NBC finally hit the mark last Thursday with its third annual live telecast of a musical. This year’s musical was the classic Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown musical “The Wiz Live!”
The musical, based on L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” is set in the context of modern Black culture. The original Broadway production opened in 1975.
“The Wiz” tells the story of Dorothy, played by newcomer Shanice Williams. Williams plays a teenage girl from Omaha, Nebraska, now living in Kansas with her Aunt Em, played by the original Broadway Dorothy, Stephanie Mills. After getting swept up in a tornado, she finds herself in Munchkinland and realizes her house has landed on Evermean, the Wicked Witch of the East. Addaperle, played by Amber Riley, the Good Witch of the North, gifts her the silver slippers Evermean was wearing and instructs her to find the Wiz so she can go home.
Along the way, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, played by Elijah Kelley the Tin Man, played by Ne-Yo and the Cowardly Lion, played by David Alan Grier.
The cast also features Common as the Bouncer, Uzo Aduba as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, Mary J. Blige as Evilene, the Wicked Witch of the West and Queen Latifah as the Wizard of Oz, a role traditionally played by a man.
“The Wiz” features several soul songs such as “He’s the Wizard,” “Ease on Down the Road,” “So You Wanted to See the Wizard” and a new song by Ne-Yo and Elijah Kelley titled “We Got It.”
“The Wiz Live!” provided a change for NBC. It was the first of its live musical telecasts to be critically successful since the “The Sound of Music Live!” with Carrie Underwood in 2013. Its ratings beat 2014’s “Peter Pan Live!,” though it trailed behind “The Sound of Music Live!”
Every single thing about this production was astounding. From Ne-Yo’s moving “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” to Queen Latifah’s performance as the Wizard of Oz to Shanice Williams’ performance of “Home,” I was enthralled from beginning to end.
It was also wonderful to hear they asked Stephanie Mills, who created the role of Dorothy in the original 1975 Broadway cast and portrayed her once again in the 1984 revival, to play Aunt Em and pass the torch on to Shanice Williams.
“The Wiz” has always been something of an underdog in terms of adaptations of this classic children’s tale, even behind the 2003 Broadway smash “Wicked.” When I first heard NBC had chosen to do this particular show, I was overjoyed. Not only would it get the attention and recognition it deserves, but many young girls would be able to see a woman who looks like them playing such classic characters as Dorothy and Glinda. “The Wiz” will be revived on Broadway for the 2016-17 season, with casting yet to be announced.
