THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL — Page 21

Thank you bestie for all the material you are sharing in this thread. I agree with you that because of that misguided film version the original WIZ has been lost to many who did not have the opportunity to see it on stage either in it's original production or in a revival.

There are people out there questioning the choice of Shanice Williams, saying she is much too young to play a 24 year old school teacher. It's sad that a lot of people only know about THE WIZ because of the film, so many will be surprised when they see this production to find that Dorothy is not a 24 year old school teacher from Harlem but a 16 year old girl from Kansas and that the Emerald City is not the World Trade Center.

I wish there were existing Tornado footage out there. I would love to have seen the original staging. Geoffrey Holder was such a visionary - the concept of the Tornado sounds great on paper - - I can only imagine how thrilling it was to see it unfold before your very eyes.

I'm pretty sure that the show's logo that was designed by legendary graphic artist Milton Glaser was the female Tornado figure.

I love Dee Dee Bridgewater. I saw her perform in a show she gave at the Henry Street Settlement Playhouse when I was 6 years old! I still remember it because it made a big impression on me and I just thought she was so beautiful. She still is!

I wouldn't be surprised if the Tornado is more of an aerial silk number, rather than a dance number! Cirque De Solei is sure going to bring in some spectacle, which I can't wait for! I can already imagine what it will look like when the flying monkeys kidnap Dorothy! And general special effects wise, the witch melting has always been my favorite part of any Wizard of Oz adaptation, so I hope they deliver! :)

Another brilliant find bestie!

"Tornado" is one of my favorite tracks from the score and it makes sense that they released a 12" extended mix of that track because it easily lends itself to that kind of treatment. That track did get radio airplay "back in the day". I'm pretty sure it charted but I don't know how high up the charts it got.

I clearly remember seeing the cast album on the racks at Sam Goody (remember that store?) and they had a sticker affixed to the front cover that read: INCLUDING "Ease on Down the Road" and "Tornado".

Oh I am most definitely making an mp3 of that extended mix when I get home tonight!

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 12:53 PM

Timothy Graphenreed and Harold Wheeler composed the dance music for "The Wiz," including "The Tornado," so it's theirs. Charlie Smalls wrote the songs, with the exception of "Everybody Rejoice," which was written by Luther Vandross in 1972 and released on one of his albums.

Here's a great pic of the Tornado Ballet from the original Broadway production! You can see the principal dancer on the roof with the "eye" on her chest. That scarf wrapping around the entire stage was attached to the top of her head, and when she first came out from the side upstage, it was stunning to see that cloth going up into the rafters. It looked like a stylized tornado on the horizon. Of course there is no "eye" to a tornado the way there is for a hurricane, but still, she is the "eye of the storm." Brilliant concept. Not fancy special effects, just the magic of the mind at its best.

And here is the original recording of "Everybody Rejoice" by Luther Vandross from 1972:

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 02:27 PM

It really brings it all back for me. The production really was as good as I remember it (as a teenager).

Here is the flying monkey attack!

More amazing shots:

I'm assuming in the stage version Evilene does not own a sweatshop, correct?

Cool! I'm excited! :)

I don't know if they should replicate it, but they should use the same creative approach---which is to make the costumes and sets (and orchestrations and choreography and dialogue) highly stylized.

The last thing they should attempt to do is make it "cool" or "hip" or "trendy," catering to today's "hot list." That would kill it so fast. This is its own universe, like Narnia or Middle Earth or Oz, but it's THEIR Oz, not a '70s disco or modern club or the New York City streets or even L. Frank Baum's traditional Oz. This is "The Wiz."

They need to create a whole world that these characters inhabit with its own sense of fashion and its own visual "language." That's what the Broadway production did beautifully. They had Geoffrey Holder's vision guiding them.

I mean look at the hairstyles for the witches. They look almost like wood sprites or trees or plants growing, with branches coming out of their heads and leaves and flowers on their gowns. That wasn't "trendy" in 1975. It was something unique and one-of-a-kind.

They need a designn team willing to go that far with it.

I remember talking with Andre De Shields about how things changed so drastically (for the better) when Holder came in and took over the production. It hadn't found it's "style" yet, and he gave it that.

I'm hoping that the creative team understands that.

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 03:46 PM

On BlueGobo.com. :)

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 03:54 PM

All of those as well as a few more are also at the NYPL Digital Archive. Photography by the great Martha Swope.

I don't know which character this is supposed to be, but I think it is ingenious that Geoffrey Holder turned a watermelon slice into a crescent moon!

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 04:13 PM

Well the lady standing with Dorothy is Adapearl and I am assuming the lady on the moon is Glinda