Everything about The Wiz totally explained
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The Wiz is a
1975 Broadway musical, based on
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by
L. Frank Baum, exclusively featuring
African American actors. The play features music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, and its original cast featured
Stephanie Mills,
Hinton Battle,
Tiger Haynes,
Ted Ross,
Dee Dee Bridgewater,
André DeShields, Tasha Thomas and
Mabel King. The Broadway show opened on
January 5,
1975 on the
Majestic Theatre and ended in
May of
1977. The show moved to broadway for the final two years and ended on
January 28,
1979, and ran for 1,672 performances. A
motion picture adaptation of The Wiz was produced in
1978 (see
1978 in film) by
Motown Productions and
Universal Pictures, starring
Diana Ross,
Michael Jackson,
Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross,
Lena Horne,
Richard Pryor, and Mabel King.
History
The musical was famous for its portrayal of the Wizard of Oz characters as African Americans. It was also one of the most popular musicals of the time.
Broadway musical
The
Broadway musical opened on
January 5,
1975 with
Stephanie Mills as
Dorothy,
Hinton Battle as
Scarecrow, Tiger Haynes as
Tin Man, Ted Ross as
Lion,
Dee Dee Bridgewater as
Glinda the Good Witch,
André DeShields as the Wiz and
Mabel King as Evillene the
Wicked Witch of the West. The production was directed by
Geoffrey Holder.
The Wiz opened at the
Majestic Theatre and later moved to
The Broadway Theatre. It ran for four years and over 1600 performances, and won seven
Tony Awards, including
Best Musical. The most popular song from the production was "
Ease on Down the Road", sung by the characters as they dance down the Yellow Brick Road.
Along with other musicals like
Purlie (1971) and
Raisin (1974),
The Wiz was a breakthrough for Broadway, a large-scale big-budget musical featuring an all-black cast. It laid the foundation for later African-American hits like
Bubbling Brown Sugar,
Dreamgirls and
Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies.
It never performed on London's
West End, but a handful of amateur and semi-professional productions have appeared in Britain with black and non-black casts.
During the tour,
Stephanie Mills was replaced by
Rene Harris in
1976. Deborah Malone replaced Harris in
1978.
Motion picture
Motown Productions acquired the film rights to
The Wiz in 1977, and signed
Stephanie Mills in anticipation of having her star in the film adaptation. Motown singer and actress
Diana Ross asked Motown CEO
Berry Gordy to cast her as Dorothy instead, but Gordy declined, feeling the thirty-three year old Ross was far too old for the part. However, Ross contacted
Rob Cohen of
Universal Pictures, who offered to have Universal finance the film if Ross were to play Dorothy, at which point Gordy acquiesced.
The resulting film version of
The Wiz also starred former Motown star
Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow,
Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man, and
Lena Horne as Glinda the Good Witch. Ted Ross and Mabel King reprised their respective roles of the Cowardly Lion and Evilene from the Broadway production.
Sidney Lumet served as director, working with screenwriter
Joel Schumacher (who used none of Brown's stage script) and music supervisor
Quincy Jones. Although the stage musical's setting begins in
Kansas before moving into the fanciful Oz (as do most other versions of the
Oz stories), the film version of
The Wiz is set in
New York City: Dorothy's real-life home is in
Harlem, and the Oz of the film is an alternate fantasy version of the rest of New York City. The $22 million production was poorly received by critics and grossed only $12 million during its original theatrical release.
The Wiz was Michael Jackson's first feature film, and Diana Ross's final theatrical feature film. Its commercial failure helped to bring to an end the stream of all-black films that had begun with the "
blaxploitation film" era of the 1970s. However, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones's collaboration on the film's soundtrack led to Jones producing three of Jackson's most successful albums,
Off the Wall,
Thriller, and
Bad. In later years, due to its recurrent broadcasts on television,
The Wiz has become something of a
cult classic among African-American audiences.
Dueling revivals: America vs. Holland
The Wiz was revived on Broadway in 1984 with Stephanie Mills reprising her role as Dorothy. The production, which played at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, was a flop, lasting only 13 performances.
Dodger Productions acquired the worldwide rights to revive the Wiz in 2004. It is rumored that when Dodger Productions and Joop Van den Ende's Stage Entertainment split in 2005, the worldwide rights to the revival were split between the two companies, with the Dodgers retaining the US rights, while Stage Entertainment kept the European rights.
The new American production of
The Wiz began in September 2006 at the
La Jolla Playhouse in California. Tony Award-winning director
Des McAnuff, and with
Harold Wheeler, orchestrator of the original Broadway version, have revised the show for contemporary audiences. It starred
David Alan Grier and featured sets by Robert Brill. Its run was extended by more than three weeks due to popular demand, and it's rumored to be headed for Broadway. However, there has been no official word on this matter.
Simultaneously, Joop Van den Ende's Stage Entertainment is mounting a full-scale, Broadway-caliber production at the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, Holland. Directed by Glen Castle, the production will feature choreography by Anthony Van Laast of Mamma Mia fame, sets by Tony Award winner
David Gallo and costumes by Miguel Humidor. It stars a number of Dutch theater and music stars.
Stage Entertainment also acquired ownership of Dodger Stages, a multi-theater Off-Broadway venue in New York City (now dubbed New World Stages) in the break-up.
Further Information
Get more info on 'The Wiz'.
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