Why We Keep Telling the Story of Oz
Down the yellow brick road…
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
In 1900 L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a story of adventure that sparked a 14-book series, an iconic film adaptation, and countless spin-offs. But what made Baum’s yellow brick road so popular in the first place?
Dina Massachi: So there are several things that made The Wonderful Wizard of Oz stand out.
Dina: One was it had fabulous color illustrations. So L. Frank Baum and William Wallace Denslow really worked together to create this lavishly illustrated children’s book, which wasn’t really done in the early 1900s.
Dina: L. Frank Baum was a bit of a feminist. And so the fact that Dorothy was this girl hero who went on an adventure the way little boys in stories during the time would go on was very revolutionary.
Dina: And then, it was America’s fairy tale…many of the fairy tales of the time had stories, they had princes and princesses and marriage. And The Wonderful Wizard of Oz really didn’t do any of that.
Dina: It was a buddy tale. And it was about finding your community and traveling together for the goal rather than this kind of rags to riches story that a lot of the European fairy tales were.
One early adaptation of Baum’s work came in 1925, with a silent film that took a lot of liberties with the original text. In this version, Dorothy discovers she’s actually the long-lost princess of Oz.
It’s also considered one of the worst silent films ever made. But a lot of well-reviewed adaptations followed, including the iconic MGM film, Tony-winning Broadway musicals, and countless literary retellings.
Dina: So part of what makes Baum so adaptable again is that he writes very loose sketches of what characters might look like. And while he gives them backstories, a lot of times there are these very tease-y backstories where you want more.
Dina: And it allows people to reflect their own communities.
Dina: Dorothy and her merry crew can be anybody or just about anything.
Dina: And so it allows you to talk about what it is to be this American community, whatever that means to you and whatever time period that is.
The Wiz premiered on Broadway in 1975, one of the first Broadway musicals to have an entirely Black cast, creative team, and producer.
It reimagined The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a musical inspired by pop culture, R&B, and soul.
And it became the first musical with a Black producer to win the Tony Award for best musical.
Schele Williams: The Wiz was the first time that I saw myself on stage. I was seven years old, and I was transformed because The Wiz created belonging for me.
Schele: I knew The Wizard of Oz. I loved The Wizard of Oz. And suddenly I was inside the story. And the lion, the tin man, the scarecrow, the dancing, the singing, it felt like my culture. It is all of our stories.
Schele: You know, my version of The Wiz has some of L. Frank Baum’s books. It’s got some of The Wizard of Oz, the movie. It’s got some of the original Wiz on Broadway. It’s got some of Wiz from the movie.
Schele: Because we love it. We love the impact that it’s had on culture. We love the fact that there was space and belonging for my culture to see themselves as Dorothy too.
Schele: And what that meant for all the little girls like me who finally said, there’s a place for me, not only inside this story but inside theater. We found our home. And so that is, it’s such a beautiful gift that this story has continued to give us.
Schele: The core of the message to me is belonging. And that’s something that every single human being yearns for.
