THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL- Page 21

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 10:53am

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!

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 11:02am

"This is somewhat close to the original tornado ballet concept. I remember the dancers with the umbrellas, but they were more like chimney sweep umbrellas.

 

The lead dancer had a scarf attached to the top of her head that went up into the rafters, and she had an eye painted on the chest of her leotard.

It wasn't just the scarf that went up to the rafters - in my memory, it seemed to grow larger and larger as the Tornado danced around the stage - going primarily - again in my memory - from upstage left to downstage right.  It was spellbinding to my - younger - eyes.  (Third row center - Ahmanson Theatre).  There were four "pit singers" in a small balcony to our right who provided the singing for The Tornado and other places in the show.  The Munchkins were seated on rolling chairs with big hoop skirts to cover the chairs (but from our seats, we could - on occasion - see the wheels) but it was a great theatre trick.   And those last notes of "Home" - tears swell with the music.  The whole darn show was just so magical.  

[Showface]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 11:50am

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! :)

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 12:46pm

Thanks, Carlos!

I agree with those who say it isn't the special effects and the high-tech magic that made this show work originally. They were short on that, actually.

But they were BIG on high-concept theatricality, which is something Cirque specializes in. I got really excited when I heard they were on board for this production. They will give it a similar creative spin the way Geoffrey Holder did so brilliantly with the original.

I hope they keep the music stylized, too, and leave it in the '70s with the Wa-Wa pedal guitar and funky orchestrations. They helped make that show what it is.

There doesn't need to be any "explaining" either, any more than a modern show with a big-band or jazz score.

Stop apologizing for the '70s, and just play the music!

Speaking of ... I didn't realize there was an extending dance mix released of the Tornado Ballet back in 1975. That's pretty awesome! Check it out:

 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 12:53pm

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

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 1:12pm

"Tornado" made it to #15 on Billboard's dance chart!

Interesting that on some pressings this track is credited to Charlie Smalls while on others it's credited to T. Graphenreed & H. Wheeler.

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 01:12 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:27pm

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

[Showface]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:29pm

WOW! 

That pic of the Tornado looks really cool! 

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:37pm

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:

 

 

 

 

 

[Showface]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:38pm

*saves every single one of these photos to computer*

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 02:38 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:40pm

 

 

 

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:49pm

I remember when Evilene melted, that big yellow cloak she was wearing was very cool. She was strutting around the stage in the cloak with a big crown on her head, like she was the "Queen" and Dorothy was her servant. When Dorothy threw the bucket of water on her, she fell through the floor pretty quickly and just left that yellow cloak on stage in a big round circle.

 

That's when they started to sing Everybody Rejoice. I have no idea why the 1984 revival decided to race through all the tempos, but here's the final moments of the melting scene with the song:

 

 

 

Edit: By the way, when I saw the national tour, Lillias White was in the chorus, and as I recall, she sang some of this song. The first two verses are solos for the chorus, and the second verse features a female singer for much of it. I'm pretty sure that was Lillias!

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 02:49 PM

[Showface]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 2:53pm

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

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:00pm

Hahaha. No. They're all her slaves, but she doesn't run a sweatshop. Dorothy is her maid, which is why she has the apron on. That is taken directly from the L. Frank Baum original book.

 

Actually, in many ways, this adaptation of the Baum story is more faithful than the MGM film. Just like in the book:

 

1. Dorothy really goes to Oz, it's not a dream
2. There are four witches, two good, two bad.
3. Dorothy and her friends are saved from the poppies by the field mice and their queen
4. They do battle with the Kalidas before they reach the Emerald City

 

 

[Showface]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:02pm

Cool! I'm excited! :)

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:33pm

The original designs were so original and vibrant, and so different from the 1939 film. The revival should just replicate the original!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:46pm

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

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:51pm

Thank you for posting all of these beautiful images!!! where are you finding them??? 

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 3:54pm

On BlueGobo.com.  :)

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

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:03pm

I hope the naysayers on this thread are sitting back, reading, letting all this information sink in, because they are getting schooled on just how much a ground breaking show the original production of THE WIZ was. A production that defied early closing notices to go on to win 7 Tony awards including BEST MUSICAL of 1975.

A show that yes, was an African American version of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ but went on to appeal to a massive cross over audience.

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:07pm

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

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:10pm

What is the significance of the eyes on  Evilene's costumes? I remember seeing one of the original commercials for the broadway production and the two eyes Eviline's costume where blinking. 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:13pm

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

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:15pm

That's Glinda.

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 8/11/15 at 4:17pm

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