TASK TWO - Developing And Devising Ideas For Children's Theatre

 

Developing And Devising Ideas For Children's Theatre

The Original

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  ( now know widely as The Wizard Of Oz)is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W.Denslow. It began the series of oz books. Dorothy (A Kansas farm girl)ends up in the magical land of oz after she and her dog Toto are carried away from their home by a tornado. Upon her arrival in Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has set Oz free from the wicked witch of the west.

The book was first published in the America in May 1900 by the George M. Hill Company. In January 1901, the publishing company completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which sold out very quickly. It had sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956. It was often reprinted under as ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which is the title of the successful 1902 Broadway musical adaption as well as the classic 1939 live-action film .

The ground-breaking success of both the original 1900 novel and the 1902 Broadway musical prompted Baum to write thirteen additional oz books which serve as official sequels to the first story. Over a century later, the book is one of the best-known stories in American literature, and the library of congress has declared the work to be "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairy tale." The story is still often referenced and told today.

 

The 1939 live-action film

The movie was produced by metro goldwyn mayor the film was primarily directed by Victor Flemming (who left the production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind). The film stars;  judy Garland, Frank Morgan , Ray Bolgar, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burk, and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langeky and Florence Ryerson. Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg. Back then the safety requirments were not the same and this caused the set to be very dangerous and toxic for the actors and crew. There was also no safeguarding when it came to the actors which left a few of them feeling unsafe with their co-workers. Here are some unsettling stories from behind the scenes;

-For starters, the snow that fell on the actors during the famous poppy field scene was actually pure asbestos. According to Atlas Obscura, chrysotile asbestos fibres were often used by film studios to imitate falling snow, despite the fact that people had been aware of its health risks since the early 20th century. The Wicked Witch's broom was also made up of asbestos, as well as the Scarecrow costume that Ray Bolger wore nearly every single day of filming. This was incredibly dangerous however the studio only cared about the visuals of the movie

-The Tin Man costume also caused quite a few problems. Buddy Ebsen, who was the initial actor cast as the Tin Man, turned out to be dangerously allergic to the aluminium dust that was used to give the Tin Man his metallic shine. had to be hospitalized due to that allergic reaction, and he ultimately had to bow out of the film entirely. However, Ebsen's singing can still be heard during "We're Off To See The Wizard" as his recording made it into the film's soundtrack. As a result of his time as the Tin Man, Esben experienced lifelong health effects and breathing problems, and he never even got the chance to appear on the screen. 

-Ebsen was replaced by Jack Haley, and the dust was replaced with an aluminum paste that could be painted on. The paint wasn't without its own problems, though — it gave Haley an eye infection and filming had to be delayed while he recovered. Luckily, Haley was able to keep the job, and he did not appear to have any long-lasting effects from the Tin Man's makeup.

-Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion costume had been created out of genuine lion hide which unsurprisingly made it very heavy and hot inside. Coupled with the heat generated by the overhead studio lights, Lahr getting overheated while in character was a legitimate concern.

-Both Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, and her stunt double, Betty Danko, were badly burned when scenes involving fire went terribly wrong. When the Wicked Witch leaves Munchkinland in a pyrotechnic display of fire and smoke, Margaret Hamilton was supposed to drop through a trapdoor. However, the door malfunctioned, and Hamilton suffered second- and third-degree burns on her face and hands. To make matters worse, Hamilton's role as the Wicked Witch required her to be painted green, and the only way to remove the paint was with alcohol, which exacerbated her wounds. Hamilton had to take six weeks off to recover before she returned to the set.

Betty Danko, Hamilton's stunt double, was tasked with filming the next scene that required fire, and that scene also went horribly wrong. While filming the scene in which the Wicked Witch writes "Surrender Dorothy" across the sky with her broom, Danko was required to sit on an actual metal pipe that was filled with combustible materials. The pipe exploded, and Danko suffered extreme burns on her legs and had to be hospitalized for 11 days. The studio still decided to go forward with the skywriting scene, hiring a stunt actress named Aline Goodwin to finish the take.

the studio put Garland on a weight control diet that no modern dietician in their right mind would ever recommend. It consisted of only chicken soup, black coffee, and cigarettes, and this was then supplemented with diet pills for good measure. Additionally, the studio administered adrenaline shots to keep Garland's energy up, but at night she was given the sleep aid Seconal to help her rest at night.

