I have a friend, Ron Sparks, from my days at S&C Electric Company in Chicago. Ron makes short trips to Las Vegas from Arizona a couple times a year. He was in town last week and emailed asking me if I wanted to go with him to The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. Would I? I hadn’t visited the Sphere yet and heard good things about the Wizard, so agreed to meet Ron last Wednesday at El Cortez Hotel & Casino. Ron then drove us to The Venetian Resort to park ($20) and walk to the Sphere.

Thank goodness, the Las Vegas weather (100 degrees plus) had just broken (90 degrees plus) so our walk outside wasn’t miserable. But it was long and parking at The Venetian Resort would not be appropriate for folks with walking issues. Ron paid $143.74 for each ticket and our seats were great. Incidentally, the 5 p.m. showing on Wednesday was not sold out; plenty of seats were available to the far left and far right of us and above and below us.

We quite enjoyed the movie. The screen was all around us so we could see characters in the middle and look left and right and admire beautiful scenery. Both of us admitted we didn’t remember every part of the story, but the characters in such bright clear colors seemed to jump off the screen. Judy Garland looked beautiful. I say that because whenever I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz in the past, I had no such feeling. Yes, the familiar characters were there, and yes, the storm sequence was great. Our seats reacted to the sounds on the screen and the apple scene was short with no apples falling into the audience.

I think lots of people should see this version of the Wizard of Oz. It’s a great story and a reminder of good times past, but the price is high, so I don’t know. Below are some of the photos I took during the movie. The photos in no way do justice to the surround screens enhancing every scene.