The Wizard of Oz at Sphere (Review) - Colossal Spectacle 86 years in the making

Chase Gifford
Sep 1
7 min read

“I've always taken 'The Wizard of Oz' very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I've spent my entire life trying to get over it.”

- Judy Garland

As a self-proclaimed movie fanatic it’s difficult to admit certain things when it comes to movies. Not liking a certain beloved movie, loving a unanimously reviled movie or, in my case with The Wizard of Oz, having never seen the movie in its entirety. Please note the distinction between fanatic or enthusiast and something like expert or specialist. I have never claimed to be an expert but most certainly as an enthusiast far more engrossed by the movie theater experience than the average human. So having to admit that I’ve never seen all of The Wizard of Oz from beginning to end is a lot to unload but I intend to fix that this very week. In fact, by the time anyone reads this, I will have experienced the land of Oz in its most grand, most breathtaking format at Sphere in Las Vegas.

At an astounding 366ft high, 516ft wide, The Wizard of Oz will play out like never before. It is the largest spherical building in the world with an 875,000 sq ft interior and an exterior LED screen as well. It provides seating for 18,600 people and up to 20,000 people including standing capacity. All 580,000 sq feet of the exterior features a screen made up of 1.2 million LED “pucks” that can display 256 million colors. The interior features a 160,000 sq ft LED screen, 1,586 speakers and haptic technology in 10,000 seats. All of this working together to reimagine The Wizard of Oz in a format never before seen on such a scale. Just imagine it.

Approximately fourteen hours later…

Well, I imagined and I saw. And it was extraordinary. When you first walk in, it appears as an old-time theater with green curtains, an impossibly high ceiling with a typical live sound system hanging by chains. Two screens sit on either side of the stage as if they await a live act to grace the stage with something I would assume might be Bluegrass or Folk or maybe even Americana. I imagine a banjo gleaming silver with an old fashioned vintage microphone front and center. A standing cello waits at the side ready to spin and vibrate to life. An upright piano sits opposite the cello with an empty bench placed in front of it. This is all just in my head of course.

As you crane your neck to see the illusion continue upwards, there is an orange, dimly lit series of lights appearing like an unfinished sunrise. It all hints at something magnificent. You know immediately you’re in for a treat when the house opening convinces you that what you’re seeing is completely real. Everything I described, the stage, the curtain and the beautiful ceiling isn’t real. But even knowing it’s not there physically you remain convinced of the fantasy and the feature presentation hasn’t even begun. It’s a kind of precursor to get you in the mindset for magic and spectacle. Of which I promise you, there is more than plenty to come.

At the start time the lights in the massive room promptly turn off and the screen lights up with the title card, proudly and epically. “THE WIZARD OF OZ”! And off it takes you on a glorious adventure starting at the drab but humble Kansas farm, shot in a sepia toned black and white to emphasize the dullness of where Dorothy lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. In the beginning we hear the legendary song “Over the Rainbow.” Judy Garland’s voice fills the room as over 1,500 speakers emit the unmistakable sound of a girl dreaming of a better place free of troubles and a realization of dreams come true. It creates a giddy kind of excitement knowing what awaits her is exactly what she imagines. But first, the storm.

This is when the sphere truly takes hold. As you look in practically every direction you see debris blowing and farm animals fleeing to safety as a massive tornado barrels its way to the Gale farm and household where Dorothy finds herself unable to escape the impending chaos. Through brilliant (and controversial) use of A.I. the twister towers over the audience utilizing practically every inch of the colossal, spherical screen.

Simultaneously the venue utilizes the rest of your senses using large fans to mimic the powerful wind of the tornado. “Dust” rises from the floor as leaves aggressively flow from one side of the theater to the other all coming together with brilliant visuals of a skyscraper-sized twister ripping through this unassuming Kansas farm. On top of all this is haptic seating creating vibrations and quaking throughout to truly emphasize the size and power of this violent storm. Your hair blows as debris whirls around the empty spaces in front of a tornado you can almost reach out and touch.

