Joe Cascone, artistic director of the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company, had long wanted to stage a musical of The Wonderful Wizard of Ozthat was truer to Baum's original intentions, and as such, was able to incorporate various influences from the many adaptations of the story produced throughout the 20th century, including the original 1903 musical, the famous 1939 MGM film, the musical The Wiz and several others. In writing the libretto for the new musical, Cascone made Baum a character in the play as a narrator, also doubling as the Wizard. Composer and lyricist James Patrick Doyle was a long time Oz admirer who restored some of the music from Baum's The Maid of Arran, the1902 Wizard, The Woggle-Bug, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Prince Silverwings, and The Patchwork Girl of Oz, which had not