KLOS Wizard Of Oz Radio TheaterKLOS Wizard Of Oz Radio TheaterAs with any of M&B's radio theater programs, the only way to get tickets is to win them from the station. What's that?? No, as a matter of fact I Don't think we need to get into how I won tickets!
The day started quite early for me as I awoke at 2:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. The alarm finally went off, and the next song up -- Dwight's Suspicious Minds -- a truly auspicious beginning! Hit the freeway about 5:45 and got to the Museum of Radio and Television just about 7:00 a.m. My first stop was the Starbuck's down the street, since I'd been up for about 3 hours and hadn't had any coffee (only for Dwight!) About 2 minutes after I took my place in front of the MR&T (I was second in line) a silver Cadillac pulled up -- Punkin and Dwight. Dwight was wearing jeans, a long blue sweater, his tan suede jacket, and sunglasses (no hat). 
I said good morning to him as he walked in but I don't think he was awake enough to respond. Punkin came back out and moved the car. We just settled in for the wait. I checked the line a couple of times but didn't see anyone familiar.
They let us in about 8:20 and we had 2nd row seats (the first being taken up by equipment, etc.) The cast was already assembled on stage. Dwight had what I'm assuming was his usual glass of tea and was chatting with Sandra Gould. M&B wanted to do a quick run through of "We're Off To See The Wizard" but the band wasn't ready. Dwight decided to "play" the prima donna and said "call me when you're ready" and sat down. Mark and Brian then had to tease Dwight about missing rehearsal and not studying his lines. Dwight just grinned.
(The sound stage is fairly small; I don't think they could have gotten anymore players on stage. Mics and script stands were set at the front of the stage and chairs at the back, so anyone who wasn't in a scene remained seated. Unfortunately, Dwight was seated next to Sandra Gould, who is "vertically challenged". Consequently her script stand was much lower and virtually blocked my view of Dwight when he was seated.)
They began the show and I have to say that everyone did an absolutely marvelous job. I can't think of a better cast, and it was really neat to see characters from some of my favorite shows past. When Sheena Easton sang Over The Rainbow I think everyone got goosebumps. (BTW, Brian seemed fairly enamoured of Sheena.) And I was certainly impressed that M&B had the clout to get Robert Goulet to sing their parts. OK, so you're all going, "but what about Dwight!!"
Dwight, as the Cowardly Lion was Absolutely Adorable. When Elvis sang that "Lions aren't the kind you love enough", he wasn't talking about Dwight! His voice, facial expressions and mannerisms were just purrr-fect. Dwight was making virtually no eye contact with the audience -- maybe it was a little too early for him. At one point, though, he did look up and smile at me.
The entire show was awesome. The cast, as I said, was perfect. The listener who played Toto was very realistic! We laughed a lot, heard some great singing, and best of all I got to see Dwight. BTW, the MR&T keeps everything on tape and they were also videoing, so check out their archives if you're in L.A.
I have to admit that as I child I was really frightened by this movie -- the Wicked Witch was sooo wicked that I always had nightmares. Now, I have a slightly different perspective!