53 SMT 9 (1) pp. 53–69 Intellect Limited 2015 Studies in Musical Theatre Volume 9 Number 1 © 2015 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/smt.9.1.53_1 Keywords The Wizard of Oz The Wiz Wicked adaptation musicals performance ryan Bunch Rutgers University oz and the musical: The american art form and the reinvention of the american fairy tale aBsTracT Much as the musical is touted as an American art form, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz (1900) has been called the American fairy tale. Since its publica- tion, the book has been eclipsed in popularity by a series of musical–theatrical adap- tations, which are also among the most popular shows in the canon of musicals, suggesting an affinity between musicals and Oz. Close analysis of four Oz musicals, the Broadway extravaganza of 1903, the MGM film of 1939, The Wiz (1975) and Wicked (2003) shows how the conventions of musical theatre translate the already powerful symbolic national mythology of Baum’s book into participatory expressions of American identity through embodied performance. In return, Oz gives the musi- cal a signal national text which, through adaptation, allows the musical to reassert its own American pedigree while rearticulating the meaning of American identity at significant moments in the history of the genre. I was at camp with some other kids one summer when somebody broke into ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard’ and started skipping down the path. We all joined in, and soon some other kids jumped out of the woods and started