Oz-Stravaganza! 2016, themed “Wonderful Women of Oz” will take place in downtown Chittenango, June 3 to 5. The 39th annual festival is held to honor the creator of Oz, Chittenango native L. Frank Baum.
The Oz committee is thrilled that John Fricke will once again be emcee for the event. John is widely regarded as the world’s preeminent Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland historian and author; a two-time Emmy Award-winning producer/writer; a Grammy Award nominee; and the annual host/emcee of nation-wide Oz and Garland festivals for the last 27 years. His latest book, “The Wonderful World of Oz,” traces the history of the L. Frank Baum-founded phenomenon from 1900 to 2013 in text and over 300 color illustrations.
John can regularly be seen on the Turner Classic Movies channel in their “Word of Mouth” preview segments. Four years ago, he cohosted (with Robert Osborne) Judy Garland’s 90th birthday celebration on that network, and in 2014, he was a special guest presenter at their Los Angeles film festival. In 2013 and 2014, he served as Warner Bros.’ media spokesman for the 75th anniversary of Judy’s Wizard of Oz motion picture, and he was their emcee at the 3D/IMAX re-premiere of the film at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre.
John is the only Oz historian featured in the new “making of” Oz documentary on the current Warner Home Video DVD re-mastering of the film and delivers the commentary track accompanying the movie itself. He offers similar tracks on the DVDs of Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, For Me and My Gal, The Pirate, Babes in Arms, and Girl Crazy.
John has spoken about Oz and Garland everywhere from “The Today Show” (four appearances), to CNN, National Public Radio, Sirius Radio,The Museum of Modern Art, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, and The Paley Center — all in New York — as well as at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles and the Deauville Film Festival in France. Currently, he is working with Aaron Harburg and Ryan Jay on The Sound of Oz documentary about songwriters E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and Harold Arlen.
John is the historian and creative consultant for the new Judy Garland stage musical, Chasing Rainbows, which opens a three-month engagement in September at the famed Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. That show traces Judy’s life and career from age five to sixteen and concludes with the early production days on the set of The Wizard of Oz.
In June 2014, John co-wrote the all-star stage celebration of classic pop singer Margaret Whiting and then sang during that show at Carnegie Hall in New York. This year, he’ll host all four of the major Oz festivals; after Chittenango, he heads to Grand Rapids, MN (Garland’s birthplace, June 9th-11th), the new Midwest event in Tinley Park, IL (suburban Chicago, Sept. 9th-11th), and Wamego, KS (Sept. 23rd-25th). He will also appear at both International Wizard of Oz Club conventions in Portland, OR (July 15th-17th) and Philadelphia, PA (August 5th-7th); Fricke is past president of that organization.
Currently the Royal Historian of Oz writing contest as well as the coloring contest are underway. It is also time to be working on Oz costumes for costume judging and signing up for the Munchkin Mile Kids Run and the Toto Toddler Trot. Information and applications are available for download at: www.oz-stravaganza.com.
The grand Oz parade will kick off at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 4, parade applications can be downloaded from the Oz website.
Anyone interested in joining the Oz committee should contact: [email protected] or call 687-7772.