-Although there is no solid evidence, it has also been stated that 16 year old Judy Garland, was molested by some of the actors that played the munchkins. The lack of concern and consideration for the actors leads us to believe that these statements aren't unbelievable.

The First Surviving Film Adaptation

In 1910 an American silent fantasy film version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was created and now it holds the title of the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfil a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by the fairy Logue and radio-Plays. It was partly based on the 1902 stage musical The Wizard of Oz, though much of the film deals with the Wicked Witch of the West, who isn’t in the musical.

 

The Fairy Louge And Radio-Plays

The Fairy Logue and Radio-Plays was a very early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the screen (motion picture). It was a mixture of live actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film. Baum himself would appear as if he were giving a lecture, while he interacted with the characters (on stage and on screen). Although praised throughout its tour, the show experienced budgetary problems (with the show costing more to produce than the money that sold-out shows could bring in) and collapsed after two months of performances. It opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 24, 1908. It then opened in Orchestra Hall in Chicago on October 1, toured the country and ended its run in New York City. There, it was scheduled to run through December 31, and ads for it continued to run in The New York Times until then, but it reportedly closed on December 16.  

L. Frank Baum

Lyman Frank Baum (born 1856) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series, plus 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made many attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.

Born and raised in upstate New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful attempt as a theatre producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio focused on children's films in Los Angeles, California.

His works anticipated such later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of clothes advertising. He enjoyed a comfortable upbringing as the son of a barrel factory owner who also had some success in the oil business. Named "Lyman" after an uncle, Baum hated his first name and chose to be called by his middle name "Frank" instead.

Baum's education began with tutors at home in his early years. At the age of 12, he went to the Peekskill Military Academy. Baum left the school after a health crisis two years later, apparently suffering from some type of heart condition. Never earning a high school degree, he spent his early adulthood exploring his interest in acting and writing for the stage. After having a go as a newspaper journalist and businessman, Baum started writing for children in his forties. He discovered his talent for storytelling from the nursery rhymes and tales he told his four sons from his marriage to Maud Gage. They married in 1882. Gage (his wife) was the daughter of famed suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. In 1897, Baum published his first collection for young readers Mother Goose in Prose, which was illustrated by Maxfield Parish. He soon followed up this work with the hugely popular Father Goose, His Book. This book became the top-selling children's title of 1899 and featured illustrations by W. W. Denslow. In 1900, Baum introduced readers to a fantastical land filled with good witches, bad witches, munchkins and a girl named Dorothy from Kansas in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story of Dorothy's quest to find her way home, accompanied by a tin woodsman, a scarecrow and cowardly lion, proved to be quite popular. Baum wrote about his intentions in the book's introduction: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to pleasure children today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out." Two years later, Baum transformed his story into a successful Broadway musical. He re-imagined a popular culture figure around this time with The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902). In 1904, Baum returned to Oz with the first sequel to his beloved work, The Marvellous Land of Oz. In addition to his Oz books, Baum wrote more children's titles. He wrote the Aunt Jane's Nieces series as Edith Van Dyne among other projects. In 1910, Baum moved his family to Hollywood, California, where he worked to bring his stories to the big screen. The first movie versions of his Oz tales were made as short films.

In declining health, Baum underwent gall bladder surgery in 1918. He spent the last year of his life confined in bed, never fully recovering from the operation. Just days before his birthday Glinda of Oz was the last title he wrote for the Oz series. On May 5, 1919, Baum suffered a stroke. The following day he slipped into a coma but briefly awoke and spoke his last words to his wife, "Now we can cross the Shifting Sands.". Frank died on May 6, 1919. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

After his passing, Several other authors, including Ruth Plumly Thompson, were hired to continue to create new Oz adventures. Twenty years after his death, a new film version of his classic tale appeared on the big screen. The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger and Frank Morgan, debuted in 1939. The Wizard of Oz went on to become one of the most-watched movies in cinematic history.

Its very sad that he didn't get to see the full extent of what his story became however his legacy still lives on in the over the rainbow references and the top hit Broadway show 'Wicked' that wouldn't be possible without him. And in the movie that is still watched and the play that is still performed.

