services. “You can find memorable characters, good and evil, all over our shelves.” The upcoming festival will spotlight some of the wickedest witches in the library’s canon of classics, Stearns says.  As the Wicked Witch of the West, storyteller Megan Wells will evoke winged monkeys and a murder of crows in a headlong quest to destroy Dorothy and acquire her magical shoes. Wells serves as artistic director of the festival and appears each year in the persona of various nefarious characters, from Dracula to Mr. Dark. She holds an MFA in theater arts and numerous theater awards including the Joseph Jefferson Award for directing.

Oz in the News 10.10.11

Review: Friend of Dorothy #2 Andersen does a nice job incorporating the fantasy elements of The Wizard of Oz in new ways – Scott-John uses gloves shaped like lion’s paws to give him great strength, for instance – and while he doesn’t surprise us with any of it, really, he does make sure that everything fits fairly well into the world of the comic. It’s hard to do anything new with the elements of the Oz stories, because they’ve been mined so frequently over the years, but Andersen doesn’t try too hard to make things unique, he just tells a fun story with them.

UK AWARDS 2011: Voting Update – THE WIZARD OF OZ And MUCH ADO Lead The Pack!  Voting in the 2011 BWW:UK Awards has been open for over a week now – and The Wizard of Oz and Much Ado About Nothing are leading the pack for the big prizes! Betty Blue Eyes is pushing the Palladium’s spectacular hard in the musicals categories, though, and the National’s much-acclaimed Frankenstein may yet overtake the Josie Rourke-directed Shakespeare revival.

‘Hollywood Legends Collection’ at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre  Some of Tinseltown’s famed costumes and props are on display at the venerable Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The “Hollywood Legends Collection,” on exhibit through October in the theater lobby, features 1,000 props and costumes from both the big and small screens including Marilyn Monroe‘s gold gown from 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and Judy Garland‘s blue and white gingham pinafore and blouse from 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.” The exhibit is open to movie ticket holders and VIP Tour guests.

Tin Man Talent Showcase raises money for Oz exhibit in Chittenango  Chittenango resident Colleen Zimmer said all money raised will be put towards expanding the current “All Things Oz” Exhibit and to one day hopefully have a permanent site on which to place a museum. The exhibit opened this past June as part of Oz-Stravaganza. It houses a collection of items donated by the Baum family and their life in Chittenango as well as all types of collectibles from the “Wizard of Oz” books, movies, plays and musicals.

 

Oz in the News 10.8.11

Interview: New Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen film inspired by ‘Wizard of Oz’  “This is a retelling of it, in a way,” said Estevez, sitting alongside Sheen at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago in mid-September. “There’s an emotion tornado that happens in Tom’s (Sheen’s character’s) life that picks him up in California and deposits him in Spain. Our Emerald City is Santiago de Compostela.”

Garden of Oz  It’s a low wall, fantastically decorated with all manner of ancient Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels — a miniature freeway set in mortar. In the wall, an iron gate; beyond the gate, a yellow brick–paved pathway pierces a hallucinatory riot of plants and flowers festooned over benches, fountains, nooks and planters, all covered in wildly glazed ceramic mosaics and tiles hand-painted in every color of the rainbow.

Orlando’s Bra-ha-ha fundraiser battles breast cancer  Swans, dragons and “The Wizard of Oz” inspired bras that were donated, decorated and raffled off Thursday evening at Orlando’s first Bra-ha-ha fundraiser. More than 50 works of bra art were designed for the event, and all will be displayed through the weekend on the second floor of Neiman Marcus atMall at Millenia.  The bra named “Courage” featured the Cowardly Lion from “The Wizard of Oz” on one cup and a card that read: “You are not alone. Your courage is inspiring.”