The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by American author L. Frank Baum. Since its first publication in 1900, it has been adapted many times by L. Frank Baum and others: for film, television, theatre, books, comics, games, and other media.
Baum was responsible for many early adaptations, including the 1902 musical The Wizard of Oz, which was an enormous success on Broadway. The casting of comedians Fred Stone as the Scarecrow and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman was especially praised.[1] Baum featured the two characters in his second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), with the hopes of turning that into a stage play as well, with Stone and Montgomery in the lead roles.[2] When the two actors declined to participate, Baum rewrote the story as The Woggle-Bug in 1905, which was a critical and commercial failure.[3]
Following this, Baum was responsible for several more adaptations of the Oz series. His 1906 multimedia presentation, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, toured for two months.[4] A further musical, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, was staged in 1913. Baum also began a short-lived film company, The Oz Manufacturing Company, and released three short films, beginning with The Patchwork Girl of Oz in 1914.[5]
The most celebrated adaptation of the Oz books is the 1939 MGM musical starring Judy Garland, which has been hailed as the most-seen film in movie history.[6] Other notable film adaptations include The Wiz (1978), Return to Oz (1985), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). Another notable production is the 2003 Broadway and West End musical Wicked, based on the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.
- ^ Swartz, Mark Evan (2000). Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 79. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
- ^ Riley, Michael O. (1997). Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum. University Press of Kansas. p. 99.
- ^ Swartz, Mark Evan (2002). Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939. Baltimore, Maryland: JHU Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0801870927. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
- ^ Swartz, Mark Evan (2002). Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939. JHU Press. pp. 161–165. ISBN 9780801870927. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
- ^ Simpson, Paul (2013). A Brief Guide to Oz. Constable & Robinson Ltd. pp. 71–74. ISBN 978-1-47210-988-0. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
- ^ Fricke, John (1989). The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-51446-0.