Things to do, places to eat, shows to see, places to stay in Madison County, NY      

Auditions for the 3rd Annual Emerald City Idol Singing Competition, which is part of the 32nd annual Oz-Stravaganza!  will be held Saturday
May 29th from 11am - 6pm at Chittenango High School, 150 Genesee St,
Chittenango. The contest is open to singers ages 6 through adult. Cash
prizes will be awarded in 3 age groups. Finalists will perform on the
stage in Oz-Stravaganza!/Dr. West Park from noon - 3pm on Sunday June
6th. Full details can be found at:
www.oz-stravaganza.com. Questions can be directed to ECidol@gmail.com  or Marc@oz-stravaganza.com. Call 315-415-8546 for Oz-Stravaganza! information.

The 32nd annual Oz-Stravaganza to honor Chittenango’s native son, L. Frank Baum, will be held June 4 through 6. Event information is updated as events unfold at oz-stravaganza.com. For information about entering a unit in the parade, call Barb Evans at 315-430-0765. Parade applications can be downloaded from the website. The parade will kick-off Saturday, June 5 at 2 p.m.

The Oz-Stravaganza Park is now full, and no further applications will be accepted. Oz-Stravaganza Park offers a wide variety of activities including amusement rides, games, food, entertainment, Munchkin autograph sessions, Oz memorabilia, silent auctions, crafters, petting zoo and so much more.

“Author’s Alley” is a new event this year showcasing authors who have published Oz books.  The authors will be selling and autographing their books.

Jane Lahr and Maya Gottfried, daughter and grand daughter of the Cowardly Lion will be grand marshals of the parade this year. They will also be speaking about Bert Lahr during the weekend. Maya Gottfried will also be on hand to sell and autograph her recently published book “Our Farm.”

Syracuse Post Standard columnist Sean Kirst pens a very nice tribute to Meinhardt Rabbe this morning in the paper.  Here is a link to the article and a slide show of Rabbe's appearances over the years.

We were all saddened to learn of the passing of longtime Oz-Stravaganza participant Meinhardt Rabbe this past weekend.  Here is a tribute to Meinhardt sent to us from the Oz-Stravaganza committee.












In Memory of Meinhardt Raabe

The Community of Chittenango is saddened by the death of Munchkin Coroner Meinhardt Raabe.  His first visit to Chittenango with his wonderful wife Marie was over twenty years ago. He happened upon an article in National Geographic Traveler about the Oz festival in Chittenango, and he made contact with festival organizers to tell of his role in the 1939 classic MGM film, "The Wizard of Oz". An invitation was extended for he and Marie to attend.

That first visit made him a lifelong family member to every member of the community, and his attendance dramatically changed the festival held to honor Chittenango's native son, L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Fans waited in line to meet him, get his autograph and have their pictures taken with him. He made trips to the schools and Library to talk about the making of the movie. He thrilled thousands as he said his famous lines pronouncing the Wicked Witch "really most sincerely dead".

He suggested others in the Oz world to help the festival grow, first being our weekend host, Oz author and historian John Fricke. Munchkins, Margaret Pellegrini and Fern Formica came the year after. Chittenango Oz festivals continued to grow as more Munchkins and Baum family members joined in. Meinhardt never wanted to stay in a hotel when he came to Chittenango, he enjoyed staying with local families. For the majority of the years he stayed with the Jerome family, who visited Meinhardt many times at his home in Penney Farms Florida.

Meinhardt led a full and interesting life. He was a pilot in the Civil Air Patrol, a Master Horticulturist, and a teacher. For thirty years he was "Little Oscar" traveling around in the Oscar Mayer wiener mobile.  His accomplishments are many, and fortunately he was able to tell his story in his book,"Memories of a Munchkin".

To those of us who were blessed to have known him well, we will always treasure the time he spent interacting with our children, the interesting dinner conversations, his gardening advice, and the fine example he set by being a true gentleman.  He will be truly missed, but the legacy he left will leave his friends and fans with memories to last forever.

