‘Wizard of Oz’ infused with new magic in Las Vegas Sphere premiere — PHOTOS

We start with the obvious. “Wizard of Oz at Sphere” produces art that is not just once a generation, but once in history. What leaps off the screen has you shaking your head, wondering if can be topped by any art form, whether AI or human.

But enough about Judy Garland.

Maybe it’s trite to watch a $100 million, technically staggering makeover of a 1939 classic and mention the lead actress. But “Wizard” is, first, a reminder of how much the 16-year-old was required to carry in this movie. So much book, convincing in every segment. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a song for all time, is in early, in the black-and-white segment. It’s the movie’s signature song today, but back then, the table-setter for what’s to come.

The live-action elements make you feel as if you’re Dorothy’s fourth friend on this adventure. The Columnist, in this instance, bemoaning, “If I only had some metaphors.”

The 4Dpieces, listed below, are selling points for the “WOZ,” as it is called. The tornado is reason enough to see “WOZ,” and the other live-action scenes are a treat. You might walk out with an fake apple, some debris, and a need to freshen up after the wind is finished with you.

The original 1939 film has been polished and expanded by bolstered by the folks at Google Cloud and Google DeepMind, incorporating some 1,000 artists in the revamp. The low-resolution 34-millimeter film has been upgraded to 16K “super resolution” quality for Sphere. The team has also cut back the run time to 80 minutes, to fill multiple showings per day. The cast comes upon Oz, talking about the long and arduous trip, but you’re thinking, “It was a lot tougher in the original.”

Perfecting the resolution is an ongoing process. The clarity in some scenes, the images coming loose, which can interrupt the experience. How ticket-holders deal with this issue is crucial to the film’s word-of-mouth and treatment on social media.

And to address the Winged Monkey in the corner, “WOZ” needs to convince families it is worth paying (at least) $104 per ticket to see this experience. Nosebleeds on Friday started at $129. “WOZ” stands alone as a theatrical production, but you can buy a ticket to Disneyland for that price. That is also about the cost of a ticket to a Cirque show, depending on your entertaiment meter. As a reminder, the High Price of Things in Vegas has been a torrid topic all summer.

“WOZ” will need to continue its masterful marketing campaign for this show to sustain its strong pre-sales. A reported 200,000 tickets have sold entering the opening weekend, which is real box-office wizardry.

Some early snapshots of what we like:

— The Twister. Give it up for the blast of wind that takes the audience by storm. Crepe paper debris litters the Bulbous Wonder. Hang on to your toupees/wigs, where applicable. As Sphere head Jim Dolan reminded, this is not the first time a show has hit its audience with wind (the ill-fated “Amystika” at Planet Hollywood had a great windstorm), but at Sphere, everything is more powerful.

— Those aerial primates. The 16-foot-long, drone-powered, inflatable Winged Monkeys are summoned by the Wicked Witch to capture Dorothy. You know what they capture instead? Our imaginations. The only quibble is they don’t stay long enough (so be sure to check out the display model in the Atrium).

— Them apples. The fall from the sky, with a fragrance of a Red Delicious from the state of Washington. Keep them, take them home, trade or sell on the secondary market. They have the “Wizard of Oz” logo and are as fun as Nerf balls.

— Butterflies. They flutterby, drawing cheers.

— Haptic action. The seats shake at all the right times, and not uncomfortably.

— We’re in a snow globe. Snow falls upon the crowd in the famous poppy-field scene when Glinda the Good Witch casts a spell to wake Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man (this is similar to the artificial snow in “Michael Jackson One” and, earlier, “Storm,” both at Mandalay Bay).

— “Oh joy! Rapture!” From the Scarecrow, one of the best-timed, best-delivered lines in film history.

— Radio City Music Hall. The walk-in image is of the venerable theater owned by Jim Dolan’s Sphere Entertainment, which also owns the Sphere. You can hear the orchestra warming up with, “Follow The Yellow Brick Road.” You feel you are somewhere else, even before you are introduced to Kansas and Oz.

— Dolan’s title: He’s “Chief Muckety-Muck,” in the post-show credits. That could carry on to all of his Sphere roles.

— A horse of a different color: The bright purple equine pops as it leads the group through the gates of Oz.

— Giant Munchkins: They are billed famously as simply, “The Munchkins.” They are superhero-scale in “The Lollipop Guild” bit.

— Black-and-white clarity. I was struck by how long the opening B&W segment really is. These scenes shine in their own manner, precise and simple. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” fills your soul, with no need for color.

— Attention to detail. You can clearly see the creases in tape along the Munchkins’ foreheads for their wigs, for instance. An army of ants marches up a tree trunk. And as Dolan noted, Garland had a blemish — a zit, if you will — on her left cheek that you can see today, but not in ‘39. This is an instance of warts-and-all, but for “Wizard of Oz,” this is a clean and powerful experience.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.