SCREEN LIVE’S WIZARD OF OZ (1925)

Fourteen years before Judy Garland and company famously skipped along the Yellow Brick Road and into the pantheon of cinema greatness, the silent film era’s king of comedy brought a more frivolous vision of the Wizard of Oz to the silver screen. Larry Semon’s 1925 version liberally re-imagined Frank Baum’s classic fantasy story, thoroughly entertaining audiences with its cocktail of slapstick, pantomime and incredible production values, as well as Semon’s Buster Keaton-like ability to evoke both humour and sympathy in his performance. In the penultimate instalment of the Sydney Opera House’s Screen Live series, Australia’s Queen of boogie woogie piano Jan Preston will lead a musical trio in revitalising Semon’s rarely-seen gem with a live original score that captures the film’s capricious rhythm, whilst underscoring its emotional climate with melodic motifs that hint at playfulness and pathos. Preston explains that while her score might provide nostalgic charm, it’s anything but old hat. “There are elements of boogie woogie and rag-time,” she says, “but to get hung-up on being overly authentic to the era is counterproductive to introducing new creative processes and ways of experiencing film. This is a performance for an audience that’s alive right here and now and we want to bring something very fresh to Semon’s enormously entertaining film, to infuse it with a creative soundtrack that’s really going to bring it and zing it into a contemporary viewing environment.”

Sept 19, Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, $20-29, 92507777, sydneyoperahouse.com