From Yesterday's Syracuse Post Standard:

”The Wizard of Oz,” holds special meaning for many Central New Yorkers. The original story’s author, L. Frank Baum, was born in Chittenango and grew up in Syracuse. Organizers of the annual Oz-Stravaganza, which celebrates all things Oz each summer, hope you too catch the spirit this year. Gearing up for the festival, which is June 4 to 6, the committee is hosting a writing contest. Local writer and former Chittenango English teacher Greg Ellstrom has written the beginning of an Oz-related story, and he wants writers in four age groups (third to fifth grade; sixth to eighth grade; ninth to 12th grade; and adult) to write new endings of 300 words or less to finish the tale. Complete rules are below.

Help finish an Oz-related story based on the classic tale "The Wizard of Oz" for Chittenango's annual Oz-Stravaganza celebration.

Complete rules are available here: oz contest.pdf

The Things One Stumbles Upon

By Greg Ellstrom
Contributing writer

After she returned from Oz and moved back in with Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, life for Dorothy became normal. She went off to school like the other kids of her age, did her homework, helped Aunt Em around the house, took Toto for walks — but always, in the back of her mind, were her memories of her wonderful adventures in the Land of Oz.

As happens to all children, Dorothy quite quickly grew up. And when she was 18 years old, she went off to college at Kansas University in the city of Lawrence. There she lived in what was called a rooming house and met many interesting people.

Dorothy couldn’t figure out just what to study in college. She thought that perhaps she would study writing, so she could tell the stories of her magical adventures. Or perhaps, she would study painting, so she could create great works of art depicting the Emerald City and the lands around it. Or perhaps, she would study to be a veterinarian, so she could help dogs like Toto or even work at a zoo and, maybe, take care of lions.

Sometimes when she was trying to figure just what she would study to be, she would take a walk around the campus or through the city or around one of the nearby parks, and think and think.

One day, while taking one of these strolls, she wandered farther away from her college campus than she ever had before. Just when she was considering going back to the rooming house, she came upon a little bit of a forest, just some trees really, growing around and on top of a little hill.

This was very unusual for the flat lands of Kansas. A little path led through the trees, and her curiosity made her follow it. She went up and down the hill, jumped over a little brook, and went through thick trees and thin trees, as the path twisted along. Then all at once, the trees came to a stop, and Dorothy couldn’t quite believe what she saw in the meadow in front of her.

Greg Ellstrom is a former English teacher at Chittenango High School, where he also served as the chair of the department chairman and drama director for 33 years. He has written and directed nine plays.

Jerry Maren, Lollipop Guild Munchkin from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz,” turned 90 Jan. 24. Maren, born Gerard Marghengi in Boston, has been in entertainment throughout his life and has played many roles, including popular characters Hamburgler, Mayor McCheese, Buster Brown, and Little Oscar for the Oscar Meyer Co.

He has been a guest of Oz-Stravaganza for many years and has agreed to attend  the 2010 event, which will be held in Chittenango June 4 through 6.

Maren’s biography “Short and Sweet, The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin,” is a memoir of his remarkable life and career. Maren and his wife Elizabeth live in California and travel throughout the country attending Oz events.

Here is a story from Syracuse.com's entertainment blog on the opening of Wicked in Syracuse this week.  Don't forget that you can experience all things Oz in Chittenango year round and in June at the annual Oz-Stravaganza.

What Chittenango native L. Frank Baum wrote as a children’s book has been a rich vein for creativity throughout the ages. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” on page begat a musical on Broadway, then a story on the silver screen. Recently, there came a prequel novel that inspired the Broadway musical “Wicked.”

The latest takes start with an unlikely character, the Wicked Witch of the West. Her story comes to life with the touring company of “Wicked,” which arrives in Syracuse Wednesday for 24 performances.

The story on stage plucks its outline loosely from the dark book by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was published in 1995. Writer Winnie Holzman and composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz took it from there and delivered the musical on Broadway in 2003. It went on to win three Tony Awards.

“It was Gregory’s premise that really was our jumping-off point. ... It was that premise of seeing the Wicked Witch as a full-blown person with her own psychology, of looking at things from her point of view, that I found so powerful and that Stephen found so powerful,” says Holzman during a recent phone interview from her Los Angeles-area home.

Terrible, behind-the-scenes things happen in the book, and the Wicked Witch, who is first known as Elphaba, is vilified for fighting these forces, explains Holzman.

