SHOW
SYNOPSIS
Set in 1912 at Ozcot, the Baum family residence in Hollywood, California – OZ: A New Musical is a fantasia, inspired by the life and work of celebrated children’s author, L. Frank Baum. The story finds Frank, his wife Maud, and the youngest of their four adult sons, Ken, having recently relocated from Chicago to what was then a small farming town of citrus groves.
ACT 1
It’s been two years since L. Frank Baum announced that he would be moving on to new projects, removed from the Oz book series that made him a household name. That decision has led to some financial strain in the Baum household. At his desk, Frank opens mail from his concerned publishers and adoring Oz fans. As Frank slips off into a daydream, Maud explains that he’s thinking about a grand world tour they took six years ago.
The scene shifts to 1906. We are with the Baums on a luxury steamship setting sail across the Atlantic. Fresh from the success of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz and it’s sequel, the Baums tour Egypt, Italy, and France – witnessing remarkable places which they’ve only dreamed or read about. As they each consider the immensity of history, Frank is particularly bemused by the various feats dead kings and artists have attempted in order to leave a mark upon the world. An inspired Frank meets Mr. Smith, an enigmatic painter on the banks of the Seine. The man’s haunting presence seers itself into his memory. Yet his thoughts keep wandering back to Dorothy, who is eager to return to Oz (IN OTHER LANDS THAN OURS).
Snapping out of his memory, we are back in 1912. Frank and Maud read and reply to a handful of the multitude of letters he receives from fans around the world, especially wanting to coax him into writing another Oz book (MR. BAUM).
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David Foley, Jr as L. Frank Baum.
photo by Thee Photo Ninja
Elizabeth Meckler, Melissa Minyard,
and David Foley, Jr.
photo by Thee Photo Ninja
Having recently declared bankruptcy, Frank is feeling pressured by the need for a new, lucrative book release. After some tense words regarding money, Frank leaves Maud and Kenneth in the house, escaping to his beloved garden retreat. Maud shares some insight into the many joys and complexities of being married to Frank. She recalls their courtship, and we learn about their contrasting and complimentary talents and responsibilities. The discipline and steady order she creates allow Frank to slip into the realm of fantasy and tell the stories that have been their financial bread and butter for years now (HE TELLS STORIES).
We learn that Maud’s mother, Matilda Joslyn Gage (the respected writer and women’s suffrage leader) didn’t approve of the relationship at first, due largely to Maud giving up her prestigious spot at Cornell to marry Frank, then an actor and playwright. Later she became a major champion of Frank’s dream to become a children’s author, though she would not live to see the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. Maud recounts how in 1899 Frank collaborated with illustrator W. W. Denslow to create and publish The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Although their work together was a huge success on the page – and later in a successful 1903 Broadway adaptation – their partnership was far from harmonious. The Broadway adaptation brings him money but bears little resemblance to his story (ON THE SAME PAGE).
By 1909, having published five Oz books, Frank is eager to find a more mature and sophisticated audience. However, Frank’s fans – whom he affectionally calls “loving tyrants” – will have no such thing. They demand more tales from the Land of Oz. He paints in the details of the many professional lives that led him to worldwide stardom as a children’s author in his early middle age (WONDERFUL).
We are given a glimpse into the moment in 1910 when, with renewed determination Frank resolved that The Emerald City Of Oz would be the sixth and final Oz book. Dorothy, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Em will move to Oz and the connection between our world and theirs will be closed for good, freeing him to pen what he believes will be his true legacy, a “serious” American novel (IN OTHER LANDS THAN OURS – REPRISE).
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Melissa Minyard
and Roxanne Fay
photo by
Thee Photo Ninja
ACT 2​​
David Foley, Jr. as L. Frank Baum photo by Thee Photo Ninja
Letters pour in from Frank’s adoring readers, dismayed by Frank’s announcement that there will be no more Oz books (ENTR’ACTE/MR. BAUM 2).
Kenneth finds an old box of toys from their recent move and finds his older brother Rob’s toy telegraph machine. As he and his father play with the telegraph, Frank asks Ken about the young lady he’s taken a fancy to. Frank is delighted to learn the young woman’s name is Dorothy.
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In his study, Frank puts himself to work on the new novel. Struggling with a major case of writer’s block, Frank becomes distracted by a murder of crows invading his garden. Outside, after shooing them away, he remains in the garden, hoping for some inspiration. Focus once again eludes him as he is visited by an old friend, the Scarecrow, who drops Matilda’s magnum opus in front of Frank with a thud. His current paralysis to write is further cemented in the face of such a daunting and serious work (NOT THERE – BRAIN).
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As a thunderstorm moves in, Frank runs inside with Matilda’s book. Suddenly, the toy telegraph that Kenneth left behind begins to tap out a message on its own. Frank detaches it from the battery, but it urgently continues to buzz out its message. Frank decodes the dots and dashes which instruct him to open Matilda’s book and ring a bell. The incantation complete, Matilda materializes in a puff of smoke, announcing that she has returned from the spirit realm for just as long as it takes to get him back on the right path with his latest literary endeavor.
