The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True

Production

The production uses an abbreviated script and highlights most songs and musical numbers from the movie. Uncle Henry and the three farmhands do not appear; Joel Grey, as Professor Marvel, narrates the Kansas scenes, and Debra Winger's "Cyclone" narration mentions Miss Gulch. The concert opens with Jewel as Dorothy Gale singing the complete version of "Over the Rainbow" and includes the song "The Jitterbug", cut from the original film. Throughout the concert, the conductor and orchestra are on-stage with the performers, who are positioned at music stands reading the script and music in a reader's theatre style.

Choreography differs from the 1939 movie: the Munchkins do not dance, and the four principals never dance together. Various pieces of Oz artwork by Charles Santore are projected on a screen at the back of the stage. Songs were changed to feature individual singers: "If I Only Had a Brain" has a folk tempo for Jackson Browne, and "If I Only Had a Heart" has a rock and roll tempo for Roger Daltrey, who swings his microphone.

The Wicked Witch's scene threatening Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man atop the cottage is omitted. The line about counting sheep before "If I Only Had the Nerve" is spoken by Dorothy instead of the Tin Man. Phoebe Snow performs a stirring "If I Only Had..." medley set to solo piano. Nathan Lane's Lion adds to "If I Were King of the Forest" the lyric "not, queen, not duke, not prince...or the Artist Formerly Known as Prince".