It is not clear when this production was to have been scheduled. Perhaps Samuel French was handling the Tams-Witmark catalog in England? Or did the Brits want to use the script of the "Junior League" Wizard of Oz play that Samuel French had published in 1928, but with Tietjens's score? And I am not wholly sure why Tietjens wanted to talk to Samuel French. I've found no further record of what transpired in the correspondence hereafter. Tietjens replied that he "thought it best to interview Samuel French myself, which seemed to upset. On September 6, 1940, Paul Tietjens received a letter from Sargent Aborn, head of Tams-Witmark, "regarding new prospect of London production of Wizard." Aborn had also written to Maud Baum. The film spawned an interest in a stage version, perhaps a splendid holiday pantomime! Perhaps the show was just too American, too different.īut when the MGM film version of The Wizard of Oz premiered in London in December 1939, the story and songs and technicolor were a wonderful escape from the World War that England had entered three months earlier. Some contemporary reports theorized the transfer failed because several West End shows had already stolen some of the most popular songs from The Wizard of Oz's score-but this seems an unlikely reason-Hamlin and Mitchell easily replaced "Sammy" in the United States with several successors: "Can't You See I'm Lonely," "The Tale of a Stroll," "Are You Sincere?" but all came to nothing.Įxactly why is hard to say. There were additional proposals for doing The Wizard of Oz in Paris. He suffered from motion-sickness, and after he returned from England in Spring 1902, he declared he would never cross the ocean again. But Fred Stone, on the other hand, hated sea travel. He seems to have much loved his time spent across the pond). David Montgomery would have loved to have taken the show to London. Perhaps the probable lack of Montgomery and Stone squelched the deal.
The reports back were always optimistic, but the plans always came to nothing. He also tried to interest British producers in The Wizard of Oz.
From the earliest days of The Wizard of Oz stage show, the producers tried to get the show to London.ĭavid Montgomery, who played the Tin Woodman from the premiere of the show in June 1902 until May 1906, spent his summer vacations from the show in London.
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