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QMAN03
Broadway Star Joined: 9/20/05
#1re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 4:23am
...
I'm most hung up on "Toto vision."
Wow!
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 4:40amToto Vision wins for me too... I'll be throwing the bone at him.
#3re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 7:32amoh dear mother of god this sounds amazing! The Wiz is one of my all-time favorite shows ever!
bwayondabrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/05
#4re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 7:44am
wow, the "Toto Vision" thing intrigues me
interesting...
#5re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 8:25amThis sounds really innovative and spectacular. Has your friend been at any of the rehearsels? Perhaps she could tell you a little bit about how the cast is?, particularly Nikki James.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
unknownfan2
Swing Joined: 8/19/06
#6re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 8:46am
Did you know that there are actually two big-budget Broadway caliber Wiz revivals going on at the very same time? It is the product of the divorce between Dutch billionaire Joop Van den Ende's Stage Entertainment and McAnuff's Dodger Productions.
When Stage Entertainment split from the Dodger's last year, they got more than just ownership of Dodger Stages in NYC. It seems that the Dodgers and Stage Entertainment together held the worldwide rights to revive The Wiz. After the split, the Dodgers retained the US rights, while Stage Entertainment got the Pan European rights. But wait, the plot thickens: Stage Entertainment has hired a Broadway caliber
creative team (including Tony winner David Gallo doing sets and lighting designer Thomas Hase, both of the Broadway-bound Company revival, director Glenn Casale and costume designer Miguel Huidor). The competing Wiz revival in Holland goes up in early September, only weeks before La Jolla. I'm told that the Dutch version is also a futuristic updated vision of The Wiz.
You can see more about the Dutch Wiz here:
http://www.stageholding.com/html/271_918.html
http://www.musicals.nl/
LI Larry
Stand-by Joined: 7/25/06
#7re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:09am
It sounds great. I'm going in November. I'm not sure how the concert thing will work but it worked for Chicago. Now I'm glad I'm going.
#8re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:11amWell at least they are trying something new...
#9re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:35am
Hmmm..
Maybe i'm living in OZ, but does this sound rediculous to anyone?
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#10re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:37amFrom the description it sounds absolutely hideous. The preview of the Dutch production looks good though. Updated On: 8/19/06 at 09:37 AM
#11re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:46amI hope they remember, somewhere among all the creative rubble, what the story is about.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#12re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 9:58am
Okay the Dutch production has me even MORE concerned:
"The Wiz is an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, set in Harlem, New York. The musical is based onthe 1978 movie The Wizard of Oz and the original Broadway musical of 1975. The film with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross was an instant succes. The musical received eight Tony Awards® on Broadway including Best Musical, Best Script and Best Music."
Are they actually basing their version on that HIDEOUSLY bad movie version??? Dorothy is a little girl from KANSAS not HARLEM. The stage show had nothing to do with New York. And the movie the Wizard of Oz was made in 1939. The Wiz (on stage) wasn't based on that, either. It was based on the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum, and in many ways is more faithful to its source material than even the MGM movie was.
Someday, sometime, I'd REALLY like to see a production of The Wiz again. I want my "Wiz" back. I don't recognize it anymore.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#13re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:03ambest12bars - I want my Wiz back too! Toto vision indeed!
#14re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:04amWell, I guess in the La Jolla version, Dorothy is a little girl from Kansas who gets carried away to an NYSYNC concert.
#15re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:05am
I got a better idea...
Let's redo "Dreamgirls" and set it at the Grand Old Opry.
Effie Mae and Deena Jo can compete for a coveted spot on a live radio broadcast.
And "Junior" Taylor can be their love interest, manager... and first cousin.
That's something new, too.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#16re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:05am
Lord,
They'll do anything to get people into a theatre won't they.
Here's an idea....a big cast, great performances, a lush orchestra, fabulous sets and costumes and no cameras strapped to actors heads.
It worked for R & H.
alterego
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/03
#17re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:07amThat sounds great but do it in the round with ramps! ( Sounds like the CANDIDE of 1973).
#18re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:08am"Starlight Depressed"
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#19re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:09amWell, I'll reserve total judgement until I see it, because I did love what Des did with JERSEY BOYS - but I've been saying from the beginning - why not just write a completely new pop version of THE WIZARD OF OZ, which is in the public domain, rather than try to drag the poor little ol' WIZ into the 21st century? It shouldn't have to apologize for being a 1970s soul musical.
#20re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:13am
I think shows such as The Wiz, Hair, The Magic Show, Pippin, Godspell, JCS etc. are best left in the 60's and 70's and remembered as they were. The music is amazing, but a product of it's time.
I mean, how many times have we sat through HS/comminity productions of Godspell set in classrooms, rooftops, or on the moon? Comeon.
(PS, I happen to love Godspell, and have never seen a good production of it except for the video archive of it at the Library at Lincoln Center)
#21re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:15amGODSPELL set on the moon! That just made my day! Did they do "Prepare ye for the Way of the Lord" in spacesuits?
#22re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:20amGround Control to Major Tom?
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#23re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:20am
Fortunately, I didn't see that one. I think I might have hurt the director if I had.
You know what I mean though MB....where *hasn't* Godspell been set?
#24re: 'The Wiz' Info (from an 'inside source')
Posted: 8/19/06 at 10:22am
... in OZ!
Let's combine the TWO! Wizspell!
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
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