Red Room Where the Writers Are

"There's no place like home." Judy Garland, Diana Ross and Stephanie Mills have all delighted audiences while sincerely reciting Dorothy’s earnest plea to return home. Dorothy wanted to return to the serenity, peace and unconditional love that she became accustomed. The Wizard of Oz and its Broadway rendition The Wiz are two of my all time favorite movie and screenplay.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published by L. Frank Baum, was extremely well written and it's theatrical adaptations, specifically The Wiz, was a flattering cultural reproduction.

Both Movie and Musical were cast by actors and actresses at the epitome of their careers. Their talents dazzled through their stellar performances. When the Author and Illustrator assimilated their creativity and created the colorful pages of their imaginative novel, they probably never imagined the magnitude of its dynamic impact on past, current and future generations.  Every character in both film adaptation and musical seemed to be destined to play the specific role they were cast. Judy Garland was the perfect Dorothy. Her angelic voice bellowed beautiful songs that tempted me to rescue Dorothy myself. Diana Ross and Stephanie Mills also personified Dorothy in their characterizations and made me pray nightly for the ability to sing songs with similar power and grace. With the untimely death of Michael Jackson, the image he portrayed as Scarecrow will forever live in my heart. The memory of his boyish smile, as he plucked straw and hay from his brain, contemplating words, still brings a chuckle on my middle-aged face.

 The Tin Man, Good and Bad Witches and the Wizard, all invaded many childhood dreams and sparked creating thinking, since the very first time Dorothy took my brain somewhere “Over the Rainbow”. The characters were all unforgettable and could interrupt a good or bad dream with Good or evil witches, powerful wizards or Auntie Em or Aunt Mabel cooking a good old-fashioned meal. How I often wished for the wizard's magical power to change a bothersome brother or worrisome cousin, into a Munchkin. The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz ignited my imagination and delighted the multitudes of those who've enjoyed these timeless films.  

The musical scores of each film adaptation and musical were created by musical savants. Almost every song became a trendy hit and ultimately a classic. While growing up, we were rewarded music, dance or sport lessons, as a result of good behavior. While learning to play the Piano, the teacher owned countless pages of sheet music of almost every song in the film The Wizard of Oz. The piano instructor embraced the dissimilarity in each song and taught them daily to her students. Mrs. Oram, our elementary school music teacher, also adored the musical score and every winter and spring assembly included at least one song, performed by different grade levels. Mrs. Ward, our 6th grade teacher directed and produced the performance of the Wiz. Unfortunately, I wasn't cast as Dorothy, but did receive a leadership position as Head Flying Dancing Monkey. The performance was a huge success, once more superbly cast!

After gaining the responsibility of nurturing young minds, I exposed them to both productions, The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz. They immensely enjoyed both films. These young minds were so inspired by the productions that as they matured, they've exposed their unaware friends and young minds in their care to these classics. The film and theatrical performance of both productions have the monstrous capacity to inspire and motivate future generations for many years. Future generations will "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!" to infinity and beyond.