This is the third in a multi-part series inspired by the hit movie musical Wicked–Part 1. The series will explore musical theater, fairy tales, and fantasy in general.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 84 of Contemplating Life. This is the last in a multipart series inspired by the hit movie musical “Wicked”. In this series, we’ll explore my relationship with musical theater, fairy tales, and fantasy in general.

In our last episode, we discussed my fascination with the made-for-TV musical Cinderella. Around that time, I immensely enjoyed one other musical TV special. Sometime in the early 1960s, possibly more than once, I also enjoyed the TV production of the 1954 musical Peter Pan, based on JM Barry’s 1904 play and his 1911 novelization “Peter and Wendy.”

NBC aired versions of it in 1955 and 1956, but I would’ve been too young to recall those. There was another 1960 version, which was videotaped in color. It was rebroadcast in 1963, 1966, and 1973. My guess is the ‘63 rebroadcast was the first I saw it, But I might have seen it in 1960. I also distinctly remember watching it in color, but I don’t think we had color TV by ‘66, so it might have been the ‘73 broadcast. NBC also aired a restored version of the videotape in 1989 and 1991, and from there, it was moved to Disney Channel, where it was shown several times.

A version of the musical starring former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby eventually made it to television, and I caught a performance of it. It brought back many nostalgic memories of the original.

NBC also produced a new production in 2014 starring Allison Williams as Peter and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook.

[Allison Williams sings an excerpt from “Never, Never Land.”]

I looked forward to that with great anticipation, but I was a bit disappointed that Walken suppressed his usual strange vocal cadence and played the role much more straight than I would’ve liked.

The original Broadway and TV production featured Mary Martin as Peter Pan. I never understood why a woman has so often played the role of Peter. If the musical were produced today, I’m sure the anti-woke forces would condemn it for having a woman play a male character. Peter is the leader of a group known as the “Lost Boys,” yet he is not portrayed by a boy in these musical productions. There’s nothing significant about the flying sequence stunts that would make a woman more appropriate for the role.

I also thought the plot was a bit kinky in that the lost boys practically kidnapped Wendy to become their mother.

Anyway, I could go on and on about various versions of the story, including the 1991 Steven Spielberg film “Hook,” which features Robin Williams as an adult Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook. However, as much as I enjoyed the various adaptations of the 1957 musical on TV, I didn’t connect with the story as I did with Cinderella.

One final point: while researching this, I discovered a 1950 musical based on Peter Pan, with music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein. The original production only featured a half-dozen songs, but researchers have uncovered that Bernstein wrote much more music than was used. There have been several subsequent productions that include the restored Bernstein score. I will be looking for a way to see that version or at least hear the soundtrack, which I believe is available.

Finally, let’s talk about the musical that is the focus of this episode, the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” It is based on the children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” originally published in 1900 by L. Frank Baum.

The film was nominated for Best Picture Oscar but lost to “Gone With the Wind.” It was also nominated for Art Direction and Special Effects. It won for Musical Score and Best Song for “Over the Rainbow.” I think much of my nostalgic appreciation of the film is tied to that song. The original Judy Garland version is magnificent, and I’ve never heard a bad cover version.

[Judy Garland sings an excerpt from “Over the Rainbow.”]

My favorite cover version, however, is undoubtedly a soulful reinterpretation by the late folksinger Eva Cassidy.

[Eva Cassidy sings an excerpt from “Over the Rainbow.”]

Check out the YouTube video of the Eva Cassidy version linked in the description. Unfortunately, she died of melanoma in 1996.

Another amazing popular version was created by native Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

[Israel Kamakawiwo’ole sings an excerpt.]

He significantly adapted the lyrics and melody and combined them with the Louis Armstrong hit “What a Wonderful World.” Sadly, he died of complications from obesity in June 1997 at age 38 before his recording became a hit.

I’m also extremely fond of the version Katharine McPhee performed in the final round of American Idol Season 5.

[Katharine McPhee sings an excerpt.]

I think that performance made me a permanent fan of the Show.

On November 3, 1956, the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was the first feature-length film to air uncut on prime-time coast-to-coast television. This was partially in response to the popularity of Peter Pan, which NBC first aired in 1955.

CBS paid $225,000 per showing for the rights to the movie, which is over $2.6 million in today’s money. The film runs for 101 minutes, so even with adding commercial breaks, CBS needed to fill more time for a two-hour time slot. The network hired a host to introduce the program and briefly comment before and after each commercial break. Bert Lahr, who played the cowardly lion in the film, hosted the initial broadcast.

It was shown again by CBS in 1959 and then annually thereafter until 1991 when it was shown twice. It was not shown in 1992 but shown twice in 1993. The program moved back and forth between CBS and NBC several times throughout these years. See the linked Wikipedia article for details of the various showings of the film on TV, including its move to cable in 1999.

I recall being at my grandma Osterman’s house, and my family was having an excited conversation about an upcoming showing of the film on TV. My grandmother said, “Dick Van Dyke is going to be the MC.”

“What’s an MC,” I inquired.”

My family informed me it was an abbreviation for “Master of Ceremonies.” I still had no idea what they were talking about. I seem to recall that I must have had some familiarity with the film because I didn’t remember a character called “MC.” Still, I think that airing with Dick Van Dyke as the host/MC/whatever you want to call it was probably the first time I saw the film. According to Wikipedia, he was the host in 1961 and 1962, which would’ve made me 6 or 7 years old, respectively.

Not only was I enchanted by the song “Over the Rainbow,” I also had great fondness for all the other musical numbers, including the three versions of “If I only had a… (Whatever… a brain, heart, or the nerve).”

