This week on Riverwalk Jazz, The Wizard of Oz comes to life as Broadway actor Vernel Bagneris portrays all the characters of Oz in a new script for radio based on the original L. Frank Baum book. And the brilliance of Harold Arlen's art as a songwriter is displayed in new jazz arrangements and performances by The Jim Cullum Jr. Jazz Band, of Arlen's music from the movie score.
The show is distributed by Public Radio International and Sirius/XM radio and can be streamed from the Riverwalk Jazz website beginning today, December 23, 2010.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was a bestselling book in the year 1900. It appeared as a stage play in 1902 under the simplified name The Wizard of Oz. And the 1939 Warner Brothers movie adaptation, starring Judy Garland with Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Ray Bolger, and featuring a magnificent music score by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, remains an icon of pop culture. Like other popular songwriters of his generation, jazz was a key component in everything Harold Arlen composed.
Critics of the time lavished praise on L. Frank Baum's Wizard, and on the 154 illustrations by W.W. Denslow. It was 1900, when Dorothy first clicked her heels, longed for home and won her way into the hearts of children everywhere—and their parents, too. With original jazz arrangements by The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and a tour de force performance by Vernel Bagneris, the Riverwalk Jazz Wizard is sure to please.
The show is distributed by Public Radio International and Sirius/XM radio and can be streamed from the Riverwalk Jazz website beginning today, December 23, 2010.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was a bestselling book in the year 1900. It appeared as a stage play in 1902 under the simplified name The Wizard of Oz. And the 1939 Warner Brothers movie adaptation, starring Judy Garland with Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Ray Bolger, and featuring a magnificent music score by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, remains an icon of pop culture. Like other popular songwriters of his generation, jazz was a key component in everything Harold Arlen composed.
Critics of the time lavished praise on L. Frank Baum's Wizard, and on the 154 illustrations by W.W. Denslow. It was 1900, when Dorothy first clicked her heels, longed for home and won her way into the hearts of children everywhere—and their parents, too. With original jazz arrangements by The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and a tour de force performance by Vernel Bagneris, the Riverwalk Jazz Wizard is sure to please.
