Photos: Lorna Luft, Jessica Vosk, & More Attend THE WIZARD OF OZ AT SPHERE

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, the new immersive experience of the 1939 film, officially opened on Thursday. Many Broadway alums appeared on the yellow carpet, including Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft, Wicked star Jessica Vosk, Skylar Astin, and more. Also in attendance was Marissa Bode, who plays Nessarose in the two-part film adaptation of Wicked. Check out photos from the event below.

Presented in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery, Google, and Magnopus, The Wizard of Oz at Sphere is now playing as part of The Sphere Experience in Las Vegas. Take a look at photos and video footage from the experience. Tickets are available now here. 

Inside the main bowl, the original film, shot for a 4:3 movie screen in the 1930s, now fills Sphere’s interior display plane, which wraps up, over, and around the audience to create a fully immersive visual environment. To take advantage of Sphere Immersive Sound’s advanced capabilities and ability to direct sound anywhere in the venue, the original film’s score was re-recorded to take on new clarity, while preserving the cast’s vocal performances. Multi-sensory 4D elements combine for maximum impact to make audiences feel like they are in the experience alongside the characters. 

In collaboration with Google and Magnopus, The Wizard of Oz at Sphere utilizes generative AI technologies alongside traditional visual effects to achieve the visuals that fit Sphere’s 16K resolution media plane. The AI models were fine-tuned on the original film, as well as on archival materials such as set pictures and production design schematics – all in an effort to stay true to the creators’ intent. More than a thousand visual effects artists from all over the world collaborated on this project. 

For The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, the Academy Award-winning score was re-recorded to leverage the capabilities of Sphere Immersive Sound. The original mono audio was separated into individual stems of music, vocals, dialogue, and sound effects. Inside Sphere, the stems are layered together with the re-recorded score to create a sound mix that reveals a depth and clarity unheard in the 1939 film. Coupled with Sphere Immersive Sound’s directional capabilities and the vocal and sound effect stems, sound can travel around the venue.

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere marks the first time Sphere has produced a 4D experience of this size and scale, with a level of immersion that exceeds anything previously done in the venue. The 4D elements – the twister, butterflies, flying apples, snow, Winged Monkeys, and fire were all engineered to sync with the story unfolding on the screen. 

The creative team includes Academy Award and Emmy-nominated producer Jane Rosenthal (The Irishman); Academy Award-winning visual effects specialist Ben Grossmann (Hugo); Academy Award-winning editor Jennifer Lame (Oppenheimer); and Creative Director Zack Winokur (Little Island).

The original 1939 musical film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, the young Kansas girl dreaming of a life away from her family farm. What begins in dull black-and-white soon becomes a Technicolor extravaganza as Dorothy and her dog Toto are whisked away to the colorful world of Oz.