Maud and Kenneth in turn discover Frank in conversation with the bewildering spirit of Maud’s long-dead mother, Matilda. After one of her no-nonsense pep talks, it’s “nose to the grindstone” for Frank as she marches him up to his study to write. In confidence, she discloses to Maud and Kenneth the true intention of her visit: to get Frank to write another Oz book. With Dorothy of Kansas on her right hand, she enlists the help of her daughter and grandson to carry out her plan (BELIEVE IT, OR NOT).
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David Foley, Jr. and Drew H. Wells
photo by Dalton Hamilton
Drew H. Wells, Roxanne Fay,
Elizabeth Meckler, and Melissa Minyard
photos by Thee Photo Ninja
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Days later, alone together in the garden, Maud and Matilda savor this unexpected opportunity to say many of the things that went unspoken between them during Matilda’s life. With their shared perspective as mothers, they revel in the passage of one generation to the next. Maud finds solace as Matilda dispels any worry that she harbored disappointment in Maud’s choice to leave Cornell. She knew the moment her daughter threatened to elope with Frank that this was what Maud truly wanted (MOTHER, SISTER, FRIEND). Meanwhile, fan mail from his “loving tyrants” continues to pour in, pleading for a return to adventures in Oz (MR. BAUM 3).
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David Foley, Jr. with Full Cast​
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Frank and Maud set the table for family dinner and discuss the news of the day. They are about to meet Ken’s new girlfriend, Dorothy (Dot). Ken arrives heartbroken. Dot isn’t feeling well and has canceled her plans to join the Baums for dinner. He worries that she may not feel as strongly for him as he does for her. When he asks to eat dinner alone in his room, it reminds them all of once when he was banished to his room without supper, punishment for some now-forgotten offense. Racked with guilt, Frank later smuggled a plate of food up to him, finding him clutching a favorite toy – a rag doll named “Eddie Riley.” Maud, ever attuned to the inner lives of her children, tries to boost his spirits (MOTHER, SISTER, FRIEND – REPRISE). Left alone, his heartache recalls that of the Tin Woodman (NOT THERE – HEART).
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Melissa Minyard and Roxanne Fay photo by Thee Photo Ninja
Drew H. Wells as Mr. Smith photo by Thee Photo Ninja
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Deep into the night Frank is visited by Mr. Smith, the painter he met in Paris, or is he now the character the painter inspired in Frank’s third Oz book? Frank can no longer really recall where one begins and the other ends. As compatriot artists they share a deep desire to “create something that really matters,” but what does that really mean? We learn more details of Mr. Tinker, Smith’s long-lost friend and business partner in the inventing firm of Smith and Tinker. He was last seen climbing his greatest invention – a ladder to the moon. As Frank gazes at the stars, Mr. Smith drifts away, leaving Frank in the attempt to manifest some of the courage of his Cowardly Lion. Elsewhere, a timid young reader is convinced that if only he could get to Oz, he too might share in some courage of his own (NOT THERE – COURAGE/MR. BAUM 4).
Frank dozes off in his chair, a letter from his publisher still in his hand. His dreams are of Miss Cuttenclip, a troubling character from his most recent – and purportedly final – Oz book. Glinda has given her magic paper to make her creations come to life. She has crafted an entire village of paper dolls which she rules as a tiny dictator. Echoing his “loving tyrants,” she enlists Frank to “write me a book.” Now a nightmare, his dream becomes a grotesque of the successful writer trapped in a never-ending loop of expectation (MISS CUTTENCLIP).
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Startled awake, Frank decides to give up on the “grown-up book,” since he “can’t seem to make the characters do as they’re told.” Maud reminds him that once he breaks through these obstacles, he usually confesses he “should’ve just let the characters do what they wanted in the first place.” Faced with this wisdom, Frank finds himself before the throne of his famous Wizard, a floating green head looming as perhaps his greatest fear – is he, like the Wizard, nothing but a humbug imposter (MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN)?
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A moment of inspiration: the telegraph! Dorothy can use just such a device to once again communicate with the outside world. With this technology, she can share more stories from Oz with Frank and his eager readers. More inspiration: Ken’s rag doll! A bold and controversial new character for his next book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Frank realizes that the “grown-up” book he’s been struggling to write was an Oz book all along. With Matilda’s mission complete, she bids a fond farewell to her beloved family and returns to the “great beyond” (BELIEVE IT, OR NOT – REPRISE).
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Elizabeth Meckler as Miss Cuttenclip
photo by Thee Photo Ninja
David Foley, Jr.
photo by Dalton Hamilton
Elizabeth Meckler and David Foley, Jr. photo by Michael Raabe
Fully embracing his role as “The Royal Historian of Oz,” Frank finds a new understanding of his greatest creation – the Land of Oz, as well as his place in the pantheon of children’s authors. He will go on to write another seven Oz books, until his death in 1919. His vision of a fantastical world, just a heartbeat from our own, would endure. “If I am to do any good in this world, my highest ambition will be to make children happy.” Bidding a final farewell to Maud – his dear “comrade and friend” – Frank is ushered by a gingham-clad Dorothy across the “shifting sands” to (A PLACE CALLED OZ).