'Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz' performance debuts at Manhattan thea

NEW YORK -- There's no place like home, but a Broadway theater came close for fans of "The Wizard of Oz" who showed up dressed up as scarecrows, wicked witches, Dorothys -- and her little dog, too.

The occasion was the premiere Thursday night of the "Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz" at the Gershwin Theatre, featuring a dazzling, digitally restored version of the 1939 MGM classic.

Audience members were encouraged to not only sing along, with help from lyrics flashed on the screen, but also to recite dialogue, bark along with Toto and hiss at the Wicked Witch.

Nora Wolf came to the screening dressed as the twister that transports Dorothy Gale from Kansas to Oz. From her neck to her feet, Wolf was wrapped in gray and black tulle, and she wore a red felt house on her head.

"We love 'The Wizard of Oz.' We grew up on it," the 17-year-old said, standing next to a friend dressed in Dorothy's blue gingham dress. "It really gives you a good feeling inside. Like everything is going to be all right."

Wolf won the costume parade held before the show. Her competition included several children made up like munchkins, a Dorothy who sported tattoos and two friends dressed as giant ruby slippers who bumped their heads together to click the heels.

The sing-along, which previously showed in Chicago, is scheduled for nine more dates in New York City before going on a national tour.

It is similar to a popular "Sing-A-Long Sound of Music" that played in London and New York several years back.

During that show, audience members were taught hand movements to go along with "Do-Re-Mi." On Thursday night, audience members were instructed to use a kazoo to mimic the menacing music that plays when Miss Almira Gulch rides up on her bicycle to take Toto away.

Other items in the "fun pack" audience members received included a noisemaker, a magic wand and bubbles to blow when Glinda the Good Witch appeared on the screen.

The host who warms up the audience members before the show acknowledged the devoted following the movie -- and its star, Judy Garland -- has in the gay community.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," George Keating said, singing a lyric sung by Glinda. "Of course I know most of you have come out already."

Back on the big screen

For many moviegoers, the sing-along part of the evening was a bonus to the chance to get to see the film on a big screen. The film was not a commercial success when it was originally released, but became a beloved classic through annual prime-time showings on network television.

Celeste Keefe, 48, remembered eagerly awaiting the movie when she was a child -- even though she was scared of the flying monkeys and the talking trees.

"Every year, we'd know exactly when it was going to be on TV," she said. "It was tremendously frightening but you waited all year for it to come on."

Meredith Nelson, 38, said the annual TV showings were "second to Christmas for me." She came to the event dressed as the Wicked Witch.

"I have the hair, the hat and the broom. And the mentality," Nelson said, before adding in a convincing cackle, "I'll get you, my pretty. And your little dog, too!"