Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ- Page 3
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#50
Posted: 7/2/14 at 12:46amThe Wizard of Oz is timeless. The Wiz is absolutely a period piece. The dialogue, heavy on slang, music and lyrics are very distinct and very specific to the Afro-American pop culture of the mid-1970s. There is NO mistaking it for anything else.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#51
Posted: 7/2/14 at 1:42amA dream team of mine for this includes Timbers as director, scenic design by Es Devlin, and choreography by Frank Gaston Jr. & Wayne Cilento. Please...
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#52
Posted: 7/2/14 at 1:50am
Wayne Cilento should never choreograph anything. Ever.
Much like Andy Blankenbuehler.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#53
Posted: 7/2/14 at 1:53amI think The Wiz would be more of a Chris Gatelli job.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#54
Posted: 7/2/14 at 3:33am
@broadway And why do you say that? Would you rather see him "musically stage"? @Johnny Even though his work is brilliant, I don't necessarily see him doing this. I can see Warren Carlyle being a better suit than him.
Updated On: 7/2/14 at 03:33 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#55
Posted: 7/2/14 at 4:14amWayne Cilento is a terrible choreographer. Absolutely awful. Look at his choreography credits... It is a roster of shockingly bad choreography and one case of watering down greatness. I admire him for his contributions to the stage as a performer, but as a choreographer... Suffice to say I let out a groan when I see his name.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#56
Posted: 7/2/14 at 8:23am
I agree "The Wiz" is a period piece. I don't want to hear modernized orchestrations or rewritten dialogue, or see crappy machine-like choreography from some idiot who likes pirouettes and scissor leaps a bit too much. I want the Holder production ... okay "enhanced" if you will to up the production value just a bit, but no change in concept.
And I want that '70s Wa-Wa pedal guitar in the pit. They absolutely destroyed the '70s period flavor of the "Chorus Line" orchestrations by removing that guitar. It took the life and the grit right out of it and made it bland and homogenized.
No thank you.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#57
Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:38amAbsolutely, 100%, ready agreement with no reservations, sir.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#58
Posted: 7/2/14 at 9:58am@broadway Alright then. @best Yes, I completely agree! Music and the Mirror included my favorite orchestrations from any musical, ever. The guitar during the second dance break, my gosh...
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#59
Posted: 7/2/14 at 10:49am
The Wiz is absolutely a period piece. The dialogue, heavy on slang, music and lyrics are very distinct and very specific to the Afro-American pop culture of the mid-1970s. There is NO mistaking it for anything else.
I used to think the same thing, and honestly never thought it could have a successful revival because of that.
But then Hair came in a blew me away and I realized that no matter how dated something may seem there is always a way to make it fresh and new in the right hands.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#60
Posted: 7/2/14 at 11:29am
I think one of the reasons that the revival of HAIR was so successful, was because it *didn't* try to update or make it contemporary. Diane Paulus brought wonderful ideas and a clear story telling aesthetic to the property, but the production was in many ways more faithful to the original production than many other revivals I've seen.
The La Jolla production of THE WIZ tried to update the material and it largely didn't work.
I'm with Best12 that THE WIZ is in every way (musically, aesthetically, dialectally) rooted in the 1970s and its best shot at a successful revival is to embrace that fact and not get too caught up in modernizing it for contemporary audiences.
A revival of Holder's original production (not the 1984 revival or 1992 national tours which were done on the cheap) would be divine (and probably revelatory) on today's Broadway.
Updated On: 7/2/14 at 11:29 AM
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#61
Posted: 7/16/14 at 10:10pmWould Patina Miller work for Dorothy or would she read too old?
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#63
Posted: 7/16/14 at 11:02pmWhy not Adrienne Warren as Dorothy? I think she would be marvelous, and she also looks younger. Plus, she would sing the crap out of Home.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#64
Posted: 7/16/14 at 11:46pm
Melinda Doolittle??
Melinda Doolittle - Home
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#65
Posted: 7/17/14 at 1:53am
Divos,
Adrienne Warren understudied Ashanti in the role at City Center's Encores Summer Stars. She did not go on, but I heard her sing Home at a concert several weeks after. I assure you, it was remarkable and a crying shame she didn't star in that ill conceived mess.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#66
Posted: 7/17/14 at 2:30am
Broadwayguy2,
Just imagining her belt out that song makes me cry. I envy you.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#67
Posted: 9/13/14 at 6:15pmUgh, I DESPERATELY want this to happen!!!!
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#69
Posted: 9/13/14 at 8:12pmI'd really love to see Keke Palmer as Dorothy. She's the perfect age and reads very well on stage. As for a name, Ciara might be interesting. She has the name, great stage presence, and she dances well. But, she doesn't read very young and I don't think she has belting abilities. Still, an interesting concept.
Joined: 12/31/69
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#70
Posted: 9/14/14 at 9:46am
After seeing KeKe in Cinderella, she is in no way right for The Wiz. She doesn't exactly have that type of voice to do any of those songs justice, but it works in Cinderella.
I think it should be a no name right out of college, and just blow everyone away.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#71
Posted: 9/14/14 at 12:18pm
No that production shouldn't have gone to broadway. Or the City Center Produciton. Listen The problem people FAIL to realize is that the Wiz worked b/c of Dorothy is a little girl. NOT AN ADULT PLAYING A LITTLE GIRL! You have to have a real 15 or 16 year old who belts her face be taken on a journey through OZ to find home within herself. If you dont do that the show and I do mean the whole show is LOST!
That La Jolla production was WRONG. With the updates they made the choreography and concept. BAD! City Center missed the mark with Ashanti and hip hop.
I agree about bringing Andre De Shields back and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Only if you can get a creative team together like Otis Sallid with The Alvin Ailey Company. Quincy Jones to sign off on using the dance music arranged for the film version of Brand New Day inserted into the revival and a person to play Dorothy you would have a hit.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#72
Posted: 9/14/14 at 3:21pm^ "Everybody Rejoice (Brand New Day)" is one of the stand-out numbers from Jones' orchestrations, but I'm also partial to "Mean Ole Lion" (great horns) and some of the other numbers. You're sure there's not a way to use all of Quincy's work? I mean, really sure? *cue wobbly-eyed sympathy-drawing emoji*
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#73
Posted: 9/14/14 at 3:50pmI have also met Andre De Shields. I was sitting in a bar on 9th Ave. In NYC. It was right before he did Jungle Book. I was looking out of the window onto the street and he was standing there talking to a street person. I walked outside and asked him if he was Andre De Shields and he turned to the man and said "See! I really am him!" We chatted for about 10 minutes about The Wiz and just theatre in general. Very sweet man and down to earth. It was really a treat to actually get to thank him after all these years for his wonderful performance and to tell him what it meant to me.
Next year: 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ#74
Posted: 9/14/14 at 4:24pmI would say Zendaya, but she can't sing which is such a shame since she's young enough and can dance.
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