Lea Michele and Kristin Chenoweth May Be Headed for Oz

Well, it’s not Wicked, but multiple reports claim that Glee star Lea Michele and Broadway’s original Glinda, Kristin Chenoweth, will lend their voices to the upcoming animated feature film Dorothy of Oz, based on the characters created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and adventure books written by his great-grandson, Roger S. Baum. Michele would voice Dorothy and Chenoweth would play a new characteter, the China Doll Princess.

A website for the film, due for release in 2011, lists Kelsey Grammer as the Tin Man, Dan Aykroyd as the Scarecrow, James Belushi as the Lion ("formerly Cowardly") and Martin Short as the Jester.

The plot begins as Dorothy returns to Kansas to find it devastated by the tornado that sent her to Oz. Before she can react to the destruction of her home, she is transported back to Oz, where her three friends have disappeared. She meets a man made of marshmallows who can’t think for himself, a china doll princess whose bossiness is a cover for her fragility and a tugboat with as many personalities as he has pieces. Dorothy must help this group band together against the Jester, a wicked new villain who believes that all of Oz should be under his control.

The Dorothy of Oz website lists Disney animation vet Daniel St. Pierre as the film’s director, with songs by country singer/songwriter Tift Merritt and lyricist Mike Himelstein and a score by Jim Dooley, who worked on Chenoweth’s former TV show Pushing Daisies.