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Setting The Score Straight
Tams-Witmark represents two separate and distinct stage versions of L. Frank Baum's book, The Wizard of Oz. Both are based on the famous 1939 film—songs with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and background music by Herbert Stothart. Both books use the same basic plot and characters as the film. Both versions include the songs Over the Rainbow, Munchkinland, We're Off To See the Wizard, Ding Dong! the Witch Is Dead, The Merry Old Land of Oz, Jitterbug, If I Only Had a Brain, If I Only Had a Heart, If I Only Had the Nerve and Follow The Yellow Brick Road.
Separated by almost fifty years, each version represents a different concept of how to stage a musical film. Where the film uses the style of a staged musical production number as in the "Munchkinland Sequence" where Dorothy is introduced to the people of Oz, both stage adaptions follow suit. When film and stage techniques are not compatible, each adaption finds a different solution.
The first adaption was made for the Municipal Theatre of St. Louis (MUNY) in the 1940's shortly after the initial success of the film. This book was adapted by Frank Gabrielson and takes advantage of the outdoor theatre and the large company of musicians and dancers available.
The second was made for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of 1987 at the Barbican Theatre in London. This book was adapted by John Kane and takes advantage of the latest technical advances available for productions in a new theatre.
Understanding the separation of time, attitude and venue will help to explain what is different between the St. Louis MUNY Wizard and the London RSC Wizard.
The wonderful Arlen/Harburg songs motivated the MUNY Wizard adapters. The company in St. Louis provided the means and dictated the method. The results are a traditional kind of musical theatre piece. In addition to the Arlen songs, there is an additional song for Dorothy, the lovely ballad Evening Star with lyrics by Mitchell Parish and music by Peter DeRose. Music from the concert/ballet theatre has also been added so that dance may be used to help dramatize the story. Both good and bad witches get to personally dance their characterizations. Comic stage business—such as a revolving bridge encountered on the way to Oz—and dance have been used effectively where cinematic techniques were impossible or inappropriate for live theatre. The vehicle chosen in St. Louis for Dorothy's return to Kansas from Oz was not the classic hot air balloon of the film, but a rocket ship!
All of the music used was newly orchestrated for a traditional pit orchestra instrumentation: woodwinds, brass, percussion, piano and strings—a minimum of 22 players. An SATB divided chorus is required only for the Over the Rainbow number. Other chorus music is mostly in unison. A recording on piano of the complete reduction in the Piano-Conductor's Score is available, in both cassette tape and compact disc form, to augment the rehearsal material.
By the time the RSC Wizard adapters started to work on this project for their new theatre, the original film had become a revered and beloved classic. As such—the new stage version had to stick as close as possible to the film. No new interpolations of music were possible. All the Arlen/Harburg songs including Optimistic Voices and If I Were King of the Forest, cut in the earlier version, were included here. All the other music in this stage version was adapted from the incidental music used for the background of the film—the striking music behind the main title sequence for the film became the orchestra's "Opening" number for the stage.
The RSC asked that a new orchestration be made to closely approximate the sound of the film orchestra—the original film orchestrations had been destroyed. The new scoring, by Larry Wilcox, can be heard on the original cast album made in London in 1989. The modern pit orchestra instrumentation uses 24 players. An optional part has been written to cover the string parts with a keyboard synthesizer where strings are not available. These orchestra parts are technically more challenging for the players than are the parts for the more traditional earlier version.
There is more work for the SATB chorus and small vocal ensembles in the music material for the RSC version—and less dance—than in the MUNY version.
The new Barbican Theatre offered all the modern technical wizardry necessary to achieve cinematic effects in a live theatre situation. Scene changes are faster, lighting more complex, flying monkeys are hardly a trick at all, and a mere cyclone? . . . Still this stage version is carefully constructed so it is possible for performance without all the technical magic.
A smaller cast is employed for the RSC Wizard. The doubling device, used in the film where the three farmhands and others of Kansas appear as altered characters in Oz, is expanded to include the role of Auntie Em who becomes Glinda (the good witch) in Oz.
Writing the piano-reductions used in the Tams-Witmark Piano-Conductor's Scores for both of these stage versions of The Wizard of Oz has given me a unique perspective on this material. For sure, one version is not "better" than the other; they are different.
The MUNY version is the more theatrically conservative and employs its stage, actors, singers, dancers and musicians in traditional ways to tell Mr. Baum's story. The story and the music are treated by the adapters as elements of a classic stage musical without reference to their use in a film.
The RSC version is a more technically complex production and uses as much of the aura of the film as is possible to create in a modern theatre. It is an adaption for live stage performance, even while it strives to look and sound just like the famous film, in telling Mr. Baum's story.
Choosing which version of THE WIZARD OF OZ is right for your company will depend as much on your point of view about adapting a work from one medium to another, as it does on the usual physical and budgetary restraints a producer must consider. If your theatre is modestly equipped technically and you want a direct, conservative theatrical telling of Baum's story with Arlen's songs, then the MUNY Wizard should work best. If you have more than just the bare essentials for technical equipment in your theatre, and have an innovative inclination for using "the stuff", then the RSC Wizard, with its cinematic style, should work best.
