ON THIS DAY IN ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY
June 10, 2026
WICKED THE MUSICAL opens in San Francisco (pre-Broadway)
In 1995, Gregory Maguire published the Wizard of Oz revisionist book WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST telling the Wizard of Oz story from the perspective of the titular green witch.
Composer and Lyricist discovered this and saw it's potential as a stage musical and convinced Universal (who owned the book's rights) to eschew a film version in favor of his stage version.
For those of you (like me) that read the book after seeing the musical, you quickly realized that the Musical was a "distant adaptation" of the book - for obvious good reasons.
Schwartz justified the deviation, saying: "Primarily we were interested in the relationship between Galinda—who becomes Glinda—and Elphaba... the friendship of these two women and how their characters lead them to completely different destinies."
The book, lyrics, and score for the musical were developed through a series of readings. In these developmental workshops, Kristin Chenoweth, the actress whom Schwartz had in mind while writing the character, joined the project as Glinda. Stephanie J. Block played Elphaba in the workshops (she played Elphaba in the first national tour and later as a Broadway cast replacement) before Idina Menzel was cast in the role in late 2002.
Through many twists and turns (including replacing Robert Morse as the Wizard with Joel Grey), the musical opened it's pre-broadway tryout on this day in 2003 to mixed reviews.
The show would move to Broadway in October of the same year and has since become a cultural milestone, earning 3 Tony Awards and the Cast Album won a Grammy. The musical is still running on Broadway to this day (it's currently the 4th longest running show in Broadway history) and has spawned numerous other productions, road shows and a 2 part movie series.
ON THIS DAY IN ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY
January 6, 1973
SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKS! Debuts
Started as an INTERSTITIAL (a show that runs between shows), SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK made it's debut on the ABC Network on this day in 1973 during the Saturday Morning Cartoon time that was the norm from the major networks back when I was a kid.
These animated, musical, educational short films covered themes including grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series' original run lasted from 1973 to 1984; it was later revived from 1993 to 1996. Additional episodes were produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release.
Featuring such (now) classic shorts as "Conjunction Junction", "Interplanet Janet" and, of course, "I'm Just A Bill", these short films were an instant hit.
SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK was the brainchild of David McCall, an advertising executive who's son was struggling to learn his multiplication tables. He did notice that his son knew every word of Rolling Stones songs, so he hired musician Bob Dorough to write a song that would teach his son math tables. This turned out to be "Three Is The Magic Number". Tom Yohe, an illustrator at the advertising firm that McCall worked at heard the song and suggested they pitch it as a television series. Michael Eisner (future CEO of Disney - who was then VP of ABC) liked the idea as did famed cartoon director Chuck Jones.
It started as "Multiplication Rock", the next season was "Grammar Rock" followed in the 3rd season by "America Rock" (coinciding with the Bicentennial of the United States). The 4th season was "Science Rock" and a shortened, 4 episode "Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips" taught about the new-fangled "Home Computer".
After leaving the airwaves in 1985, the series was revived, briefly in 1993 with 2 more "Grammar Rock" segments and a whole new series "Money Rock" debuted in 1995.
The Walt Disney Company (now run by Michael Eisner) acquired the rights to the series in 1996 and bundled all of these segments together in a home VHS series called "Schoolhouse Rock".
With the release of the series on DVD in 2009, a dozen "Earth Rock" segments (touting environmental issues) was introduced.
All Episodes of Schoolhouse Rock are streaming on Disney+.
May 16, 1929
THE FIRST ACADEMY AWARDS CEREMONY
On this day - May 16 - in 1929, the first Academy Awards were held. In an effort to unite the five branches of the film industry - actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers - MGM icon Louis B. Mayer established the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scientists. His thinking was that if they gave out Awards, “they would kill them to produce what I wanted”. His thinking worked.
The first ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, attended by 270 and was hosted by Douglas Fairbanks. The actual handing out of the 12 awards lasted all of 15 minutes (the winners were notified in advance to ensure attendance). The winner of first BEST PICTURE award was WINGS while Best Actor went to EMIL JANNINGS and Best Actress was JANET GAYNOR. Interestingly enough, both performers won the award for multiple performances of the year - a practice I would endorse for current times.