Opening Prayer - Part IV

The following in an excerpt from my forthcoming book. Please note, this early draft does not reflect corrections, changes, and more recent discoveries. There may be substantial differences between the following text and that to be included in the final work.  —David Maxine

CLICK HERE TO READ PART III

Act II

Scene 1 – “The Gates of the Emerald City.”

The Guardian of the Gate is discovered alone, standing near a large box of spectacles by a gateway. This character is a combination of two characters from the book, the Guardian of the Gate (seen at left) and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers (seen below).

In the script the Guardian acquires the soldier's green whiskers, and he tags along with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and Tin Woodman for most of Act II, and he shows up again at the end of Act III.

The Guardian sings “I’m Here to Keep the People Out,” later renamed “The Guardian of the Gate.” 

I’m here to keep the people in and keep them out.

For none can thro’ the portals pass while I’m about

Beyond’s the Emerald City where the Wizard rules in state,

And I’m the man that guards the gate, the guardian of the gate.

The gate, the gate, the gate. the gate

The glitt'ring, glist'ning gate.

However grand and fine you be

However humble don't you see,

You've got to get the key of me—

The guardian of the gate!

(Enter Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman)

DOROTHY:

Well, here we are at last!

SCARECROW:

Yes, here we are in the park. There’s the greenhouse and this old boy with the emerald alfalfa on his lunch room will probably make us keep off the grass.

I’m sure Baum thought the Scarecrow’s joke-filled line clever, but it’s not good stage dialogue. The sentence reads okay, but the cadence is off. There’s nowhere for the actor to breathe. No matter how well enunciated, the line would be hard to understand spoken on stage, especially in the pre-microphone era. Worse still, there are five jokes buried in the single run-on sentence. If anyone laughed at the first or second joke, the latter three would go unheard, obscured by the laughter. This is the sort of problem that necessitates the eventual script doctors.

After the Guardian of the Gate tells the Ozzy trio that if they are “peddlers, canvassers or book-agents they will have to go around to the rear gate,” the Tin Woodman launches into another of Baum’s dense and impenetrable speeches:

TIN WOODMAN:

No, we’re not going to weaken now. We may do a lot of queer things but the one thing we absolutely and positively decline to do is to weaken at this stage of the game. We demand an audience with Mr. Oz. I represent the tin trust and my weedy friend with the open countenance is a commissioner from the mattress trust. This young lady represents one of the great Sunday newspapers and intends to ask Oz how he enjoys the wizard business and take six or eight photographs of him while he is answering him [sic]. If she can catch him eating his breakfast or lounging in his pajamas, all the better.

Speeches like that make one wonder if Baum was expecting to be paid by the word.

The Scarecrow is still fixated on the Guardian’s green whiskers. 

SCARECROW:

You don’t see ’em as bad as this even in Kansas, do you? (Handling Guardian’s green whiskers) If you could take Willie back there with you he’d be governor inside of a year. He must be a brother to the long, Sutherland seven-haired sisters [sic].

The Scarecrow’s garbled joke makes reference to the “Seven Sutherland Sisters,” a singing group from the 1880s to early 1900s that performed with Barnum and Bailey.

 

The Seven Sutherland Sisters and their 37 feet of hair.

The sisters collectively sported over thirty-seven feet of hair. I hope it’s the brainless Scarecrow, and not Baum, that is getting his words out of order in that line of dialogue.

The Guardian fits Dorothy and her friends with spectacles so they won’t be “blinded by the splendor of the city.” The Tin Woodman suggests the Scarecrow should be given “field glasses.” Sometimes Baum’s jokes are actually good.

Scene 2 – “The Throne Room of Oz.”

“Walls covered by mystic emblems. —Large vacant throne in center, masked by green at back, shaped like a pair of out-stretched silver wings. —Chorus of astrologers, witches, necromancers, sorcerers, etc. in background and either side of the great throne.”

The Guardian leads Dorothy and her companions into the throne room. He stays with them during their audience with the Wizard. The chorus, as described above, sings:

Now, who thus dares to penetrate

The throne room of our master great?

The wise are those who hesitate

To aggravate this potentate!

Should you to see his face aspire

He’ll gratify your rash desires; [sic]

Yet strangers always rouse his ire

And oft expire before they retire!

