The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Although Baum is the credited book writer, Glen MacDonough was hired on as ghostwriter after Baum had finished the script. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens, some of which has been lost, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in 1939 when the classic film version of the story was made.Fricke, Stillman, Scarfone. The Wizard of Oz: The 50th Anniversary Pictorial History The original show was particularly popular because of its two comedy stars: Fred Stone playing the Scarecrow, and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman.
The show premiered at the Chicago Grand Opera House on June 16, 1902, and then went on tour throughout the upper Midwest before moving to the Majestic Theatre on Broadway on January 20, 1903, where it ran for 293 performances through October 3. A second company was established, and the show went on tour from September 1903 through March 1904 before returning to the Majestic with an updated "Edition De Luxe". This version played through May and then moved on to the New York Theater for three weeks before returning to Chicago for a five-week run to finish the season.
The two companies toured the country from August 1904 to April 1905, and again from September 1905 to May 1906. By this time, demand had slowed, and the second company was disbanded on February 28, 1906. The main "Company A" had one final tour from August to November 1906 before the rights were sold to Hurtig and Seamon. The new production resumed the tour through May 1907, and continued for the 1907–08 and 1908–09 seasons. Finally, the show was released to stock theater companies in 1911.
The show's history is covered in more than 100 pages of the book Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on stage and screen to 1939 by Mark Evan Swartz.
Characters and original cast In order of appearance, the 1902 Chicago cast consisted of: Role and comments from programCast memberDorothy Gale, a Kansas girlAnna LaughlinImogene, Dorothy's Cow Edwin J. StoneCynthia Cynch, the Lady LunaticHelen ByronThe Witch of the North, a friend in needAileen MaySir Dashemoff Daily, Poet LaureateBessie Wynn[e]The Army of PastoriaJoseph SchrodePastoria II, Ex-King of the Emerald CityNeil McNeilTryxie Tryfle, prospective Queen of the Emerald CityMabel BarrisonBrigadier General Riskitt, commanding Pastoria's ArmyHarold MoreyThe Scarecrow, looking for brainsFred StoneThe Cowardly LionArthur HillNick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, in search of a heartDavid C. MontgomeryThe Poppy QueenGeorgia BaronPrivate Gruph, the Guardian of the GateHarold MoreyLeo, Captain of the Relief GuardsSidney AinsworthThe Soldier with the Green WhiskersJoseph SchrodeSir Wiley Gyle, an Inventor who scorns all magical artsStephen MaleyBardo, the Wizard's FactotumGenevra GibsonOz, the Wonderful Wizard, Ruler of the Emerald CityJohn Slavin
There were several major character changes from the original book: Dorothy Gale's surname was introduced in the show. She had no surname in the original book, but the surname is mentioned in Ozma of Oz (1907). Imogene the Cow replaces Dorothy's dog Toto. The Good Witch of the North causes a snowfall which defeats the spell of the poppies that had put Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion to sleep – this idea was later used in the classic 1939 movie. The role of the Cowardly Lion was reduced to a bit part, mostly to add humor. The Tin Woodman is called Niccolo Chopper. In the book he had no name, but would be called Nick Chopper in the sequels. The Wicked Witch of the West is mentioned but does not appear in this version. New characters in the piece are Ex-King Pastoria II and his girlfriend Tryxie Tryfle (a waitress); Cynthia Cynch (a lady lunatic), Niccolo's love interest; Sir Dashemoff Daily (the poet laureate), Dorothy's love interest; Sir Wiley Gyle, and General Riskitt.
Plot The main plot of the show, as recounted in newspapers of the time, is Pastoria's attempts to regain the throne from the Wizard of Oz. The original protagonists' search for the Wizard puts them on the wrong side of the law. Synopsis by David Maxine
Act One: The Storm
The show opens on a Kansas farm from which Dorothy and her pet calf Imogene are blown to the Land of Oz by a tornado. Dorothy's farmhouse lands on a Wicked Witch, and the Munchkins proclaim Dorothy their heroine for setting them free. Dorothy wants to go home to Kansas. The Good Witch of the North gives Dorothy a Ruby Ring and tells her to go to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard of Oz to send her back to Kansas. Dorothy also gets a love interest when Sir Dashemoff Daily, the poet laureate of Oz, falls in love with her. Now, it so happens that a Kansas streetcar conductor named Pastoria, along with Tryxie Tryfle, his waitress-girlfriend, has been blown to Oz in the same tornado. To make matters more complicated, it turns out that Pastoria is the former King of Oz, having been ousted by the Wizard. Pastoria determines to regain his throne. Another new character is an Ophelia-like lady lunatic named Cynthia Cynch. She has gone "mad" searching for her long-lost lover, Niccolo Chopper. Dorothy and her pet calf proceed on their journey and meet the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman (who happens to be Cynthia Cynch's lover turned tin). Dorothy with her friends and Pastoria with his entourage all stumble into a deadly Poppy Field where they nearly perish from the poisonous breath of the flowers. Everyone is saved by the Witch of the North, who creates a summer snowstorm to break the spell of the poppies.