“It means you have to rethink everything you thought you knew about her,” says Holzman, who has had an illustrious career as a writer of such critically acclaimed TV shows as “thirtysomething” and “My So-Called Life.”

courtesy of Joan MarcusWinnie Holzman wrote the book for the musical "Wicked." She also has written plays and for film.
Long before “wicked” is attached to her name, Elphaba is a complicated girl, tinged in green. Her world is further upended when she arrives at Shiz University, rooms with her polar opposite, perky and popular Glinda, meets a boy and is introduced to the Wizard of Oz.

As they mined Maguire’s book and considered the Oz lineage, Holzman says she and Schwartz were uncertain at times.

“When you’re writing something you’re in a dark wood. I mean you truly are trying to find your way. And in trying to find our way of what is this story and exactly what is this, it became clear at some point it was really about both of them (Elphaba and Glinda). ... It became more interesting when it was about both of them.”

Holzman reveals this difficulty in distilling the musical’s story as clanking competes with the conversation. “I’m doing something very selfish,” she says. “I’m trying to do dishes while we’re talking.”

Elphaba and Glinda, despite their differences, do forge a friendship. But, it fractures in time. The competitive young witches also share a common ambition — to become famous.

“In many ways, a lot of what the musical is about is power and what it really means to have power. And what true power is. What is fake power and what is real power. The whole idea of power is how do you hold it. What does it mean to really be powerful,” says Holzman.

The writer respected Elphaba’s place in storybook lore. “She’s a very important American character. She’s very famous. So is Glinda, of course. And, so is the Wizard of Oz. And they’re all beloved. And when you’re entrusted with characters that are beloved on that level, you feel very humbled by that. You don’t want to interfere with people’s enjoyment. We wanted to add to enjoyment, not diminish it, to say the least,” says Holzman as laughter ripples forth.

On one level, “Wicked” can be enjoyed as a zippy, high-flying musical. But it also is grounded in issues of morality, principled behavior, persecution, loyalty, repressive political regimes, revisionist history, physical and philosophical differences and ambiguities.

Courtesy photoThe 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz."
The original book and movie cast a huge shadow for the writing duo. “We wanted to take our rightful place and kind of be in that long line of things that had come out of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ of L. Frank Baum and not seem as though we were making fun of the movie or somehow cheapening the movie.”

Honoring the legacy of the 1939 film, starring Judy Garland, was “psychologically intense,” she says. “But, at the same time, it was thrilling because you’re working with characters that are so beloved that people already care about (them) deeply. And that’s part of what Gregory’s genius was. To take those characters and to play further with them (with people who are) so emotionally involved with them. It’s a great opportunity.”

Holzman did take liberties with language. She created an Oz vocabulary, which is oddly familiar. Some of these words are tongue twisters: confusifying, scandalacious, festivating, manifestorium.

“It is a little confusifying,” she says. “I just felt like if they talked exactly like we talk in our world, we won’t be in Oz.”

If ever there was a place on earth where Holzman’s land of Oz and its citizenry will not be confusifying, it is here in Baum’s homeland.

THE DETAILS
What: “Wicked,” Famous Artists Broadway Theater Series presentation.
When: Wednesday to Jan. 31. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday Jan. 17, 19, 20, 24 and 26 to 28; 2 p.m. Thursday, Saturday, Jan. 17, 23, 24, 28, 30 and 31; 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Jan. 22, 23, 29 and 30. American Sign Language interpreted performance at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28.
Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, including intermission.
Where: Crouse-Hinds Theater, John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 411 Montgomery St., Syracuse.
Tickets: $40 to $135. To purchase, Famous Artists, 424-8210; Oncenter, 435-2121; Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or the Ticketmaster Web site.
Parent guide: “Wicked” is appropriate for children 8 years and older. Children 4 years and younger will not be admitted.
Orchestra seats:

TICKET LOTTERY
A day-of-performance lottery will be held for a limited number of orchestra seats. To participate, arrive 2½ hours before show time at the Civic Center box office entrance on Montgomery Street. Your name will be placed in a lottery drum. Thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for seats at $25 each, cash only. You must be present for the lottery drawing at the box office. There is a limit of two tickets per person.