Follow the yellow brick road, either with Dorothy, as a character from The Wizard of Oz or as the loving Dorothy herself. Then travel through all adventures and learn all the same lessons that Dorothy and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion learn on their way to the beautiful Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz. Saturday night the Princess Theatre will host “Return To Oz,” a multimedia performance of music, lights and sound. Decorations and theatrical sets will make the audience feel right at Kansas. The three-dimensional tornado by will make you hold onto your costume. Oh yeah, there is a $100 prize for the best Wizard of Oz costume.
The tornado blows you right into Munchkin village and sets you on the 180-foot yellow brick road that will be rolled out into the Princess. Soon, just like the movie, you will meet the scarecrow in the cornfield, the tin man in the apple orchard and the lion in his forest. Each scene and a slide show on an 80-foot screen will remind the audience of the Scarecrow’s wanting a brain, the Tin Man’s missing heart, the Lion’s lack of courage and Dorothy’s desire to go home.
Will Howard is the head promoter for “Return to Oz” and a local DJ for Cheers.
“We want people to look at the Lion’s lack of courage and Dorothy’s desire to go home and realize that there is no place like home,” Howard said. “People are leaving home at young ages or with their businesses and not even looking at the virtues of Mississippi. We want to get ideas like that into people’s mind, and just like in ‘The Wizard Of Oz,’ the Lion already had courage; he just didn’t know it.”
After traveling the long yellow brick road, you dance into the poppy field. But once you are in, you get entranced by Emerald City’s DJ’s “digital therapy.”
Simply Butta will take you through a turntablistic jungle, DJ Dragon will have you floating with his Psychedelic Trance and Evanescent brings you higher with his Hard Dark Trance. They all hide behind the curtain like the Wizard and produce amazing visual affects on the 80-foot theatre screen. Mid-south Lasers will cover the dance floor state-of-the-art blue-green lasers.
Inside Emerald City will be free massage therapy by licensed therapist Kristy Blount and Chris Bundy. The show starts at 7 p.m. with Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, which is synchronized with the movie when started at the third roar of the MGM lion. Rumor has it that this is a traditional ritual for those who like to use the drug LSD or mushrooms.
“‘Return to Oz’ is an anti-drug theatrical event. For those that want to see things that aren’t real, we bring in the laser show, we replace the marijuana with chilled music, we replace the cocaine and speed with high-energy, driving music and we replace the feeling ecstasy gives with massage therapy. Pink Floyd’s synchronization with ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is certainly not for those on LSD. You will enjoy it more sober because you will be able to understand what is going on,” Howard said.
This is the third time “Return to Oz” has come to the Princess Theatre, and each time they have had a good turnout but have not made a profit.
“In Electronic culture we do it for the ‘nod,’ that’s when someone walks by as he’s leaving gives you the nod that says, ‘I needed that,'” Howard said.
“Return to Oz” starts at 7 p.m. this Saturday and ends at 5 a.m. Admission is $10 at the door. For more information go to www.msraves.com.