Inspiration
Examples of An American Fairy Tale
What’s important to know is that, while the original Into the Woods features characters from European-based fairytales, Emerson’s production takes inspiration from a more American storytelling perspective. A good example of this includes:
L. Frank Baum
Baum is the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and went on to write 13 more Oz books before his death in 1919. Baum wrote about his intentions in the book's introduction: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to pleasure children today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out."
The Wizard of Oz
Baum’s book offered otherworldly adventures firmly rooted in the American landscape: In this case, Kansas, with a plucky, self-reliant girl who doesn’t need a prince to save her, a sunny appreciation of hucksterism, and good witches. Living on the cusp of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Baum embraced new American ideals of innovation, imagination, and the courage to leave your home for something magical in another land.
Why Baum is Important: American Fairy Tales
Baum’s Life
Baum’s Wizard of Oz isn’t only a perfect example of an American fairy tale; so too is Baum’s life. Baum is the definition of the American dream. He wanted to write and act in his own plays, having loved the Grimms and the adventures they told as a child. However, due to events in his life, he got a job from his father, eventually selling oil and moving out west. In his town of Aberdeen, he created Baum’s Bazaar as he desired to engage in this new world of commodities and put together a professional baseball team, wanting to be the harbor of civilization in Aberdeen. He supported women’s suffrage and later wrote stories to amuse children about a girl named Dorothy.
Wizard of Oz: American Dream
Now why is all of that even important? Because it plays into the Wizard of Oz. Oz is the exact metaphor of the American Dream. Oz, the city, relies on industrial work. You take scraps, bits, and parts and assemble them into something new. Dorothy is a young orphan girl stranded in the middle of the vast American landscape. Dorothy's dreary life on the farm is changed in a flash as a cyclone brings her to the wonderful land of Oz. Dorothy's quest was to get back to her aunt and uncle in Kansas. The Good Witch warns that it’s a long quest through a country that’s sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark. It’s a story of being given a challenge face dangers, make friends, and find yourself. America is the opportunity to be somebody. The American value is being self- reliant. The American quest to find the thing that will bring you, or in this case, Dorothy, happiness. Put one foot in front of the other. Baum lived the American Dream and put it into his own manmade fairy tale. In an American fairy tale, you are on a quest to find your place in the world, your identity, where you fit in. Dorothy does not need a prince; she goes out and solves her own problems.
Extras: Other Adaptations and Their Lessons
The Wiz
Americans saying “This is ours too.” Wizard of Oz is a story that can be adapted to a different time and place and not lose its meaning to people. You can make your claim on your American story.
Wicked the Musical
Marginalization, what it’s like to grow up in a skin that people reject, powers of women, female friendship.