Special Guests 2019 - oz-stravaganza2020

Special Guests for 2019 Oz-Stravaganza!

Roger Stanton Baum

ROGER STANTON BAUM's Oz book, DOROTHY OF OZ, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year. The great-grandson of Frank Baum himself, ROGER’S own literary contribution to the Saga of Oz now includes more than a dozen volumes. OZ-Stravaganza! 2019 will be honored by the return of ROGER and his wife CHARLENE – and we’ll also offer a mini-salute to LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY’S RETURN, the charming and children-adored animated film which now commemorates its fifth anniversary. (LEGENDS OF OZ is based on DOROTHY OF OZ, thus tying everything together!)

John Fricke

John Fricke is widely regarded as the world's preeminent Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland historian/author. He has written seven books on those topics, the latest of which—The Wonderful World of Oz—is now available as a trade paperback. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winning producer/writer of Garland documentaries for PBS-TV and the A&E cable network; a Grammy Award nominee for his journalism; and the annual host/emcee of Oz and Garland festivals nationwide. Fricke has spoken about Oz and Judy Garland everywhere from the Turner Classic Movies network (TCM) and "The Today Show" (five appearances, most recently this past January) to CNN, NPR, and Sirius Radio; at The Museum of Modern Art, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, and The Paley Center in New York, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles, and the Deauville Film Festival in France. John delivers the commentary track on the DVD of The Wizard of Oz movie, as well as on seven other Garland DVD releases. He is currently working with Warner Bros. on Oz-related projects; with The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on their new, forthcoming exhibition of their pair of ruby slippers from the Oz film; on the pre-Broadway stage musical, Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz; and on diverse Judy Garland assignments. John's eighth book will be published this autumn.

Steve Margoshes

Steve Margoshes composed the score for Fame-The Musical, the inspirational show about New York’s High School of the Performing Arts. Famehas played worldwide for 25 years, and is still going strong.
   He has orchestrated many Broadway musicals, including Big River (Drama Desk Award), The Who’s Tommy (Drama Desk Award), Aida (by Elton John & Tim Rice), Smokey Joe’s Café, and Soul Doctor (Drama Desk nomination). He has contributed to many Jim Steinman recordings (including Bat Out of Hell), orchestrated Steinman’s musical Tanz der Vampire (directed by Roman Polanski and still running in Germany and Austria after 20 years), and has written special symphonic arrangements for Andrew Lloyd Webber.
   With Hair authors James Rado & Gerome Ragni he composed the musicals Sun and Jack Sound. Steve has composed for symphony, ballet, rock recordings, and songs in various styles in addition to his many-faceted shows. An extensive body of his “pops” pieces for orchestra was recorded by the Budapest Symphony on Hungaraton & Albany Records. This Is Forever, an after-life piano rhapsody, featured Steve at the piano with the orchestra. The solo piano version (also with Steve performing) was choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi & presented at the Joyce Theater NYC as part of the 20th anniversary of Buglisi Dance Theatre.
   Also among the body of work recorded in Budapest is American Parade, which was performed by the West Point Army Band and became the subject of a documentary (of the same name) by filmmaker Frank Basile.
   Steve is now writing original OZ themed songs, and as such, is indeed the Songsmith of Oz! He will be introducing a new song "Tin Man" this year at the festival.

Ruby Rakos

Ms. Rakos is a singer and actor from New Jersey. She made her Broadway debut as Tracey Atkinson in Billy Elliot at the age of twelve. She has also starred as Judy Garland in several productions of the musical Chasing Rainbows: the Road to Oz, about Judy’s early years at MGM and her journey to Oz, at the Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina and at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. She also performed in the world premiere of the play The House on the Hill at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in West Virginia last summer. She is a graduate of the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City.

Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan has been making costumes for theater and special events for more than a decade. He attended school for fashion design but has also been self-taught via his own research and creative experimentation.
Currently, Shawn works out of his studio in Palm Harbor, FL. Among his theater credits are Chicago at the St. Pete Little Theatre and The Producers at the Largo Cultural Center. He also did original costume design for Largo’s Lost at Sea. Shawn interned with Susan Hilferty on the workshop of Wonderland: Alice’s New Musical Adventure. (Hilferty is the Tony and Drama Desk Award winner for Best/Outstanding Costume Design for Broadway’s Wicked.)
His costume recreations include such iconic fictional characters as Elphaba and Glinda (Wicked), Ozma (Return to Oz), Winifred Sanderson (Hocus Pocus), Rose (Titanic), and Cinderella. For exhibition at 2017's International Wizard of Oz Club national convention, Shawn duplicated eleven classic Dorothy Gale costumes, ranging from that worn in the 1903 Broadway musical to Judy Garland’s iconic MGM garb and those dresses seen in The Wiz, Return to Oz, and etc.
The All Things Oz Museum is the permanent home for some of Shawn's remarkable replicas, including the Dorothy Dresses from The Wiz, Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical version of The Wizard of Oz, and the 1903 Broadway Music The Wizard of Oz. This year, he’ll present a new Oz costume recreation at OZ-Stravaganza! 2019, which will thereafter become a permanent part of the All Things Oz Museum collection. This year's dress is Glinda based on the famous 1939 MGM film.