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Providence Opera House…“The Wizard of Oz” a Musical Extravaganza.
Providence, Rhode Island, [January 1904]. Broadside, 21.75” x 5.5”. Pencil inscription at the top identifies “1904” as the year this production took place. CONDITION: Very good, toned, .5” loss along upper-right margin, light scuffing. An apparently unrecorded broadside for a run of performances of The Wizard of Oz at the Providence Opera House, produced four years after the publication of the book and two years after the first Wizard of Oz stage adaptation in New York. Fred R. Hamlin’s “princely production” of The Wizard of Oz played three nights beginning on January 7th, 1904 with music by Paul Tietjens and A. B. Sloane as well as stage production by Julian Mitchell. Comprising three acts, the production begins with Act I, Scene 1, “A Kansas Farm,” with “Dorothy Gale, a Kansas girl, the victim of a cyclone.” The production’s many colorful characters are listed by order of appearance and include Cynthia Cynch, “the lady lunatic, a Munchkin maiden”; the Cowardly Lion; the Witch of the North, “a friend in need”; Pastoria II, “ex-king of the Emerald City, with a conspiracy to regain his throne”; the Scarecrow, “looking for brains”; Sir Wiley Gyle, “a conspirator who scorns all magical arts,” and Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, Past Master of Magic, “ruler of the Emerald City and Potentate of the Land of Oz.” Act I is rounded out with Scene 3, “The Road through the Forest,” Scene 4, “The Poppy Field,” and Scene 5, “(Transformation.) The Poppy Field in Winter.” Act II consists entirely of one scene, “The Courtyard of the Wizard’s Palace,” in which Oz is first encountered, and Act III comprises the single scene, “The Borderland, Dividing the Kingdom of Oz from the Dominions of the Good Witch.” The production embraced twenty musical numbers, including “Alas for the Man without Brains,” “When you Love, Love, Love,” “Nicolo’s Piccolo,” “The Traveler and the Pie,” and “Medly—Ball of All Nations.” A note at the end touches on costume design: The Fancy Costumes designed by Mrs. Edward Siedle, and the Character Costumes by W. W. Denslow (illustrator of the book), were executed by Mrs. E. Castel-Bert, Silver costumes for Finale to Act II by Van Horn & Son. Poppy Hats by Charle Joseph. Tights and stockings by the Brooklyn Knitting Co. Wigs by Wm. Hepner & Co. Shoes by Cammeyer and Aiston… No copies recorded in OCLC, nor do Google searches yield any examples. Rare documentation of an early production of The Wizard of Oz.
Item #9323
Price: $750.00
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