The fantasy musical “The Wizard of Oz” was released in 1939, and
went on to become one of the most beloved movies of all time. Last year’s
Academy Awards ceremony even featured a well deserved tribute to the MGM
classic. Of course, the film has been celebrated by many celebs in other ways
over the years.
In
2013, the big screen flick “Oz the Great and Powerful” featured a star studded
cast in a prequel to the 1939 film. James Franco starred as the great and powerful title character, while Mila
Kunis and Rachel Weisz played the evil sister witches. Michelle Williams was cast as Glinda the Good Witch of the North.
Although Franco played the
mighty Oz in the film, he told MSN Entertainment he relates more to another character from
the classic story: “I'd probably be the Scarecrow,” he said. “You know, I left
school when I was 18 or 19 … I always
wanted the brains, so I went back.”
In 1978, Motown
followed the yellow brick road -- to the
big screen. The musical adventure movie “The Wiz” was based on the hit Broadway
show, and it starred Diana
Ross as Dorothy. But this Dorothy definitely wasn’t
in Kansas anymore. Instead she hailed from Harlem, although she did befriend a
familiar cast of characters: A scarecrow (played by Michael
Jackson), a
Tin Man (Nipsey Russell) and a Cowardly Lion (that’d be actor Ted Ross.) Richard
Pryor portrayed the Wizard in the modern day version of the tale.
In an interview on “Soul Train,” Jackson said when he frist
saw the Judy Garland version of the movie, he especially loved the
Scarecrow: “Most kids do, because you
feel sorry for him and everything,” Jackson said. He described his hipper and
funkier Scarecrow as, “More razzmatazz.”
Tony Award winning
star Kristin Chenoweth played Glinda the Good Witch in a Broadway’s “Wicked” back in
2003. The hit show told “the untold story of the witches of Oz.” In an interview
with Theatermania, Chenoweth
talked about her complex character: “Glinda is not all that people think she
is,” she said. “She's beautiful and popular on the surface but she's very
insecure, which is something that she has in common with the green one, Elphaba … What I love playing is that, like so many
people we know, Glinda is very complicated. She has issues!”
In 2010, the long
running game show “The Price Is Right” featured a Wizard of Oz themed Halloween
episode. Host Drew Carey was dressed as the Cowardly Lion, while announcer Jeff Davis
was the Scarecrow. During the fun themed show, Carey even got in a dig at Davis, saying,
"Oh, if he only had a brain!”
You can see a clip from “The Price is Right” Oz-themed show here:
And in 2011, “The Talk” team took on Oz. The set of
the daytime chat fest was transformed into Emerald City, while the entire cast
took on Oz alter egos. Sara Gilbert dressed as Dorothy, and Julie Chen became
the Tin Man. Aisha Tyler played Scarecrow, while Sharon Osbourne made a glam Glinda. Cowardly Lion Sheryl Underwood was forced to
face one of her biggest fears when she did a segment with an animal expert who
brought in black rat snakes, cockroaches, a vulture, a great-horned owl,
opossums and one of the world’s largest species of scorpion. That
sounds even more terrifying than flying monkeys!
No comments:
Post a Comment