And away we go as Dorothy is taken on the adventure of a lifetime. When she comes to, she walks to the front door only to discover she's not in Kansas anymore. And the color envelopes you with a kind of vibrancy you rarely ever see beyond the borders of a beautiful painting and best part of all? It’s alive and begging us to join Dorothy wherever this new world takes her. It’s so incredibly exciting!

On her way she meets so many fascinating characters from the effervescent Good Witch of the North, Glinda to her beloved Munchkins of Munchkinland. Through some catchy tunes and memorable dance numbers they turn her to the great and powerful Oz who is the only one that can get her home to Kansas. She only needs to follow the yellow brick road. Along this road she meets her new best friends, the Scarecrow without a brain, the Tin Man without a heart, and the Cowardly Lion without courage. And of course her trusty companion Toto, always at her side.

Of course everyone she encounters isn’t so nice. She’s green, wears all black and uses women's oldest form of transportation. (Just kidding, don’t be mad please.) And those pesky flying monkeys are no help either. At least not for Dorothy and her friends. And then there’s the so-called “wizard”, supposedly great and powerful. More like fraudulent and weak. If this were America he’d definitely get sued. Although he proves not to be completely useless in the end.

Along the yellow brick road the immersive experience continues with literal apples falling from the sky (free memorabilia to take home) and snow billowing into the room. The room continuously shakes, pulling you even further into the world of Oz. As we face Elphaba and her flying minions, her essence fills the room with temperature drops and cavernous rooms covered in books of spells and incantations. Oh and it’s Vegas so of course someone was smoking weed DURING the movie. But that’s just a bonus feature I guess. When Glinda enters the scene everything becomes sparkly and blindingly pink. When we meet the wizard literal fire bursts from floor to ceiling intensifying his massive presence. His green, floating head is more cartoonish and reminiscent of The Great Gazoo from The Flintstones than anything remotely intimidating. But it was 1939, you kind of just have to go with it.

And, eventually, Scarecrow gets a degree and with it a brain he can use. The Tin Man gets a heart shaped clock symbolizing that his heart was there the whole time. And The Cowardly Lion, possibly from Queens, NY, gets a medal for courage. And Dorothy gets a ticket to ride the wizard’s hot air balloon back to rural Kansas, her home, the place she never truly appreciated until she couldn’t get back to it anymore. Sometimes we need to go on a journey to realize we were already exactly where we needed to be from the very beginning. But the shortsighted wizard takes off without her forcing her to turn to Glinda once again for help.

This is when she speaks about some nonsense about having to discover the power of the ruby red slippers herself. It’s like the birds at the end of The Lord of the Rings flying in at the very end when the ring is already destroyed. It’s like what the hell?! We could have just flown in on a direct flight, snacks included because they’re hobbits ya know. But nooo, a lesson had to be learned or something. If you ask me, Glinda just used Dorothy and her friends to kill off her competition. Mission accomplished I guess. Also, does anyone notice that Dorothy is kind of ruthless in this? She kills two complete strangers and then just goes home. And everyone celebrates when she does it. You know something, Oz is a pretty messed up place if you really think about it. They repeatedly sing about someone dying as they dance and giggle like it’s officially their new holiday celebration. Anyway, getting off track here…

All funnies aside, The Wizard of Oz at Sphere is spectacular from start to finish. It’s wholly immersive, endlessly beautiful and impossibly enormous. It creates a real sense of magic all the while utilizing the most advanced technology in a wonderful concoction of awe-inspiring spectacle. Ridiculously priced, as something that should be for families to enjoy, but for a one time, unforgettable experience, it is, and I say this begrudgingly, completely worth it. It’s something I’ll never forget. For my first time to Oz, I couldn’t ask for a better vessel. This was really something. THE WIZARD OF OZ AT SPHERE.