Act Two: The Emerald City
Dorothy and her friends arrive in the Emerald City where the Wizard grants brains to the Scarecrow and a heart to the Tin Woodman. To celebrate, the Wizard announces a "Ball of All Nations" in which everybody gets to sing a topical song of ethnic origin. Pastoria arrives in the Emerald City, breaks up with Tryxie Tryfle, and stages a coup in which the Wizard of Oz is arrested. Dorothy and her pals are declared enemies of the state and they run for their lives as Pastoria regains the throne of Oz.
Act Three: The Borderland
In hiding and in disguise, Dorothy and company flee the Emerald City. They encounter Cynthia Cynch who is delighted to have found her missing tin lover. But alas, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and Tin Woodman are eventually captured by Pastoria's henchmen and sentenced to death. Just as they are about to be executed, Dorothy calls on the Witch of the North, who magically appears and sets everyone free.
Conception and script
L. Frank Baum decided to collaborate with his friend, composer Paul Tietjens, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow as set and costume designer, to bring the book to the stage. They completed a script, score and designs in 1901, hewing fairly close to the novel.The script was to be an appendix to Frank Joslyn Baum's biography of his father, To Please a Child, but it was not published due to copyright concerns. They submitted the package to the manager of the Chicago Grand Opera House, Fred R. Hamlin, who liked it and approached Julian Mitchell to be director.
Mitchell did not like the script, criticizing its lack of spectacle, calling it too subdued and small-scale. However, he sent a wire to Hamlin with the message "Can see possibilities for extravaganza". When Mitchell accepted the project, he brought in new songwriters, cutting some of the original Tietjens numbers. He rewrote the script, together with Glen MacDonough, introducing new characters and incidents, reducing the Cowardly Lion's role, deleting the appearance of the Wicked Witch of the West entirely, and substituting a cow for Toto as Dorothy's companion. Baum was anxious about this, but went along. He hoped Mitchell's experience in directing, as well as the casting of comedy team Fred Stone and David C. Montgomery as the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, would make the show a hit. It turned out to be a roaring success, with 293 performances.
Original production In rewriting Baum's 1901 script, Mitchell hired MacDonough to add topical humor. Baum described MacDonough as a New York joke writer in a letter to The Chicago Record-Herald, responding to criticism that the show "teemed with wild and woolly western puns and forced gags".Baum, L. Frank. "Music and the Drama", Letter to the editor, The Chicago Record-Herald, February 3, 1903 In a letter to The Chicago Tribune published June 26, 1904, Baum decried rumors that he was "heartbroken and ashamed" with the final product of the musical: "I acknowledge that I was unwise enough to express myself as dissatisfied with the handling of my play on its first production ... few authors of successful books are ever fully satisfied with the dramatization of their work. They discern great gaps in the original story that are probably never noticed by playgoers." He admitted to protesting several innovations, but ultimately concluded: "The people will have what pleases them, and not what the author happens to favor, and I believe that one of the reasons why Julian Mitchell is regarded as a great producer is that he faithfully tries to serve the great mass of playgoers – and usually succeeds.""Mr. Baum to the Public", The Chicago Tribune, June 26, 1904
Most of the original songs were written by Paul Tietjens on Baum's lyrics, except for three: "The Guardian of the Gate" (although it was attributed to Tietjens), which was cut after only a few performances, "The Different Ways of Making Love" (wooing) and "It Happens Every Day" were composed by Nathaniel D. Mann. Mann later wrote the score for Baum's 1908 film/theatrical presentation, The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays. Most of Baum's songs related to the story in some way, as in operetta, but as performed, the play was more like vaudeville, and new songs by other songwriters were frequently substituted. In fact, the first song interpolated into the musical was "The Traveler and the Pie", a major number for the Scarecrow. Baum and Tietjens had written it for a play called The Octopus; or the Title Trust, which was never produced and possibly never completed. The song stayed in the show. James O'Dea and Edward Hutchinson wrote one of the show's most celebrated songs, "Sammy", in which Tryxie Tryfle sings of a lost love before King Pastoria, though the only surviving recording of the piece was sung by a man (Harry Macdonough).
The witches are largely absent in this version; The Good Witch of the North appears, named Locusta, and The Wicked Witch of the East is a special effect. Toto, Dorothy's dog, was replaced by a cow named Imogene. The Wicked Witch of the West does not appear, but she is mentioned, and Glinda the Good Witch of the South, who had appeared only in Act Three, was written out by Mitchell in 1903. His re-write of that act was set in the Borderland that divides Oz and Glinda's Domain, as Dorothy and her friends try to escape Pastoria.
New characters include King Pastoria II, Oz's true king working as a Kansas motorman and his girlfriend, Tryxie Tryfle, a waitress. There is also Cynthia Cynch, the Lady Lunatic, a prototype for Nimmie Amee, Nick (Niccolo) Chopper's girlfriend. Niccolo Chopper is renowned for his ability on the piccolo, the subject of one of her songs, and he is shown playing a piccolo in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the first Oz film made without Baum's input, which was highly influenced by the popular play. The Wizard was presented as various ethnic stock character stereotypes, depending upon who played him. He was assisted by Sir Wiley Gyle and General Riskitt. David L. Greene and Dick Martin erroneously captioned a picture of General Riskitt as "Sir Wiley Gyle" in The Oz Scrapbook, and Donald Abbott carried this mistake over into his illustrations for How the Wizard Saved Oz.