Speaking of his legacy, Writer Gregory Maguire has written several books exploring the lives of some of Baum's most famous characters. His 1995 book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, was used as the basis for the popular Broadway musical Wicked. On the big screen, James Franco played the magician who ends up as the Wizard of Oz in 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. His character must tangle with forces of good and evil, which are manifested in the film by Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz.

Glinda character development

research- symbolism of the witches

There are articles stating that there's a hidden spiritual meaning about the good witches v bad witches. they say when Dorothy battled with the bad witches it was her fighting with the dark side of her personality and the demons she has inside. And in the end she victoriously melted them by throwing a pale of water over them. 

 water in many religions and spiritual texts is traditionally a symbol of consciousness and spiritual purity. which is what the good witches represent.

the white witch of the north is known as Glinda, who represents the love, light, and guiding spirit that is within us all.

the north in spiritual lore represents attuning oneself to the sacredness and wholeness of the divine guide within us. And this represents the direction of the soul toward evolution.

Once Dorothy had claimed victory over her dark side, it was Glinda, the white witch of the north, who guided Dorothy to go back to Kansas to show that the light inside you guides you.

Glinda is the good witch of the south, sister to Belinda the good witch of the north. Glinda is known as the most powerful of all the witches. In the popular 1939 film Glinda is the good witch of the north. However, that's not how it was written in the play so we stayed true to that. Glinda is the witch that arrives when all hope is lost, she is the light that everybody needed and she knows it. All she did was grace them with her wisdom and she saved the whole story. 

She has a heart of pure gold. she sees her responsibilities as looking after anybody that needs it. Glinda effortlessly spreads love and joy everywhere she goes she really wears her heart on her sleeve. People often question whether she is a witch or a princess because her cartoon like actions and fairy godmother spirit do not correspond in the slightest, to what we view as witches. witches have always been viewed as ugly and cruel like the witches of the east and west, so her and her sister are not what we'd expect.

People describe Glinda as the first American pop-culture figure because of her glamorous persona. When taking on the iconic role of Glinda, I really had to look into what it is that makes her, her. from my research i know that because of the glitter and the diamonds she wears with her fluffy blonde curly hair, mixed with her pink poofy dress and huge silver wand, people see Glinda as the peak of femininity and elegance. 

Glinda has very big characteristics, she is very open and has the confidence to take up a lot of space. She wants everybody to notice her because she knows that the munchkins and ozians and every other creature in the land of oz love her so she isn't afraid to have them all watch her, she loves the attention she gets because she knows she's beautiful. She loves to elegantly wave her wand around and gently moves her arms like a swan queen as if she's living off of the loving vibrations in the air. She gently sways as she listens to show of her sparkles and to show how she's constantly living in the moment. She has her eyes very wide and doey so you can see she only has good thoughts behind them and she always has a gentle smile on her face because she's a loving happy girl. 

Glinda speaks with a very soft and gentle voice. she speaks slowly with compassion, like she really means every word. She has a soft American accent that slightly replicates a 20s Hollywood accent.

Munchkin - Character Development

My munchkin is a stay at home Mother of four named Betsy Boo. She is thirty years old and a house wife to Bobby Boo. She loves all of her children however her favourite is her 8 year old daughter (youngest) because she loves that she still gets to baby her. She loves cooking and baking and singing songs, she loves wearing PJ's but the things she loves the most, are the good witches. she loves how glamorous they are and hoe kind their souls are. she idolises them. She hates the school run because her kids are naughty and she cant keep track of all of them. She despises the bad witches, they scare her. when she was younger the bad witch kidnapped her best friend because she got her lollypop stuck in the bad witches hair. that's why she was so happy when she got squished and why she was so grateful for Dorothy and starts the bow of respect.

Ozian - Character Development

My Ozian is called Livvy and she's been training to work for Oz since she was 4. she's 18 now. She went to summer camp every year where they had intensive studies on Chanting gate keepers. She then picked to major that subject at school and loved oz so much that she made green glasses out of green pipe cleaners and wore them from age 4-15. Then finally she got to work in the emerald city and worked her way up to becoming a chanter. She takes her job seriously but has so much fun with it. in her spare time she loves to read. Her best friend is an Ozian called Molly.