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From Broadway to Movies to Music, Oz Has Bewitched Audiences (And Billboard’s Back Pages) for 125 Years

'The Wizard of Oz' at 125 years: Movies, music, Broadway and beyond in Billboard's back pages.

Thanks to vaudeville veterans Fred Stone and David C. Montgomery playing the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, respectively, the Jan. 3, 1903, Billboard raved, “It is one continuous case of laughter throughout.” The reviewer noted, however, that “the music isn’t so very catchy.” If they only had a Rodgers & Hart! When MGM’s lush The Wizard of Oz premiered in New York, Billboard was there — as was star actress Judy Garland, who sang a few songs after the screening with frequent co-star Mickey Rooney. When The Wiz, a stage musical reimagining with an all-Black cast, opened on Broadway in 1975, a Jan. 18 Billboard review hailed its “sauce, moxy and innovation.” Sidney Lumet’s big-screen adaptation was “a wow” but “rather long,” according to the Oct. 14, 1978, issue.

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