It was 8:20 p.m. in Las Vegas, but the sky above me was sunny and blue. As a fan of unique, arguably ridiculous exhibition stunts, I’d sat down for Sphere’s “enhanced” version of The Wizard of Oz at least intrigued by the possibilities of the experience: The original 1939 film, cut down by about 25 minutes, the rest blown up to stretch across a 160,000-square-foot curved dome with additional “immersive” elements.
Lost in translation: A classic film’s soul.
The Sphere presentation begins with a funny little trick. Prior to the show starting, the famous screen was displaying… a screen. Specifically, a photorealistic movie screen framed by curtains, with the rest of the background designed to resemble a traditional theater setting, complete with fake exit signs at the corners. The audience is left to expect, of course, that they’re going to be watching the movie on that (fake) movie screen — before, that is, the film actually begins and one’s gaze is filled entirely by the sepia-tone opening credits, consuming one’s entire field of vision…