Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz

My new book detailing the history of the stage musical The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, is due for release at the end of this month. All Wound Up: The Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz presents 440 full-color pages bursting with photos and images about the 1913 musical written by Oz-creator L. Frank Baum and composed by Broadway and Hollywood composer Louis F. Gottschalk.

I produced a revival of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz in 2014 at Winkie Con 50 in San Diego, CA. I wrote a long article for the convention program book on the history of the show. That article was the basis for the book, but I greatly expanded on the information I originally wrote (as well as correcting my mistakes). I've been working on the book intensively for the past several years, researching and collecting long-forgotten details of the show and the people involved in it.

The book offers a wealth of treasures, including these features:

• The first publication of L. Frank Baum's original script for the show, newly located
• The first publication of Baum's original scenario for the show, when it was titled The Rainbow's Daughter
• Hundreds of photos and images, showing scenes from The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, the actors and production team, posters, publicity photos, advertisements, and much more
• Capsule biographies of all the principal actors and many of the chorus members--along with photos of as many show participants as I could find
• A biography of Louis F. Gottschalk, the show's composer, detailing his high-profile career on Broadway and in Hollywood
• A biography of Fred Woodward, the actor who played Hank the Mule in The Tik-Tok Man of Oz and who, surprisingly, continued to play Hank the Mule for several decades afterward

In conjunction with All Wound Up: the Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, my script for The Tik-Tok Man of Oz and my reconstructed piano-vocal score for the show will also be published. From Baum's and Gottschalk's surviving materials, I prepared these for the 2014 revival, although I subsequently revised a few bits in preparation for publication. For almost ten years now, I've wanted to make this performable version of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz available for others to produce. At last, that plan approaches fruition.

Hungry Tiger Press will release all three books in late July 2023. I'll announce publication and a link to order the books. Look for those here!

 Copyright © 2023 Eric Shanower. All rights reserved.