DOROTHY:

Which of those queer looking frights is the wonderful wizard?

The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman join Dorothy in mocking the attendants. While the assorted magic workers hums a reprise of their chorus, the Wizard’s voice announces, “I am coming!” and a great head appears above the throne.

SCARECROW: We’re going to have a full moon, ain’t we?

DOROTHY: Hush! You will anger him and then he won’t send me back to Kansas.

TIN WOODMAN:

I don’t think he could send anybody anywhere. Did you ever see such a swelled head?

 The Wizard and Chorus of Magic Workers sing “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

MAGIC WORKERS:

Oh, he is the wonderful wizard of Oz,

The wizard of Oz is he,

There isn’t a juggle can cause him a struggle,

He’s a marvel of mystery!

He’s practiced in sorcery, magical lore

Is never a bother to him anymore,

He’s dazzled and frazzled the jays by the score,

He’s the wonderful wizard of Oz.

OZ (as Head):

Hear me! Fear me!

Never dare to queer me

I’m the greatest necromancer ever was!

All my deeds with magic reek,

I’m the whole thing so to speak,

I’m the wonderful wizard of Oz!

MAGIC WORKERS:
Hear him, fear him;
Never dare to queer him,
He's the greatest necromancer ever was,
All his deeds with magic reek,
He's the whole thing, so to speak,
He's the wonderful wizard of Oz. 

Dorothy asks the great head to send her back to Kansas. “I never grant favors without some return,” the head responds. “What can you do for me?” Little does the Wizard realize that he just gave Dorothy an excuse to perform.

DOROTHY:

Oh, good gracious! I can’t do anything—except sing and dance a little bit.

OZ (as Head):

Then sing and dance while I think over your request.

The Great Head vanishes and Dorothy sings:

Oh, I long to be in Kansas

Where the flowers and blizzards blow,

Don’t you know

How they blow

In Kansas?

Where the fatted pigs are blooming

And the girls are unassuming,

Do you think

You would wink

In Kansas?

[Etc.]

Dorothy dances while she sings the chorus: 

Yet I long to be in Kansas

For the place is home to me,

I’m as free as a flea,

In Kansas.

Where the scent of corn bread rises

And the pumpkin in the pies is—

I am gay

All the day

In Kansas.

Advertisement for Madame Yale cosmetics.

After the number, the form of a lovely lady appears on the throne. “Here comes Madame Yale!” cries the Tin Woodman. Madame Yale was a purveyor of beauty treatments, anti-aging creams, and an early advocate of cosmetics.

SCARECROW:

Introduce me to your friend. This is the only live one I’ve seen in the Palace. I wonder if it’s Mrs. Oz. He’s got an awful face to cop out a queen like that for himself.

The Wizard explains he is “ever-changing” and has “the power to assume any form.”

Baum clearly wanted the lengthy scene to be spectacular—he even preserves all four of the Wizard’s transformations from the book, though he gives no hint as to how the effects should be staged. But the long scene would have been much stronger if Dorothy and her friends had been awestruck by the Wizard’s transformations rather than joke and poke fun at them. The cynical, mocking humor undercuts the spectacle. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman’s jibes would have had much more power, and been a lot funnier, if they came only after the Wizard was exposed as a humbug.

After much banter, the Scarecrow finally asks for brains. The wizard refuses the request and the chorus of magic-workers softly sings: 

Alas for the man, who has little in his noddle that he knows!

He’s under a ban and is called a rattle-pate where’er he goes.

[Etc.]

 The Lady disappears and is replaced by a huge, crab-like beast. 

DOROTHY:

O-o-o-oh! What’s that!

SCARECROW:

It looks like a deviled crab.

The Tin Woodman makes his request for a heart while the magic workers sing:

When you love, love, love in mad delirium,

When to love, love, love, that’s quite sincere you come . . .

[Etc.] 

During the softly sung chorus the Beast disappears, replaced by a glowing ball of fire, and the magic workers silently withdraw to the wings. What follows is one of Baum’s best scenes. Not only does the script tie into the music, but, like the Cowardly Lion’s scene, Baum is writing situational humor and stage action. 

OZ (as Voice):

Yes, love is madness. You are better off without a heart. Your request is refused.

