The Wizard of Oz (1942 musical) The Wizard of Oz (1942 musical) The Wizard of Oz is a musical commissioned by the St. Louis Municipal Opera (The Muny) based on the novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 film, "The Wizard of Oz" and using the film's songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. The book of the musical is by Frank Gabrielson, who would later write an adaptation of "The Marvelous Land of Oz" for Shirley Temple (1960). The musical was first presented in 1942 at The Muny and has been revived many times thereafter, both by The Muny
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the fact that the West was still undeveloped at the time. The Munchkins Dorothy encounters at the beginning of the novel represent farmers, as do the Winkies she later meets. Baum's wife frequently visited her niece, Dorothy Louise Gage. The infant became gravely sick and died on November 11, 1898, from "congestion of the brain" at exactly five months. When the baby, whom Maud adored as the daughter she never had, died, she was devastated and needed to consume medicine. To assuage her distress, Frank made his protagonist of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" a female named Dorothy. Uncle