Miss Gulch Returns! is a one-man musical comedy written and originally performed by Fred Barton

Fred Barton

Fred Barton is an American composer, lyricist, director, actor, singer, arranger, conductor, and pianist who made his New York debut in 1982 as co-creator-arranger-performer-pianist in the original company of the internationally acclaimed revue Forbidden Broadway, appearing in the New York, L.A...

. It is loosely based on the character of Almira Gulch from the 1939

1939 in film

The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...

 MGM film The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

 as portrayed by Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz...

. Although the script alludes to the character of the Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character and the most significant antagonist in L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 (also portrayed by Hamilton in the film) it focuses primarily on Gulch.

Plot

After a brief introduction Barton encounters Almira Gulch drinking in a cabaret bar and is so fascinated by her that he adopts her personality for the evening ("You're The Woman I'd Wanna Be").

As described in the cast recording's liner notes Almira is an "embittered also-ran." The show satirizes the cult status of Judy Garland

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

 within the gay community. Almira complains that her big musical number ("I'm A Bitch") was cut from the final version of The Wizard of Oz, while Garland was allowed to perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She reveals a lonely, unhappy childhood ("Born On A Bike"). Following the deaths of her parents she begins drinking heavily, but bemoans the fact that liquor cannot take the place of a man ("Pour Me A Man").