TIN WOODMAN: (Weeping)

There! That’s the best I get after coming all these miles to see this old fakir. I might as well have stayed in the woods cutting down trees. Here I don’t even cut any ice. (Stops suddenly with mouth open, tries to close mouth with hands, waves arms, etc.)

DOROTHY:

Well, it is a pity that the poor woodman cannot have his heart after taking that long journey.

SCARECROW:

Yes, now he won’t have the heart to go home again.

DOROTHY:
Why, whatever is the matter with him?

SCARECROW:

What a frank, open countenance he has! It looks like the LaSalle Street tunnel!

DOROTHY:

Oh, I know! He has been crying and his jaws have rusted again. Get the oil-can quick.

SCARECROW:

It keeps me busy rushing the can for this fellow. Here you are. These joints can’t be allowed to stay open all night! (Oils Tin Woodman, etc.)

The Scarecrow finally notices Oz has become a ball of fire. "Why, you're all lit up, ain't you? . . . Don't he make the quickest moves, though? He's liable to be an apple dumpling the next time we look at him."

For no particular reason Dorothy removes her spectacles. "Why this is funny. My eyes are not dazzled a bit without these glasses. (To guardian) You're a fuzzy old faker."

GUARDIAN:
Put ' em on, for heaven's sake. You'll all be blinded.

The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman remove their glasses, too.

GUARDIAN:
I'll not stay and see you killed. (Rushes off.)

TIN WOODMAN:
This is a fake.

DOROTHY:
It looks that way. (Runs forward and overturns a screen behind the throne, discovering OZ and the props he has used to represent him. Lights up.) Why what's all this?

TIN WOODMAN:
(Raising axe over Oz.) Throw up your hands!

OZ:
Oh, dear. I am Oz, the Great and Terrible, but please don't use your axe and I'll tell you all about it.

SCARECROW:
Somebody must have turned down the gas on that ball of fire. What are all these. Have you been stringing us.

The Scarecrow's last two lines suggest he's examining the Wizard's props and based on the pun in the last line, probably found they were operated by strings. But Baum has provided no such explanation.

DOROTHY:
What do you mean? Aren't you the Wonderful Wizard?

OZ:
Oh, mercy! Don't you talk so loud or some of my people may overhear you. No, I'm only supposed to be a wizard. I'm only a common man.

SCARECROW: 
Just like the rest of the wizards! What a lovely bunch of suckers we were to come pining through the woods to get our fortunes told by this geezer!

CLICK HERE TO READ PART V

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

When You Love, Love, Love

This song for the Tin Woodman, "When You Love, Love, Love," was one of the first songs written by L. Frank Baum and Paul Tietjens for The Wizard of Oz. The melody came effortlessly to Tietjens, who said it was written "in less than an hour."

The song was probably the most popular of the Baum and Tietjens numbers. It is the most common of the song sheets published by M. Witmark and Sons, and it was the only Baum/Tietjens song to be recorded as a stand-alone single, by Zonophone Records in 1903. You can listen to that recording on the Grammy Award-nominated 2-CD set Vintage Recordings from the 1903 Wizard of Oz.

In Baum's earliest version of the song it is a solo for the Tin Woodman and features a second verse that didn't make it into the produced show.

'Tis vain, indeed, to intercede
When love is onward rushing.
Though each gallant may rave and rant
And ev'ry maid be blushing.
Disaster might the world affright
Or earthquakes quite overthrow it, —
We all might go to Jericho
And not a lover know it!
There's little need to intercede
When love is onward rushing.
For each gallant will rave and rant
And maids be coyly blushing!

For the Chicago and all later performances the song became a trio. The Tin Woodman still sang the first verse and chorus, but Dorothy was given a new comically cynical verse to sing, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman joining in the chorus to finish the the song as a trio.

Vintage Broadway has published its own recording of "When You Love, Love, Love" on our YouTube channel. Please check it out.

The orchestration for the YouTube video shared above was created by James Patrick Doyle and David Maxine for their reconstruction of the score circa 1999-2000, before the original Witmark orchestra parts were discovered.

The Doyle/Maxine orchestration is in some ways closer to the performance version than the Witmark "stock" parts, as it includes the Tin Woodman's "Reuben and Cynthia" introduction to the song.

