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Sing-A-Long? Now That's a Horse of a Different Color

By Margaret Lyons in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 8, 2004 5:51PM

2004_09_08.dorothy.jpgOh my god, we are so excited for Sing A-long Wizard of Oztonight. No, seriously, holy shit, we cannot wait. There's been a decent amount of buzz about the whole thing, and that's appropriate considering it's the "most beloved motion picture of all time," and now it's back. The screening tonight is part of the Music Box Theater's 75th anniversary celebration, which included three movies yesterday and will wrap up tomorrow with Blackmail, Hitchcock's first sound film, The Love Parade, Ernst Lubitsch's first sound film, and The Cocoanuts, the first Marx Brothers feature. Admission is 75 cents per movie, so start saving up.

Tonight is the main attraction, at least for Chicagoist. Everyone is encouraged to dress up, and not just as your favorite character—photos from previous events show creative-types dressed as the twister, the yellow-brick road, and our favorite somewhere over the rainbow. You don't have to dress up, but there's a costume contest that would clearly be worth winning.

Even if youÂ’re a lame-o who's not in costume, you'll get a perform-a-long fun pack that includes bubbles, a noise maker, a magic wand and a kazoo. An emcee will lead participants in various activities, and the songs are subtitled so you don't worry about remembering whether the wind began to pitch, the house to switch or the other way around. (Wind switch, house pitch, hinges unhitch, for the record.)

We're pissed that we never caught sing-a-long Sound of Music (which returns to the Music Box November 26-28!) or dance-a-long Nutcracker, so we're pretty geared up for tonight. The interactive elements of the evening were designed by Chicago-based director and choreographer Marc Robin and Second City's Craig Cackowski and T.J. Shanoff, and all the festivities are G-rated.