Lea Michele, Megan Hilty, Hugh Dancy & More Headed to Oz

Looks like Lea Michele will be getting fitted for some ruby slippers! The Glee star has been cast to voice the title role in the previously announced upcoming 3D animated The Wizard of Oz sequel film, Dorothy of Oz. She will sing several original songs written by Grammy winning singer-songwriter Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. Michele will be joined by a slew of stage veterans, including Hugh Dancy (The Pride, Journey's End) as Marshall Mallow and Megan Hilty, who played Glinda in Wicked, as the China Princess.

Current La Cage Aux Folles star and Tony nominee Kelsey Grammer will voice iconic Oz character The Tinman alongside TV star Jim Belushi (According to Jim) and Dan Aykroyd (Christmas With the Cranks) as the Lion and Scarecrow. Tony nominees Patrick Stewart, who will return to Broadway this fall in David Mamet’s A Life in Theatre, and Oliver Platt (Guys and Dolls) will play Tugg and Wiser the Owl. Tony winner Martin Short (Little Me) rounds out the cast as villain the Jester.

Dorothy of Oz is the first in a planned series of animated films based on books by Roger S. Baum, great grandson of the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. Directed by Dan St. Pierre (Everybody’s Hero), Dorothy will feature additional songs by country singer Tift Merritt and Mike Himelstein, with composer Jim Dooley contributing the score.

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. No release date has been announced.