Separated by almost fifty years, each version represents a different concept of how to stage a musical film. Where the film uses the style of a staged musical production number as in the "Munchkinland Sequence" where Dorothy is introduced to the people of Oz, both stage adaptions follow suit. When film and stage techniques are not compatible, each adaption finds a different solution.
The first adaption was made for the Municipal Theatre of St. Louis (MUNY) in the 1940's shortly after the initial success of the film. This book was adapted by Frank Gabrielson and takes advantage of the outdoor theatre and the large company of musicians and dancers available.
The second was made for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of 1987 at the Barbican Theatre in London. This book was adapted by John Kane and takes advantage of the latest technical advances available for productions in a new theatre.
Understanding the separation of time, attitude and venue will help to explain what is different between the St. Louis MUNY Wizard and the London RSC Wizard.
The wonderful Arlen/Harburg songs motivated the MUNY Wizard adapters. The company in St. Louis provided the means and dictated the method. The results are a traditional kind of musical theatre piece. In addition to the Arlen songs, there is an additional song for Dorothy, the lovely ballad Evening Star with lyrics by Mitchell Parish and music by Peter DeRose. Music from the concert/ballet theatre has also been added so that dance may be used to help dramatize the story. Both good and bad witches get to personally dance their characterizations. Comic stage business—such as a revolving bridge encountered on the way to Oz—and dance have been used effectively where cinematic techniques were impossible or inappropriate for live theatre. The vehicle chosen in St. Louis for Dorothy's return to Kansas from Oz was not the classic hot air balloon of the film, but a rocket ship!
All of the music used was newly orchestrated for a traditional pit orchestra instrumentation: woodwinds, brass, percussion, piano and strings—a minimum of 22 players. An SATB divided chorus is required only for the Over the Rainbow number. Other chorus music is mostly in unison. A recording on piano of the complete reduction in the Piano-Conductor's Score is available, in both cassette tape and compact disc form, to augment the rehearsal material.
By the time the RSC Wizard adapters started to work on this project for their new theatre, the original film had become a revered and beloved classic. As such—the new stage version had to stick as close as possible to the film. No new interpolations of music were possible. All the Arlen/Harburg songs including Optimistic Voices and If I Were King of the Forest, cut in the earlier version, were included here. All the other music in this stage version was adapted from the incidental music used for the background of the film—the striking music behind the main title sequence for the film became the orchestra's "Opening" number for the stage.
The RSC asked that a new orchestration be made to closely approximate the sound of the film orchestra—the original film orchestrations had been destroyed. The new scoring, by Larry Wilcox, can be heard on the original cast album made in London in 1989. The modern pit orchestra instrumentation uses 24 players. An optional part has been written to cover the string parts with a keyboard synthesizer where strings are not available. These orchestra parts are technically more challenging for the players than are the parts for the more traditional earlier version.
There is more work for the SATB chorus and small vocal ensembles in the music material for the RSC version—and less dance—than in the MUNY version.
The new Barbican Theatre offered all the modern technical wizardry necessary to achieve cinematic effects in a live theatre situation. Scene changes are faster, lighting more complex, flying monkeys are hardly a trick at all, and a mere cyclone? . . . Still this stage version is carefully constructed so it is possible for performance without all the technical magic.
A smaller cast is employed for the RSC Wizard. The doubling device, used in the film where the three farmhands and others of Kansas appear as altered characters in Oz, is expanded to include the role of Auntie Em who becomes Glinda (the good witch) in Oz.
Writing the piano-reductions used in the Tams-Witmark Piano-Conductor's Scores for both of these stage versions of The Wizard of Oz has given me a unique perspective on this material. For sure, one version is not "better" than the other; they are different.
The MUNY version is the more theatrically conservative and employs its stage, actors, singers, dancers and musicians in traditional ways to tell Mr. Baum's story. The story and the music are treated by the adapters as elements of a classic stage musical without reference to their use in a film.
The RSC version is a more technically complex production and uses as much of the aura of the film as is possible to create in a modern theatre. It is an adaption for live stage performance, even while it strives to look and sound just like the famous film, in telling Mr. Baum's story.
Choosing which version of THE WIZARD OF OZ is right for your company will depend as much on your point of view about adapting a work from one medium to another, as it does on the usual physical and budgetary restraints a producer must consider. If your theatre is modestly equipped technically and you want a direct, conservative theatrical telling of Baum's story with Arlen's songs, then the MUNY Wizard should work best. If you have more than just the bare essentials for technical equipment in your theatre, and have an innovative inclination for using "the stuff", then the RSC Wizard, with its cinematic style, should work best.
Request a Perusal and a Royalty and Rental Quote
for The Wizard of Oz Today!
Online Application Form
Faxback Application Form
for The Wizard of Oz Today!
Online Application Form
Faxback Application Form
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