I can’t guarantee that I saw the film every year after that initial viewing, but I’m confident I saw it many, many times. I recently discussed the movie with my sister Carol, who is eight years younger than me. She, too, has many fond memories of watching it year after year.

At a young age, it didn’t bother me that the wizard was a fake. I think Frank Morgan’s portrayal of him as an absent-minded professor was so endearing that you wouldn’t mind that he was actually a con man. It wasn’t until years later, when the phrase, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” became such a euphemism for someone who was engaged in a cover-up, that I began to see the wizard in a negative light.

I was always a bit disappointed that Dorothy woke up only to discover that it was all just a dream and that her world had reverted to the mundane sepia-tone life she had lived rather than the Technicolor adventure she had experienced. Sure, it was nice that she now had a deep appreciation for what it meant to be home, but it meant that all her fantastic experiences were simply figments of her imagination. She was just dreaming about that place over the rainbow and never got to experience the adventures of the larger world beyond her simple Kansas farm life.

It wasn’t until years later that I learned that L. Frank Baum wrote several other books about Oz, including return trips Dorothy made. Eventually, she and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em became permanent residents. That would’ve reinforced the idea that Oz was a real place. I think I would have liked that.

Considering Hollywood’s obsession with franchises and sequels, I never understood why the remaining 13 books were never adapted for film. It wasn’t until I researched this episode that I discovered the 1985 film “Return to Oz,” based on two later L. Frank Baum novels. It must not have been very successful if I never heard of it.

I did see Sam Raimi’s 2013 film “Oz the Great and Powerful “ and enjoyed it in 3D. Yet, I must confess I don’t remember much of anything about the plot.

I never saw the 2005 made-for-TV film “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz,” although I thought it was strange that they would make such a movie because the original 1979 “The Muppet Movie” was a thinly disguised version of “The Wizard of Oz.” Songwriters Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams discussed the need to write a song that would be a stand-in for “Over the Rainbow.” They rejected several approaches because none of them had “the rainbow connection.” That produced a “Eureka” moment, and they wrote the song for Kermit titled “The Rainbow Connection.” About halfway through the movie, I realized that the story was an homage to the original “Wizard of Oz.” I think the pointy hat on Gonzo that made him look like the Tin Man was a giveaway. I also figured out the connection between “The Rainbow Connection” and “Over the Rainbow” before I heard Paul Williams explain the song’s origins on a talk show soon after its release.

It just occurred to me that there are many similarities between “Over the Rainbow” and “In My Own Little Chair” from Cinderella. Both are sung by young women stuck in a mundane existence and dreaming of exciting adventures in a faraway place. What is it about these songs that is so appealing to me? I don’t know. As Kermit explained in his version of the song, “Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.”

It’s tough to put into words what that original 1939 version means to be. I don’t have a personal connection to it the way I connected to Cinderella sitting in her own little corner in her own little chair. Still, nevertheless, I was thoroughly enchanted by the film when I first saw it in the early 1960s and on every subsequent viewing since then. As previously reported, it is in my top 10 list of favorite musicals of all time.

I had heard of the Broadway music “Wicked” years ago and didn’t think much about it. I thought it was an attempt to rip off or capitalize on the popularity of the original story. A few years ago, I saw the 2014 film “Maleficent” and the 2019 sequel “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” These stories attempted to explain away the evil of the wicked queen from the classic Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. It seemed that “Wicked” was just another attempt to make excuses for an evil character. I was unaware that the musical “Wicked” was first produced in 2003 and was a loose adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” both of which predate “Maleficent.”

I knew about the popularity of the Broadway musical, although I hadn’t heard any of the songs. I also knew the film would be highly popular, but I wasn’t particularly anxious to rush to the theater. I was also a bit wary when I heard that “Wicked—Part 1” would be released on Thanksgiving 2024. I wasn’t sure I wanted to waste my time on half a movie. Maybe I’d wait until Part 2 was available.

When it finally became available as a digital download, I decided to take a leap and get a copy. I watched it with my sister Carol in 2 sessions as the film runs two hours and 40 minutes. I was totally blown away by the entire experience, as was Carol.

In my next episode, I will review the film as part of the opening of my annual review of the 10 Oscar-nominated Best Pictures.

We interrupt this podcast for a special announcement.

For the past 10 days or so, I’ve been struggling with a nasty case of influenza A. I spent lots of days in bed and on my ventilator during the day, which I typically only used at night. Today is February 17. It is the first I have been able to stay out of bed for an extended period.

Only 7 of the 10 Best Picture-nominated films are available for streaming or digital download. One of the three remaining films is completely unavailable online, and two others are only available via bootleg copies where someone took a camera into the theater. I try to avoid that unless I absolutely have to. And if I do watch the bootleg, I always purchase a copy afterward to make up for it.

As a result, I’m not going to be able to review all 10 movies by March 2nd, when the Oscars are awarded. My current plan is to finish out talking about Wicked and perhaps one other nominated musical in the next episode and then do a brief overview of the other nominated films I have been able to see. I’ll not have time to download trailers and clips to include in the YouTube version like usual. That is a tremendous amount of work. I won’t have time.

I’ve had a lot of fun doing this series on musicals and fantasy leading up to this. I think it’s some of my best recent work. I guess that will have to do for this year’s movie reviews. When that is complete, we will return to some autobiographical topic. I’m not sure which part of my life we will cover next. And don’t be surprised if we get a political rant thrown in as current events unfold.

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I will see you next time as we continue contemplating life. Until then, fly safe.