STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
This weekend marks the start of the ever-lengthening Thanksgiving holiday, and that can only mean one thing: “The Wizard of Oz” is running on TV for the millioneth time.
The classic musical fantasy, once elegated to Easter time, now seems to get pulled out for every holiday, retelling Frank Baum’s story of the Kansas farmgirl who gets caught up in a twister and meets fantastical characters all in search of something to make them complete.
Sun Valley Opera even screened the film over the Labor Day holiday, staging a sit-in screening of the classic movie on the Sun Valley Pavilion Lawn. Celebrants showed in checkered Dorothy dresses and witches hats and cheered as the Wicked Witch turned into a puddle and the so-called Wizard was exposed as a con man hiding behind a curtain.
Sun Valley Opera is celebrating its 20th season. It plants to co-present the MET HD: Live series featuring live screenings of opera at The Metropolitan Opera beginning in January 2022.