Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wizard of Oz, played by Ashanti in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. In this version of the story, she is an aspiring singer who works at a diner owned by Aunt Em.
Role in the film
Dorothy Gale is a young woman who lives in a trailer park in Kansas, working as a waitress at her family's diner. She finds herself bored living in Kansas and desperately wishes to escape and become a singer. After hearing that the Muppets are looking for female singer for a cross-country "Star Hunt", she completes her shift and tries to make it to the audition. However, she arrives late as the Muppets have began their leave. However, she stops Kermit in time and gives him her demo CD to listen to before he is forcefully brought by Miss Piggy into their bus and leaves. Arriving back home in her trailer, Dorothy looks down to Toto, her pet prawn, feeling she will be unable to leave Kansas. During her depression, a tornado hits the area, forcing everyone to evacuate. While Aunt Em and Uncle Henry run into the county storm shelter for safety, Dorothy hurries back to the trailer to get Toto. They do not make it out in time, as they are then engulfed by the tornado. When the trailer finally lands, Dorothy is amazed to find out Toto has suddenly gotten bigger and can talk as she realizes they are not in Kansas anymore.
Stepping out of the trailer, Dorothy discovers they have crashed into Munchkinland, where the Munchkins greet her (but are insulted by her after she mistakes them for rats). They rejoice at the death of their tyrant, the Wicked Witch of the East, crushed under Dorothy's trailer. But seconds later, she lifts it up under her and threatens them. Dorothy goes to help her, only for the trailer to finally fall on her again, killing her for good. After discussing her situation, the Munchkins tell her about the Wizard of Oz, the land's ruler, who has the power to grant her wish of becoming a famous singer. She meets Tattypoo, the Good Witch of the North, and receives a pair of magic silver shoes from the Wicked Witch of the East's body, who at first is unwilling to wear the shoes until Tattypoo convinces her they are popular shoes. The Munchkins direct her to follow the yellow brick road to meet the Wizard at the Emerald City, and tell her to sing a special song to call for them whenever she needs them.
During her first travel, she encounters a scarecrow being bullied by crows. To help him, she throws an ear of corn at him to knock him out, then helps untie him. He reveals that he wants a brain so he can think. She allows him to come so that he can get a brain from the Wizard. They then encounter a tin thing in the Total Intelligence Network facility and reboot him after discovering he is shut down. He explains he was once completely flesh and bone until the Wicked Witch of the East turned him into a robot so that he could not love his girlfriend, Camilla, as robots do not have hearts. Dorothy offers to take him with them so he can ask for a heart from the Wizard, which he accepts. After arriving into a dark forest, the group accidentally run into a lion who is quickly frightened of them. After calming them down, he reveals he wants to be a stand-up comedian, but he does not have the courage for large crowds, and is afraid of everything. Dorothy invites him to join the group as well so that he can get courage from the Wizard. The group encounters several dangers, such as falling victim to the flowers of the "Poppy Fields" club and the Kalidahs, but make through the perils safely.
Finally arriving to the Emerald City, Dorothy receives a new outfit and everyone is required to wear green glasses to see through the Wizard's radiance. As everyone meet the Wizard one by one (and rejected each time), on Dorothy's visit, the Wizard in the form of a green head sends her to retrieve the Wicked Witch of the West's magic eye, which will allow her to see anything she desires in the Land of Oz. As the group arrive in the Witch's domain, they are soon captured by her and her biker gang, the Flying Monkeys, while the Scarecrow and the Tin Thing are left behind after being ripped apart. After being threatened to be killed by her, Toto calls the Munchkins, who set Dorothy free. Seconds later, she kicks the Witch into her own "bottled water bath" which contains tap water (a mistake made by her henchmen), which she is severely allergic to. This action causes her become skinny, and then to melt. Dorothy finds the magic eye unharmed and floating in the tub and grabs it. With the Witch's biker cap, Dorothy gains control of the Flying monkeys, and she travels back to the Emerald City to have her and her friends' wishes granted. When they all storm into the Wizard's room, they discover that he is just an ordinary man using digital imagery through the green glasses. He asked for the witch's eye so that she could not see him for who he really was. Even so, he still proceeds to grant their wishes. Dorothy finally becomes a singer in the Land of Oz, but realizes that all she ever really wanted was to go back home and be with her family. After traveling back to Munchkinland, she meets Glinda the Good Witch of the South, who tells her that if she clicks her heels together three times, she will be able to go anywhere she desires. Dorothy becomes annoyed by this, as Tattypoo did not tell her this before when the shoes had begun to become painful during her journey. Saying goodbye to her friends while ignoring Toto's departing monologue, she clicks her heels three times, saying "Take me home to Aunt Em".
She is then spun by the shoes' charm into Kansas, and, much to her surprise, she finds out that Kermit was looking for her, saying that she had the best voice they heard on the whole search, and that she has been chosen to go on the Star Hunt. Dorothy, having been reunited with her aunt and uncle, and feeling that she is not ready to leave Kansas to become a real star, rejects, but Aunt Em says that she wants her to go with the Muppets on their Star Hunt, much to her even bigger surprise. She then sings "It's a Good Life" on television with them as the film ends.