Who Wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is a fictional children’s novel that was first published in 1900. It has been republished many times since this time, but is usually retitled as “The Wizard of Oz.” The story follows the main character Dorothy Gale as she in transported into the Land of Oz after being taken away from her home in Kansas by a tornado. The book was developed into a hit Broadway musical in 1902 and a very popular movie in 1939. Since this time it has been further adapted for television, cinema, radio and the stage. These adaptations ensured that it is one of the best known children’s stories in the English speaking world. Let’s find out who wrote this famous novel.
Who wrote “The Wizard of Oz”?
The American author L. Frank Baum wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and published the book in 1900 together with illustrator W. W. Denslow. The book was a critical and financial success and remained the bestselling children’s book for two years after it was published. Due to this success, Baum went on to write another thirteen novels based on the Land of Oz.
Musical
A year after the novel was published Baum and Denslow planned to adapt it for the stage. They teamed up with composer Paul Tietjens and created a musical, but this was rejected by the director Julian Mitchell. He brought new songwriters to the project and rewrote the script with jokewriter Glen MacDonough. The show, simply called “The Wizard of Oz,” opened in Chicago in 1902 and eventually ran on Broadway for 293 stage nights. It returned in 1904 and continued to be very popular.
1939 film adaptation
The script for this famous film was rewritten and revised a number of times before filming began. In fact, more than 20 people worked on the script at different times. However, the official credits went to Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf.
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