The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter after Baum had finished the script, and the book was largely ghostwritten by a man named Finnegan. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens and has been mostly lost, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in 1939 when the classic film version of the story was made. The original show was particularly popular because of its two comedy stars: Fred Stone playing the Scarecrow, and David C. Montgomery as the Tin Woodman. The show premiered at the Chicago Grand Opera House on June 16, 1902, and then went on tour throughout the upper Midwest before moving to the Majestic Theatre on Broadway on January 21, 1903, where it ran for 293 performances through October 3. A second company was established, and the show went on tour from September 1903 through March 1904 before returning to the Majestic with an updated "Edition De Luxe". This version played through May and then moved on to the New York Theater for three weeks before returning to Chicago for a five-week run to finish the season. The two companies toured the country from August 1904 to April 1905, and again from September 1905 to May 1906. By this time, demand had slowed, and the second company was disbanded on February 28, 1906. The main "Company A" had one final tour from August to November 1906 before the rights were sold to Hurtig and Seamon. The new production resumed the tour through May 1907, and continued for the 1907–08 and 1908–09 seasons. Finally, the show was released to stock theater companies in 1911. The show's history is covered in more than 100 pages of the book Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on stage and screen to 1939 by Mark Evan Swartz. Source: Wikipedia (en)