Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Review: Live! The Wizard of Oz

Last week, I took a trip over the rainbow and unlike New Year's Eve this didn't involve edibles. Last Wednesday, my dad treated me by taking me to the Washington Performing Arts Center to see "Live! The Wizard of Oz". Some of you may already be familiar with the theater group that is currently touring the US and are putting on this production. I have Facebook friends from California to Kansas who have been abuzz with excitement to see this tour. Being more of a book fan and less of a movie fan (the movie irritates me to no end; the amount of cheer is almost Disney-level creepy), I was already expecting a movie-based production, however, my dad was the one who suggested this outing and he rarely likes going out without being asked first, and it's Oz after all (side note: my dad was the first to really encourage my Oz fanfic writings) so: To Oz!

I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the songs were not as obnoxious as I remembered them from when I was a kid. I wasn't grinding my teeth at "We're Off to See the Wizard" or wanting to hang myself "Urban Legend Munchkin"-style during "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead". They were actually borderline...delightful. Not only that, but I was even laugh at the jokes, especially during the Kansas scenes in the beginning. There's something about Dust Bowl/Great Depression era comedy that just made me smile.

What really excited me, though, were the times they deviated from the movie. I was internally going nuts because they had Tin Man telling his origin story from the Baum books (you know, the one with Nimmie Amee?). I remember that wasn't in the movie. I was like, "Fuck yeah! Someone read the goddamned books!"

Later, we get two nods to the movie. The deleted Jitterbug scene from the movie, as seen in this YouTube video:



The scene was even complete with the four main characters dancing with costumed Jitterbugs. It was a surreal scene.

Another deleted scene got a moment in the spotlight as well when Dorothy sang her reprise of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the Wicked Witch's castle. This scene had been originally edited out of the movie for being too sad (Hey Old Hollywood! Suck it up, you little bitch! You think that's sad? In "I Am Legend", the fucking dog dies! And in "Marley and Me", too! If you think that's sad, wait 100 years!). I get it's supposed to be sad, but sad enough to be left out of a movie? Maybe I'm just dead inside...meh.

What really impressed me were the costumes and the sets. In the Kansas scenes and for the cyclone, CGI projected backdrops were used so that you were more immersed into the scene. These weren't used as much in the Oz scenes, but  suppose because there was more going on in the foreground, you didn't need to get distracted by moving details in the background. The cyclone was the most unique display I've ever scene on a stage. The screen behind projected the back of the cyclone while a net-like cloth had the front projected on it and you could still see Dorothy and Toto inside. It was like the troop had created a miniature tornado on the stage that didn't mess up your hair.

The Oz scenes had a very surreal, dream-like feel, which makes sense, because they still followed the movie model where Dorothy's adventures were all just a dream. At one point, she tells her new friends that it felt like she had known them for a long time. Uh-huh...subtle.😏

The costumes held my attention as well because while they maintained the air of the movie and early 20th Century style, they had their own 21st Century twists. The Munchkins departed the furthest from the original design. Instead of bright, candy and flower-influenced townspeople garb, the Munchkins were dressed as anthropomorphic flowers. Munchkins were dressed as orchids, irises, roses, and lilies. As a side note, the Welcoming Committee dancers were dressed as three pink lilies, but I'm fairly certain that the design was somewhat based on Pink Diamond's outfit from "Steven Universe", which had some echoes of pink lily influence. The Emerald City citizens possessed a Decopunk quality to their attire and mannerisms. That's probably why I liked it: period clothing with a flair.

I walked into the theater a big skeptical, but I walked out with a spring in my step. My dad liked it, too! The play followed the movie that the public is more familiar with but managed to sneak in more book elements here and there as well as added a few surprises that they audience wasn't expecting. It actually made me want to watch the movie so I'm seeing it next Sunday when it's being shown in theaters.

If anyone has seen this production tour, please feel free to leave comments on your thoughts and opinions. Even if you're planning on seeing it, see it and come back later. I would love to hear what others have to say about this upgraded version.

Until then, later, bitches!

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