Oz Related Stage Scripts

1923 · Ruth Plumly Thompson’s playlet, A Day in Oz, or Scraps From Oz, is used to market the Oz books. Four songs Thompson wrote in 1923 are used in the production. Norman Sherred writes the music.

1927 or 1928 · A Junior League Play adaptation of the Oz stories is published by Samuel French. The scripts are used by a Cleveland radio station.

1963 · Anne Coulter Martens dramatization of The Wizard of Oz as a 2-act play is published by The Dramatic Publishing Co., Chicago.

1964 · An Oz traveling fashion show previews back-to-school clothing for kids with an original musical playlet. The show is heavily advertised.

1973 · The Wizard of Oz in the Wild West, a play by Willard Simms, is published by Pioneer Drama Service, Denver. The children’s play combines historic American figures, such as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid and Annie Oakley, with a adaptation of MGM’s version of Baum’s original story.

1974 · Julian Oldfield writes and directs an original sequel to The Wizard of Oz for the British stage.( I find no reference to the production’s name.)

1979 · Michael Korolenko and Leslie Johnson develop a film treatment about Oz that is never produced. The screenplay opens with a documentary approach then the characters are transported to Oz for a lengthy fantasy sequence.

1981 · Child Vision Company releases a video version of The Marvelous Land of Oz stage play produced by John Clark Donahue and written by Thomas W. Olson. The 105-minute film is produced by Richard Cary and Jonathan Stathakis from Cary’s adaptation of Baum’s story. Produced by the Children’s Theater Co. & School of Minneapolis (a.k.a. The Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Co.) and directed for television by John Driver, the music is by Richard A Dworsky with lyrics by Gray Briggle.

1982 · The New Amsterdam Theatre Co., (city?), presents a 75-minute treatment of the 1902 stage musical extravaganza, The Wizard of Oz, that includes 16 songs.

1983 · Mount Holyoke College Summer Theatre in South Hadley, Mass hosts an Oz festival with an original stage play and community parade.

1983 · Scraps, one of 11 monologues, is presented at the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania by the People’s Light and Theatre Co. The anonymous author uses the pseudonym Jane Martin.

1983 · The Quirk Theater in Ypsilanti presents ODDyssey in Oz, a new play by Virginia Koste. The play-within-a-play is inspired by Baum’s Oz books, but is not a direct adaptation of any one story.

1983 · The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a play by Virginia Glasgow Koste, is published by The Coach House Press, Inc., Chicago. The author includes Baum in the script as a narrator.

1984 · Palsson’s theater in New York stages Miss Gulch Lives! by Fred Barton. This play is a one-man show that presents the character of Miss Gulch, from the MGM film of The Wizard of Oz, performing a song and dance number "cut from the film." An album of the show soon becomes available.

1984 · A Recall to Oz, a new play by Michelle Wan Loon is published by Eldridge Publishing Co., Franklin, Ohio. This sequel to the MGM film includes Dorothy as an elderly woman.

1985 · Mago de Oz Cuento de Frank Baum, a Mexican stage adaptation, was written and directed by Angelica Ortiz. A videotape of the play is available from Million Dollar Video Corportation

1986 · Virginia Glasgow Koste adapts Baum’s The Patchwork Girl of Oz ( 1913) as Scraps! The Ragtime Girl of Oz. The play is presented at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich., and is published by Coach House Press, Morton Grove, Ill.

1987 · Plays prints "Lessons of Oz," by Christina Hamlett, in which Dorothy returns home to Kansas and writes a book titled Kansas Never Looked so Good.

1990 · The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz based on "the 1982 musical" (note: What 1982 musical?) is featured in a 28-page issue of Prologue.1990 · A two-man version of The Wizard of Oz incorporating Mr. and Mrs Santa Claus and characters from Robin Hood is performed at the Pasadena Playhouse.

1990· The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a play by Virginia Glasgow Koste (1983), is revised and released as On the Road to Oz. It is published by The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Ill.

1990 · The Wizard of Oz is paired on stage with another children’s classic in Joseph Robinette’s new musical, Dorothy Meets Alice or The Wizard of Wonderland. It is published by The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Ill.

1992 · The Nevada County Performing Arts Guild presents an original play, The Ozard of Wiz, in Nevada City, Calif. It is written and directed by Mila Johansen.

1994 · An Oz-inspired play, Twister, by Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) gets mixed reviews from small audiences.

1994 · Oz, a new play by Patrick Shanahan, debuts at The Coterie theater in Kansas City, Mo. This variation on the popular theme places L. Frank Baum in his office/parlor telling the story to a young visitor, Dot, with the help of a maid. The three characters act out all the parts using props found on the set.

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