Sequels and Reinterpretations
The Wizard of Oz was dramatized as a one-hour radio play on the December 25, 1950 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater, with Judy Garland reprising her earlier role. An official sequel, the animated Journey Back to Oz, starring Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, as Dorothy, was produced beginning in 1964 to commemorate the original film's 25th anniversary. It also featured Margaret Hamilton, who previously played the Wicked Witch, as Aunt Em. The unfinished film lost financing early on and was not finished until 1972 when the producing studio, Filmation, had made enough profit from its television series to finish the film. It was released in the USA in 1974, and again in 1976 with additional live-action footage.
In 1975, the stage show The Wiz premiered on Broadway. It was an African American version of The Wizard of Oz reworked for the Broadway stage. It starred Stephanie Mills and other Broadway stars and earned Tony awards. The play's financing was handled by actor Geoffrey Holder. The play inspired revivals after it left the stage and a motion picture made in 1978, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.
Walt Disney Pictures made an unofficial sequel, Return to Oz, in 1985. Based mostly on the books Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, it fared poorly with critics and in the box office, although it has since gone on to become a cult classic.
In 1964, a one-hour animated cartoon, also called Return to Oz, was shown as an afternoon weekend special on NBC.
For the film's 56th anniversary, a stage show also entitled The Wizard of Oz was based upon the 1939 film and the book by L. Frank Baum. It toured from 1995–2012, except for 2004 (see The Wizard of Oz (1987 stage play)).
In 1990, an animated TV series also called The Wizard of Oz plays as a sequel to the film, though not officially, with Dorothy returning to Oz to help her friends protect the Wizard from the resurrected Wicked Witch of the West. The series incorrectly made Oz a real place, as in the books, rather than a dream like in the film. Produced by DiC it was created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film.
In 1995, Gregory Maguire published the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (which was later adapted into the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Wicked), a back story to the film and novel that describes what happened before Dorothy dropped into Oz.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote a musical based on the film, which is also titled The Wizard of Oz. The musical opened in 2011 at the West End's London Palladium. It features all of the songs from the film plus new songs written by Lloyd Webber and Rice. Lloyd Webber also found Danielle Hope to play Dorothy on the reality show, Over the Rainbow. Another production of the musical is expected to open in December 2012 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto. A reality TV show, also entitled Over the Rainbow, found a Canadian girl, Danielle Wade, to play the role of Dorothy.
An unofficial telling of the events after The Wizard of Oz was filmed in 2010. The movie was titled After the Wizard and was written and directed by Hugh Gross. It was released on DVD on August 7, 2012.
An animated film called Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz was released in 2011 by Warner Home Video, incorporating Tom and Jerry into the story as Dorothy's "protectors".
A prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Oz: The Great and Powerful is scheduled to be released on March 8, 2013. It will be directed by Sam Raimi and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the second film based on Baum's Oz series to be produced by Disney. The film stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, and Michelle Williams.
Read more about this topic: The Wizard Of Oz (1939 film)