EMAV Review: Henderson Symphony Orchestra sent “Wizard of Oz” soaring for a very exuberant family cr

By Marianne Donnelly

Lyman Frank Baum, author of the OZ Series, was also known as: George Brooks, Louis F. Baum, Laura Bancroft, Suzanne Metcalf, Capt. Hugh Fitz- gerald, Schuyler Staunton, Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, John Estes Cooke! With these pen names he wrote more than 400 books, plays, scripts, articles and poems.

We remember Baum most for “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” dedicated to his wife, Maud Gage Baum, because of the enormous popularity of the 1939 movie star- ring Judy Garland as Dorothy from Kansas.

It was magnificent to view the original film, in enhanced High Definition, where every fantasia and character popped in Techni- color on the Large (24’ foot x 18 foot) screen, accompanied by the synchronized original score, at this lush-lawned, gracefully-covered, acoustically-perfect Pavilion, with the Henderson Symphony Orches- tra in full “enchantment” mode.

Many Children dressed as their favorite OZ character and sang with songs we all recognize over the rainbow.

It is fun to know that Baum’s mother-in-law Matilda Gage had “votes for women” politics that were incorporated by Baum into subsequent OZ books.