Special Guests

Below are some of the special guests that will be in attendance at this year’s OzCon International. This list will be updated often as we continue to make announcements.

TARA TAGLIAFERRO & EMKAY SHRADER

We couldn’t be happier to let the joyous news be spread, Tara Tagliaferro & EmKay Shrader of Down the Yellow Brick Pod are joining OzCon as our Sparkling Emcees (or Good Witches of Ceremony, if you will) this June! As the official recommended podcast of OzCon, DTYBP takes listeners on a magical journey through all things Oz—from L. Frank Baum’s Oz books to Disney’s Return to Oz and the world of Wicked. Don’t miss a moment of their Oz-some insights—subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, follow them on Instagram @downtheyellowbrickpod, and join their enchanting Patreon community!

Down the Yellow Brick Pod is an Oz pop culture and historical preservation podcast hosted by besties Emily Kay Shrader and Tara Tagliaferro somewhere over the rainbow! Since 2020, Down the YBP has been peeling behind the curtain on Oz property after Oz property, mining for emeralds in each discussion, exploring the gray, and building a found fam off mic via their Patreon. Past seasons include the original Baum books, the MGM classic, the original Broadway production, film, and 2024 revival of The Wiz, Disney’s Return to Oz, Wicked from page to stage to films, and many other niche deep dives in between. Past guests of the pod include Judy Garland’s celebrated daughter Lorna Luft, Shanice Williams of NBC’s The Wiz Live!, Todrick Hall on Straight Out of Oz, Tony and Grammy Award Winning good witch Dee Dee Bridgewater of the original The Wiz, RuPaul Drag Race’s Ginger Minj, The Wiz 2024 Revival cast members, Wicked musical and movie cast members, and the one and only Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked.

In addition to their seasons thus far, EmKay and Tara have developed an Oz song catalog performing live from the historic Stonewall Inn to the Land of Oz Theme Park in NC, hosting an annual retreat there in tandem. In 2024, they made their documentary debut in Mysteries of Oz and held the ruby slippers that went for 28 million dollars, two dreams that they dared to dream that HOLY MOLY came true. Tara and EmKay have had Oz in their DNA since before they could remember, meeting as nuns on the run on the Broadway National Tour of Sister Act a decade ago and living together during the pandemic in Queens, NY. They couldn’t be happier to be your OzCon hosts!

SCOTT BROGAN

Scott Brogan is the webmaster and author of the world-famous Judy Room website, which includes the largest and most detailed Garland discography ever compiled. He is also the author and webmaster of the Judy Garland News & Events blog, which features the “On This Day” series that presents thousands of images and details about Garland’s life and career for each day of the year. For eight years he was the designer and webmaster of Liza Minnelli’s official website. He is world renowned for the design and content of these sites and is a respected expert on Garland’s career, having been a major contributor to books about Garland and/or her films, as well as books about the MGM Studios, in addition to podcasts, live stream events, and radio programs. For four years, Brogan worked as a researcher and author for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. His program essays have been cataloged by the Library of Congress and translated into several languages. He was also a community columnist for the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter for many years. He recently co-produced and wrote the liner notes for the successful Judy at 100 – 26 Classics in Stereo CD release; he has written several other CD liner notes and been involved in the production of many others. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

GREGORY HALL

Composer Gregory Hall has been passionate about Oz ever since the 1960s, when only being able to see the 1939 movie once a year made it even more special, and especially since he experienced the amazing conclusion to The Marvelous Land of Oz when only nine years old. He holds a B.A. degree in Music from the University of California Santa Barbara (1982), and a Diploma degree from the Curtis Institute of Music (1986), where he studied with Ned Rorem. He is an elected member of the American Composers Alliance, and a Fellow of the Ucross Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
He has participated in festivals and concerts by the American Composers Alliance, Music Teachers National Association, Society of Composers Inc., Maine Composers Forum, Maine Arts, Gamper Festival, Back Cove Contemporary Music Festival, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States.
In 2024, soprano Merissa Beddows was awarded a $5,000 Young Alumni Grant from the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA, to produce and star in Gregory’s “Musical Opera” Marvelous. In 2023 Marvelous was a finalist for the American Prize in Composition, Opera/Theater division. He has received many other commissions and grants since the 1990’s.
Mr. Hall’s commercial recordings and works have been reviewed numerous times: in the New Music Connoisseur, the New York Times, The American Record Guide, MusicWeb International, as well as the Portland (Maine) Press-Herald.
His fascination with songwriting–and combining contemporary opera and musicals–has resulted in Marvelous, based on Land of Oz, his response to the tale that has haunted him for decades.

VINCENT MYRAND

Renowned Oz artist Vincent Myrand is a veteran of the Oz scene, and one of its best known visual representatives. He has been passionate about Oz since childhood, and the subject has informed his art in the same way. Vincent’s clients include Emma Ridley (Return to Oz), who has commissioned dozens of portraits of the film’s character Ozma from him, and Christianna Rickard. He has illustrated the books Yookoohoos of Oz by Paul Dana, A Legend in Straw (a memoir of Ray Bolger by his niece Christianna Rickard), and Ziggy Zig-Zags—The Light and Dark Fantastic by Ron Baxley Jr.
Vincent has been a recognized VIP and vendor at numerous Oz events. These include: 2015–OzCon International, San Diego, CA. 2017–Oz-Stravaganza, Chittenango, NY. 2018–OzCon International, Pomona, CA. He has also had residencies at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME, among others, and taught at numerous venues.
Vincent’s current Oz project is his largest to date: he has produced well over 60 canvases for the “Illustrated Musical Opera“ Marvelous, by Gregory Hall and Vincent Myrand. In 2024, soprano Merissa Beddows, semi-finalist for America’s Got Talent 2023, was awarded a $5,000 Young Alumni Grant from the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA, to produce and star in Marvelous. In 2023 Marvelous was a finalist for the American Prize in Composition, Opera/Theater division.
In his illustrations for the opera, which will be displayed prominently during performances, Vincent draws upon the symbolist language of artists like Gustave Moreau and Alphonse Mucha, to find the visual spark that ignites the potential of the overall story.