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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz cover art

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By: L. Frank Baum,Paul Magrs - adaption
Narrated by: Jim Broadbent,Lydia West
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About the Performer

Lydia West is currently filming the new Apple show Tailspin, playing the role of ‘Monique’. She has recently wrapped on filming Russell T Davies’ Channel 4 series The Boys. Recent credits include the Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat BBC 1/Netflix series Dracula and the critically acclaimed Russell T Davies’ drama Years and Years playing one of the leading roles of ‘Bethany’ for BBC/HBO. Other credits include the feature film Higher Grounds.

About the Performer

Jim Broadbent trained at LAMDA before embarking on a long and very successful career. He is an award-winning actor having won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his portrayal of John Bayley in the film Iris. He also won a Bafta TV Award and Golden Globe for his role of Lord Longford in the made-for-TV film Lord Longford. Jim has appeared in numerous film and television productions. His theatre work began with productions for the National Theatre of Brent and he has since appeared in productions for both The Royal Court and the Royal National Theatre.

Summary

When Dorothy and her pet dog, Toto, are swept away from their Kansas home, they find themselves in the magical land of Oz where munchkins live, monkeys fly and Wicked Witches rule. In their quest to return home they meet a cast of characters that have become much loved by families since the story was first published in 1900. Dorothy, played by Lydia West (Years and Years) joins the Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion as they follow the yellow brick road to find the Wizard, played by Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady, Moulin Rouge). 

In this Audible Original drama, Oz is a real place full of real dangers, and we are introduced to new characters and perils in the journey to the Emerald City to meet the all-powerful Wizard of Oz, who alone may hold the power to grant Dorothy and her new friends’ every wish.

Featuring: David Benson, Jim Broadbent, Margaret Cabourn, Stephen Critchlow, James Dryden, Alix Dunmore, Jack Lane, Jason Nwoga, Lizzie Roper, Dan Starkey and Lydia West.

©2020 Audible, Ltd (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

Behind the scenes

Lydia West and Jim Broadbent discuss the recording of Oz
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What listeners say about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

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I really loved this story!:)

What i disliked was that I’m only 8 and the was so much things about killing in it . What I did like was that Dorothy , scarecrow , todo, tin wood man, and loin became friends.

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16 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting and vivid adaptation

This adaptation of the great children’s classic has plenty of excitement. The performances are energetic and vivid and the sound effects are quite spectacular at times. While the storyline is broadly faithful to the original, there is a darker quality to this version. The portrayal of Dorothy in particular has an angry edge. Now this makes her character believable but certainly loses the gentleness in Baum’s novel. And generally the adaptation does not have the charm of the book. So I think this is aimed more at an older audience. In the end, this is a fine performance, an interesting take on the story, certainly worth hearing. but it does not eclipse the original work.

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4 people found this helpful

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very enjoyable

just the thing for a wet and windy weekend.

Dorothy had just a little snarck and wasn't too whiny.
A clever brainless scarecrow is always worth a listen and a tin woodsman who is a bit full of himself but usually very helpful is just about bearable as he is quite comical in a dry way.
The rest of the cast were good and I also liked the Queen of all the Mice, she was just brilliant.

Also as I haven't read this story since my children were small, which was a long time ago now, it brought back some very fond memories for me. Thank you to Audible and the cast for those moments too.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly messed up but otherwise good

Of course, I knew the story in a general sense but I was surprised listening to the story how messed up it is! Possibly adult eyes on a children’s story- they’re all very dark when you think about it- but yeesh.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

So much more to it than I thought

We all know the story, but this telling was so much fun!

The actors were fantastic in dialling up the humour and I flew through it.

Shockingly I didn't realise it went beyond the balloon so very glad to hear this version.

Wonderful production.

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1 person found this helpful

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brought the story to life

I was engaged from beginning to end. all the characters were spot on! Great work to the cast!

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1 person found this helpful

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the best

it was good and the story
was very very interesting when dorothy met wereid people

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1 person found this helpful

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Lovely classic well performed

It’s a good story, performed without narration by focusing exclusively on dialogs and noises. It really makes you immerse in the story and was very enjoyable

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

over-the-top acting

I'm afraid if your kids love the film and musical this will be a shock. The whole story is acted out with no narrator, which means it's been rewritten, and not very well! There are huge long passages which were obviously cut from the film for a reason as they meander around not really adding to the story. Although the film is obviously based on the book, the film editors added things such as the ruby slippers which make the story so iconic. Even Jim Broadbent's acting was hammy which was a shock! I'd give it a miss I'm afraid.

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Theatrical Brilliance!

I absolutely loved it, the drama it’s good to get those rough day blues, kids will love the characters. I enjoyed it as my fav character the Tin-man is in it, liked the voice for the Cowardly Lion as well, I’d recommend it still.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 24-04-21

Incredible adaptation!

I have not read the book, but I've seen the movie. I honestly think I liked this adaptation better! A little cheesy and over dramatic at times, but overall, super fun! 10/10 would recommend!

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Chris R.
  • 11-01-21

butchered

this was a chop job on the original story, not even a movie butchers a story like this.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Jeffery
  • 23-09-21

Classic but odd story; fairly good adaptation

slightly bothered by the sing-song quality and over emphaticness of Dorothy's voice. also some scenes have weirdly long stretches of sound effects (like when the woodman is killing wolves). besides those things I enjoyed listening to it and I think it represents the book well

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  • Stephanie
  • 16-04-23

Not the book

The women voices do nothing but whine. Highly annoying and not pleasant to listen to.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 17-01-23

A so-so performance

I really prefer to have books read in the original form rather than having them performed by a full cast, but I listened to this one all the way through. Many of the performers were quite good, although I thought the actor who read the part of Dorothy left a lot to be desired. She definitely did not sound like a "young girl" and at times seemed to be imitating Judy Garland. Uncle Henry sounded like an African-American, and the scarecrow seemed to be from Scotland. I was mostly OK with those choices in casting, but when the leader of the winged monkeys turned out to have a Bronx accent, that was a little bit too much for me.

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  • Jayson Strong
  • 03-01-23

The voice acting is terrible

Yikes. It’s just annoying. The voice actors are just too overblown and dramatic. Bad fake accents galore. I could not tolerate it.

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 30-11-20

Great program!

I had no idea this audiobook would be so good when I picked it to listen.

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  • Daniel Scruggs
  • 12-08-23

great

I loved it this was truly entertaining and very interesting it was really good dramatizatized

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  • Mary Creamer Feddema
  • 23-02-23

The best book ever

Everything about it is good and good plot twist in the end
So good love it

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  • Anonymous User
  • 02-01-23

Classic

I like real listening to a book that I supposed to when I was younger and I still like it. A great story.

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