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CTC Family Guide 
Amber Waves 
A detailed description of the play, including things to do and think about, for parents to share with their families.
Return to The Wizard of Oz
A Synopsis of the Story
If you can sing along with the movie you will love the play. As you remember, Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are tormented by Miss Almira Gulch, but Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are too busy to listen. When Miss Gulch takes Toto away the whole family is heart-sore. Still there's work to be done, and a storm brewing. Toto escapes, and Dorothy does too.
Leaving home, Dorothy meets Professor Marvel who convinces her to run right back home. But a tornado hits, and she is too late to make it into the storm cellar. The cyclone carries her far away - to Oz. She is greeted by Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Dorothy's house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East! Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West vows to get Dorothy and her little dog, too! It's urgent Dorothy get home as soon as possible, so off she goes down the yellow brick road to see the Wizard of Oz.
It isn't long before she meets a Scarecrow. He wants a brain, so he decides to go with her to see the Wizard. The two discover a rusty Tinman. They oil him and hear his story of lost love. He wants a heart again, and joins Dorothy and the Scarecrow on their journey. Soon, the three meet a Lion, but when he chases Toto, and Dorothy smacks him on the nose, he breaks down in tears. He needs courage, so off they go.
When the Emerald City is just over the hill, the Wicked Witch works a sleeping spell in a field of poppies where Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion fall asleep. The Scarecrow and the Tinman call on Glinda for help, who blankets the poppies with snow, freeing the friends.
Inside the city the Wizard gives them an impossible assignment - to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. The friends set their course due west toward the land of the Winkies (did you know that is what they are called?!). As they travel, the Wicked Witch sends flying monkeys to capture Dorothy and Toto. The monkeys tear Scarecrow apart, take Dorothy and Toto, and leave the Tinman and the Lion to pick up the pieces.
While Dorothy is trapped in the Witch's castle, her friends devise a rescue plan. They dress as Winkie soldiers and follow Toto into the castle, finding Dorothy just before the Witch finds them. When the Witch dips her broom in fire and approaches the Scarecrow, Dorothy tosses a pail of water on the Witch and, amazingly, utterly destroys her.
Back in the Emerald City, the friends finally get what they've wanted, although not the way they expected. The Wizard attempts to take Dorothy back to Kansas in his grand hot air balloon, but it goes wrong and she has to get home of her own accord. Back home everyone looks wonderfully familiar, precious and more dear than ever. For Dorothy, there's no place like home.
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The Wizard of Oz is based on the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, first published in 1900. The MGM movie came out in 1939. It was not the box office hit we might imagine when it was first released. In fact, MGM sold the movie to CBS in the mid-40's in order to regain some lost revenue. Television was so new at that time, and programming so sparse, that the movie was aired over and over again. That is why so many of us know, and love, the movie. |
| IDEAS AND IMAGININGS |
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Dorothy's dream of Oz is created out of experiences she has had, and people she has known. If it was you dreaming of Oz, it would be entirely different.
 The scarecrow - a common object in Dorothy's world - suddenly comes alive and talks to her. He even becomes her friend. Imagine what object in your world might come alive and be your friend? What would that "thing" need from the Wizard of Oz?
Dorothy has ruby slippers with powerful properties. What piece of clothing do you have that might keep you safe and/or help you travel?
Imagine what would change if the Tinman was made of Titanium?
Would you make the city in your dream Emerald? What precious stone would you choose instead? Why? What would the city look like?
When L. Frank Baum was telling the story of Dorothy to a group of children, one of them asked the name of the wonderful land. The story goes that Baum looked around the room, and his eye fell on a file cabinet drawer labeled O - Z. Oz it became and Oz it has remained. Look around the room for the name of your magical land.
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| THE WIZARD OF OZ: AN AMERICAN FAIRY TALE |
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It is a rare person in this time, in this country, who has seen The Wizard of Oz only once, and rarer still if that person has no intention of ever seeing it again. L. Frank Baum was often asked why his story, originally published in 1900, was so popular. He often referred to it as "a modernized fairy tale."
The story has also been called the first American fairy tale. In 1929 a critic wrote that Baum's Oz works were especially important because they “convey a uniquely American concept of Utopia." Think of it. When the book was published in 1900 most Americans had never been in the sky. Only a few had floated briefly in a hot air balloon - to look down on their own farm or town. They had no televisions, no radios, no movie theatres. "Far away" was anything beyond the next town over. Paris was a picture on a postcard, and to smell perfume brought all the way from France was a wonder. Understanding was growing in leaps and bounds - in science, technology, commerce, transportation, and communication. America was still in almost every way, a land of explorers.
In this way Dorothy is most definitely American. She and her companions are self-reliant and unabashed. They are confident (even the Lion moves forward), boldly going arm-in-arm into uncharted land. Dorothy and the Scarecrow are links between the connected-with-the-earth, farm based world we see in the beginning of the story, and the man-made, technological, urban experience of the Emerald City. The Lion is from a wild natural world. In contrast, the Tin Man is created by craftsmanship and mechanical skill. He was once human but was replaced piece by piece by a tinsmith. The age-old power of nature, in the form of a cyclone, takes Dorothy to a place where magic is enhanced, and even replaced, by technology and special effects. The wizard himself relies on technology rather than magic for his stupendous effects.
Dorothy and each of her companions find what they need within themselves, a supremely American philosophy. They become allies and gather around a cause, and together they affect the world. Their lessons are compassion, humility, bravery and the deep belief that true progress is both internal and external. The world is a wondrous place in which actions have consequences. We may see marvelous things, meet amazing people, seek justice and destroy evil, as do Dorothy and her friends. However, home is what we carry within us.
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