Cynthia, Cynthia, I've been thinking,
What an awful thing it was,
To be without a heart, but now
I'll get it from the Wizard of Oz!

"Reuben and Cynthia" was a hit song from the 1891 musical A Trip to Chinatown featuring music by Percy Gaunt and lyrics by Charles H. Hoyt.

The Tin Woodman's four line intro is a topical jest by Glen Macdonough, the popular musical theatre librettist brought in to punch up Baum's script. Macdonough's musical joke plays on several levels. The Tin Woodman's former fiancee is named Cynthia Cynch. So the Tin Woodman's little jingle instantly moves the plot forward as the audience learns that Nick Chopper (the Tin Woodman) is Cynthia's long-lost lover.

But "Reuben and Cynthia" is also one of a vast array of musical theatre references, jokes, and send-ups that Macdonough sprinkled throughout The Wizard of Oz. There is  a subtler inside-joke, too, in that A Trip to Chinatown, was directed by Julian Mitchell.

A Trip to Chinatown was one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history, and the song is still well remembered today—though few probably know that it is from a stage show.

You might like to listen to a full-length performance of "Reuben and Cynthia" from the wonderful album I Wants to Be a Actor Lady (1978).

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.

Opening Prayer - Part III

The following in an excerpt from my forthcoming book. Please note, this early draft does not reflect corrections, changes, and more recent discoveries. There may be substantial differences between the following text and that to be included in the final work.  —David Maxine

Chapter heading from the children's book.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART II

Scene 2 — "The Road Through the Forest."

Baum named this scene after chapter four in his children’s book. His literary allusion remained a permanent part of the show. The book-oriented color scheme continues with “prevalent blue tints over forest background. Practical mechanical bushes screening Tin Woodman near Center. Stump at right. Pavement of yellow brick to indicate road.”

Baum’s request for a “yellow brick road” floor covering seems odd since he has neglected to mention a yellow brick road anywhere in the dialogue. Laying down a new ground cloth (a large piece of thick canvas tacked to the floor) painted with yellow bricks would be a labor-intensive scene change. If Baum had made the yellow brick road a central feature of the script and the ground cloth was utilized in the Munchkin and Scarecrow scene, this “Road through the Forest” scene, and the following Poppy Field scene, it might have been a handsome and clever stage gimmick. But as written, Baum’s desire for extra scenery serves no purpose. A potential manager would see Baum’s request as costing a good number of bucks for very little bang.

Over the next three densely packed pages of single-spaced dialogue Dorothy meets and rescues the Tin Woodman. He tells of his love for a pretty Munchkin maiden, “who loved me so dearly . . . she would often come and hold the trees while I chopped them down, and then lower them gently to the ground.” These lines of dialogue (and many others) from Baum’s first draft of Act I made it into the final show, contrary to the aforementioned past scholarship, which would have one believe Julian Mitchell junked Baum’s first draft script altogether.

The Tin Woodman continues his tale. The Wicked Witch discovered the two lovers and enchanted his axe, which proceeded to chop him up.

TIN WOODMAN:

The tin-smith replaced the missing members with tin and I kept on chopping wood and saying nothing. The pretty maiden still loved me. I was bright enough to see that.

SCARECROW:

You are bright enough to live in Spotless Town.

Baum’s attempt at topical humor probably needs some explanation. Spotless Town was a fictitious village featured in an advertising campaign begun in March 1900 to advertise Sapolio soap. The always bright and shiny inhabitants of Spotless Town were presented via jingles and cartoons on advertising cards posted in trains. The Scarecrow (and Baum) thought the “bright” Tin Woodman would fit right in.

An advertising card for Sapolio soap featuring "Spotless Town." ca. 1901

TIN WOODMAN:

Yes, and that makes me reflect [. . .] the tinsmith had [. . .] failed to furnish me with a heart.

SCARECROW:

That probably came extra.

After more puns and topical references, the Tin Woodman sings “Oh, Love’s the Thing,” which also made it into the final production, retitled “When You Love, Love, Love.” 

Still another wordy conversation follows.

DOROTHY:

Perhaps Oz has an odd heart he could fix you up with? Are you particular about the size or quality of your heart or would you be satisfied with the common garden variety?

