BEING AND MUNCHKIN-NESS

RIP to Jerry Maren, one of the last surviving Munchkins, and a member of the Lollipop Guild, no less, from MGM's 1939 The Wizard of Oz, passed on at 98.

In his honor...

Monster-of-the-Week: ...let's give the nod to one of his later and less-celebrated roles...

...the hazardous-waste-spawned mutant title character in the 1983 horror flick The Being.

When you think about it, that's arguably the most generically-named title character in movies.

SHOW ME THE MONKEY

In anticipation of the computer-animated musical Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, opening tomorrow, let’s…

Monster-of-the-Week: …give the nod to an Ozian monster, namely a specimen of that film’s version of the Winged Monkeys…

HEY MICKEY

RIP to Mickey Rooney, passed on at 93.

The veteran of everything from the Andy Hardy flicks to It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to Twilight Zone to Carroll Ballard’s masterpiece The Black Stallion, among countless other film and TV credits, Rooney also did plenty of stage work. I saw him as Professor Marvel/The Wizard in a touring production of The Wizard of Oz more than a decade ago, and I’ll never forget his entrance: The lights came up on him as Professor Marvel, the crowd stood up, the applause went on and on, and finally he oh-so-reluctantly dropped character, rose and put his hands on his heart and oh-so-humbly acknowledged the crowd with gestures and expressions indicating he was astonished by, and regarded himself as unworthy of, our adulation. In this way he was able to keep the ovation going quite a while longer, and when  at last he sat back down and started the scene, it of course didn’t matter what he did from there on. I remember thinking that I was seeing a piece of showbiz skill from another era, and feeling privileged to witness it.

RIP also to comedian and actor John Pinette, passed on at 52—not nearly as long-lived as Rooney, alas.

BROOM AT THE TOP

Sunday The Kid got to go visit a pal while The Wife & I & two friends had the chance to see the national tour of Wicked at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe. I had never seen the show, the story of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West & her long, complicated, love-hate-betrayal-&-bonding relationship with Glenda the Good, adapted, loosely, from Gregory Maguire’s densely imagined novel.

Simply as slick theatrical spectacle, it’s among the best I’ve ever seen—from the opening seconds, where we see the Winged Monkeys capering acrobatically around the clockwork set, presided over by a huge stylized dragon, it’s like watching a Melies movie come to life. I was surprised, however, by how much I liked the show not just as theatre, but as music & drama. The score is of the contemporary rousing-belt sort, & the lyrics are often very clever, while the story cheekily debunks simplistic, fairy-tale ideas of good & evil.

Subtextually, it’s really about the price that modern women pay, & the empowerment they can receive, by embracing the choice not to be conventionally “nice”—a more accurate title for the show might be Bitchy. But in light of the current debates on the Right even in this country, it should be said that such choices for women clearly are still regarded as wicked.

Anyway, great show; go see it if you get the chance. The Gammage run continues through March 11; click here for more info.