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| My opinion is, yes he is. "The Wizard of Oz" is probably the most watched, most beloved movie of all time, in at least the English-speaking countries anyway, and it has endured as a classic for over 70 years. It is undoubtedly a true American classic. The characters of Dorothy, Toto, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wonderful Wizard and all of his disguises, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witch of the West, as played by Judy Garland, Terry, Clara Blandick and Charles Grapewin, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton, TRULY will live forever. As will the Classic Score by Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg and Herbert Stothart. As a stage piece, "The Wizard of Oz" has already been produced successfully by the Royal Shakespeare Festival in the 1980s (Remember the RSC also co-produced "Les Misérables" with Cameron Mackintosh.) This has served well for over 20 years now. There have been successful productions of this version mounted all over the world. AND IT DID NOT CONTAIN ANY MUSIC WRITTEN BY ANOTHER COMPOSER. To me, touching this score is like adding your own material to "My Fair Lady" or "Gypsy" or "Fiddler on the Roof" after, how many years since they were first produced? One could even argue that the score for "The Wizard of Oz" is even MORE WELL KNOWN. I just think he should leave well enough alone. By all means, produce a revival, and adapt the screenplay for the stage (I didn't have a problem with the RSC version, we thought it was good an evening as "Cats" and "Phantom") but don't actually PRESUME that people are going to be alright with adding your own supplementary material to a score that is now LEGENDARY created by one of the GREAT BROADWAY & HOLLYWOOD COMPOSERS. I'm not saying that art shouldn't be explored, in general, but this is different. This is sacred to me and the lives of millions of people worldwide, audiences who have seen both the film and stage versions. I don't know why ALW is doing this. I have almost every one of his works in my collection, vinyls, CD, and my collection is growing, not to mention I pre-ordered "Love Never Dies" when I had no idea what it was going to be like because I was such a big fan of the original, but between this and the "Love Never Dies" storyline I've lost a fair amount of respect for him. And fair enough if you want to ruin your own musical (Has there ever been another composer in musical theatre history who has so severely misunderstood his own work? And "Phantom" happens to be one of, if not the most popular musicals of all time.) He should concentrate on fixing the travesty of a storyline that is his sequel. Note: Storyline, because the music itself is incredible, especially when played by the 80 piece symphonic orchestra, but it's brought down by one of the most embarrassing storylines for a sequel ever written. Christine would not have gone back to the Phantom after everything that he put her though. The Phantom would not have continued stalking Christine. Raoul would not have become an abusive dipsomaniac. Meg Giry would not have murdered her best friend and tried to drown his son. And nor was it right IN ANY WAY for Phantom to place a bet about who's going to win Christine. It's just appalling, a big slap in the face to all those people who have taken that story into their hearts for decades, even as far back as M. Leroux's original. And now he wants to augment a score which should be left well enough alone. AND HE'S NOT EVEN AMERICAN. He's a British composer tampering with an American classic. AND WHY IS TIM RICE GOING ALONG WITH THIS??? I had such respect for him too. It's an outrage. I'm not seeing it. I wish I could be more open-minded about it, but adding NEW MUSIC to Arlen's score???? IMO, MADNESS!!!
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