TIN WOODMAN:

Who is Oz, a butcher? [ . . . ] Where do we get a train for the Emerald City? That ought to be someplace near Green Bay.

(A LION roars off-stage.)

DOROTHY:

It sounds like some savage beast.

 The Woodman doubts it, suggesting they might simply be “near a bowling alley.”

The Cowardly Lion enters, knocking the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman to the ground. Dorothy slaps it on the nose. “Lie down, Fido! How dare you try to bite a poor little girl like me?” The lion shakes its head in negation. “You are nothing but a great big coward!” The Lion nods his head in admission, shrinks, and covers his eyes with his paws. The lion has hurt his teeth from biting the Tin Woodman and keeps poking at his mouth.

DOROTHY:

Now, then ain’t you ashamed of yourself for attacking two helpless men like these? And ain’t you ashamed of being a coward? A great, big, bold looking lion like you, supposed to be king of the beasts, admitting that he is a coward! The idea is preposterous.

(The LION weeps.)

SCARECROW:

It’s worse than that. It’s positively hydraulic!

TIN WOODMAN:

Let’s take Nero with us to the Emerald City. Maybe Oz can give him some courage while he is dishing out brains for Weary Willie here and measuring me for a heart and getting you a pass to Topeka.

(The LION nods his head vigorously.)

DOROTHY:
[. . .] Of course we'll take him with us—(to the Lion)—if you'll come. Will you come with us to the Emerald City and ask the great Wizard, Oz, to give you some courage?

(LION nods his head vigorously)

This scene where they meet the Cowardly Lion is the best written scene in the entire script. In dealing with the mute lion, Baum was forced to write non-verbal stage directions for the lion.  This combination of dialogue and action brings the scene to life, like no other scene in Baum’s script.

TIN WOODMAN:

When we get to town I can do my great act in the lion’s den. It’s a cinch with this boy because he’s afraid to open his mouth and he’d only dent me if he did pick me out for a short order.

This may well be the origin of all the circus-oriented shenanigans in the final version of the show. Note that Dorothy called the lion “Fido,” and the Tin Woodman called him “Nero.” In the produced show he gets a similar name, “Bruno.”

Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman sing and dance “The Merry Go Round.” The lion assists, but only in the dancing. There are no lyrics for this song in the first draft script.

Baum provides no mention of a “Curtain” or any other method of transitioning into the next scene, beyond an inked suggestion that the “Road Through the Forest” scene be presented “in 1 or 2,” theatrical terminology meaning the set would be shallow, enabling the stagehands to set up the scenery for the next scene, behind a curtain or drop, while this one was being played.

Names of scenes from the 1901 script. Inked notes in Baum's hand.

Scene 3 — The Deadly Poppy Field.

Chapter heading from the children's book.

Baum's name for this scene in the first draft script is also taken directly from a chapter title in the children's book—though it is shortened to just "The Poppy Field" in the produced show.

The scene is a “background of brilliant red flowers, showing an extensive poppy field. Female chorus, dressed in stem-green tights, with broad red poppy leaves projecting from their shoulders—leaving their heads visible, with golden stamens in their hair—are grouped to form a continuation of the poppy field, the red leaves from their shoulders nearly touching one another, and almost concealing their bodies when grouped.” The female chorus, sopranos and altos, sing:

Here’s a poppy!

There’s a poppy!

Poppies, poppies, everywhere!

Bright and blooming,

Each assuming

Gorgeousness and splendor rare!

If you tarry,

All unwary

Of our soporific powers,

We’ll detain you—

And enchain you—

So beware the poppy flowers!

The song continues for three more verses. This is a different version of the Poppy Chorus than the one used in the produced show. The music for this first version is not known to survive.

Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion enter.

DOROTHY:

Oh, what lovely flowers! Aren’t they beautiful?

SCARECROW:

Buckwheat has always been my favorite flour. Still I might learn to like these.

(The Scarecrow proceeds to pinch the cheeks of the poppy girls.)

TIN WOODMAN:

It’s a good thing I haven’t been fixed out with that heart or I would stop right here.

During these remarks the Lion has been settling down to sleep, followed by Dorothy. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman decide to carry Dorothy to safety, away from the sleep-inducing poppies, but they have no idea how to rescue the Lion, who is too large and heavy to carry. Suddenly the Queen of the Field Mice enters.

Baum’s attempt to preserve the field mice from the book as the means of rescue from the poppy field is engaging. Unfortunately, Baum failed to elaborate on how the mice might be staged. He must have had some vision for this scene. Probably the Mouse Queen and her subjects would have been portrayed by actors in costume much as the mice (or rats) are in traditional productions of The Nutcracker.

In any case, the Queen of the Field Mice announces she will save the Cowardly Lion. “Once this lion saved my life and now I can return the favor.” The Tin Woodman inquires how she could ever move the Lion. “I have my army to assist me,” the Mouse Queen replies. The Scarecrow promptly responds: “That’s different, Mrs. Booth. Take the witness.” Baum’s now-obscure joke makes reference to Catherine Booth (1829-1890), co-founder of the Salvation Army. The Lion might just get saved in more ways than one.

While the Mouse Queen exits to summon her army and chariot, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman carry Dorothy to safety. The Poppies sing part two of their song:

Breath our fragrance, guileless stranger—

Breathe our fragrance, sweet and cloying!

Never heed the meed of danger

While our lan’grous scent enjoying.

We are brilliant, gay, enticing,

Gorgeous colorings displaying;

Ev’ry breath of air we’re spicing

While beside us you’re delaying!

Soon will sleep,—deep sleep

O’er your senses creep,

And our perfumed breath

Lead to death—grim death!

If you falter by the way,

If your laggard foot-steps stray

Through the brilliant poppy field

Unto sleep and death you’ll yield.

And people thought Tietjens’s music could get too heavy.

But “heeding the meed of danger,” the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman return to the Poppy Field without Dorothy, who is now safe.

The Queen of the Field Mice enters. “Ah, here comes my army to save the Cowardly Lion!”

The army of Field Mice draw a chariot on stage. "The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman roll the lion upon the chariot, and they push behind while the chariot is swiftly drawn off by the Mice, the Queen following."

The Poppy Chorus sings and dances:

Here’s a poppy!

There’s a poppy!

Poppies, poppies, everywhere!

Bright and blooming,

Each assuming

Gorgeousness and splendor rare!

The Poppy girls sing and and dance two more verses and the curtain falls on Baum's lackluster finale to Act I.

The end of the first act should have been a showstopper, not a gaggle of chorus girls singing a quick reprise, while all the stars of the show are back in their dressing rooms. Can Baum's sense of theatre and spectacle be so provincial that he thinks this finale acceptable? Baum has Dorothy, the female lead, carried off-stage unconscious, not to be seen again until Act II. One can only imagine what the actress playing Dorothy would think of such an exit. Then the two male principals push the Lion into the wings, and they too are gone, the stage devoid of star performers. The audience (and any managers) will be looking for spectacle and excitement—a rousing number, a beautiful tableau, a chance to see the stars shine! Baum's poppy scene finale bodes well for putting the audience to sleep, too.

Now Baum does something unfathomable. He cuts the Cowardly Lion from the rest of the show. Gone. Absent. No explanation. Perhaps he went off with the Field Mice? Maybe he joined the Salvation Army?

Jokes aside, Baum’s dismissal of the Cowardly Lion reveals serious problems with his libretto. Not only is it sloppy, Baum offering no explanation for the absence of the Lion in Acts II and III—but it robs the show of color and texture. The non-verbal Cowardly Lion brought visual comedy to the show, an element almost wholly lacking in Baum’s pun-driven script.

Why would Baum cut the Cowardly Lion? Could he not see that his melding of action and word in the scene where they meet the lion brought the script to life? Alas, Baum seems uninterested in writing stage action, and that is a fatal flaw in this attempt to dramatize The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum seems to be approaching the script from a purely “verbal” standpoint, that a playwright only writes dialogue, and lots of it. Baum certainly has the ability to bring his writing to life—his narrative fiction is rich in description, action, and characterization. But he has shown no real interest in advancing the plot of his script via stage action, the libretto instead weighed down with “stand and deliver” dialogue—pun-filled and over-long.

On to the Emerald City. Sadly, without the Cowardly Lion.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART IV

Copyright © 2019 David Maxine. All rights reserved.