Posted: 8/13/15 at 6:24pm
Very, very excited. Great cast. UZO! Shanice has a great voice!
Posted: 8/13/15 at 6:26pm
I absolutely adore this casting. The Wiz is by far one of my favorite musicals and so far the casting has been incredible! I would be surprised if this doesn't surpass the Sound of Music's ratings. The casting really has incredible crossover appeal, everyone from pop/music fans of Mary J. Blige, Common, Ne-Yo, to younger fans of Amber Riley, to theater fans of Stephanie Mills and Uzo Aduba. I am MOST thankful that everyone in this cast can SANG!
Still very worried the creative team will try to be too quirky with the design...
Posted: 8/13/15 at 6:27pm
I'm only familiar with four of the cast members (Queen Latifah, Common, Ne-Yo, and Mary J. Blige), but I have to agree with the praise being given for the level of talent this thing has amassed as a whole. December 3rd cannot come quick enough for me,
Posted: 8/14/15 at 9:11am
Elijah Kelley is insanely talented. I loved him in Hairspray and The Butler. A true triple-threat and great choice for the Scarecrow.
Call me a square older dude, but I'm not as familiar with Ne-Yo or Common, but I have to say, I love Common's look for the gate keeper. It's a nice smaller role, but he sets the tone for what lies beyond the gates to the Emerald City. He needs to come off as classy and mysterious and haughty. I think he'll be good.
Posted: 8/14/15 at 9:17am
OMG! Elija Kelley, Ne-Yo and (my future baby daddy) Common?!!! Hells-to-the-YES!!!
Posted: 8/14/15 at 10:30am
Lord High Underling: Common
Common is playing Royal Gatekeeper, not Lord High Underling. As I mentioned in a previous post, Underling is the most prominent character that hasn't yet been announced. It is possible they eliminate that role entirely from this version but I doubt it. He plays a pretty large role in the interaction between our four friends and Eveline in Act Two.
Updated On: 8/14/15 at 10:30 AM
Posted: 8/14/15 at 3:14pm
I'm not sure if you've seen it, but recently he was in Selma, and he co-wrote "Glory" with John Legend!
Posted: 8/27/15 at 9:47pm
https://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay.php?colid=1096561
New promo! SO excited!
Posted: 9/12/15 at 4:36pm
i'm pretty sure it is going to be great
Posted: 10/6/15 at 9:03pm
On the official Facebook page, they've updated the artwork a bit. It's a bit meh... I like it though. But I don't think its the final artwork design.
Posted: 10/6/15 at 9:31pm
Yikes.
I like the subtle homage to the original artwork with the girl and the flowing dress as a kind of nod to the girl with the flowing hair but the rest of it is too busy.
Posted: 10/6/15 at 9:52pm
I don't think that this will be our final art work. I am thinking that that is yet to come; we will see it early next month.
Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:20pm
https://instagram.com/explore/tags/thewizlive/
There's footage of rehearsals with stilts and cast members' scripts including Tamika Lawrence and James Brown III.
Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:27pm
Paul Tazewell also teased some costume designs via Twitter...
Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:40pm
Hate the Queen Latifah face on it!
Posted: 10/9/15 at 7:25pm
Shanice Williams said that in a radio interview that this will be very modern, every character will have a new vision. the cowardly lion will have dreads. Dorothy will be wearing nikes and she will also have a little bit of blue in her hair. I also heard that she will be wearing a short sleeved jean jacket over a pink shirt and she will wear a red skirt with white stockings.
Posted: 10/9/15 at 7:34pm
^ exactly what I feared. They're going to try and make it so contemporary that it'll just look messy and disorganized.
Posted: 10/9/15 at 7:39pm
Oh yeah, isn't Harvey doing a new book? Why are they modernizing THE WIZ if it's fine the way it is? Why even modernize a show to begin with?
Posted: 10/9/15 at 7:43pm
it won't look messy at all. they have the best team. they have Fatima Robinson, who is one of the best choreographers in the game, Derek McLane who is one of the best set designers, paul Tazewell, who is one of the best fashion designers, Harvey fierstein, who revised the original book, Grammy winner Harvey Mason Jr who is set as music producer, and Tony and Grammy winner Stephen Oremus who will serve as music director, orchestrator and music co-producer. and they have picked out many great dancers and they have cirque du soleil involved, and the cast is great so I am sure it is going to be amazing. hopefully
Posted: 10/9/15 at 7:44pm
Harvey kept the original structure of the musical. he added new characters and he made it more emotional. he also enhanced the humor. craig zadan and neil meron says that the new book is incredible.
Posted: 10/9/15 at 8:04pm
Why mess with it at all? Why update it? Reminds me of the 3rd Harry Potter movie when they decided to put the kids in street clothes at Hogwarts. What lion has dreads?
Posted: 10/9/15 at 8:11pm
it won't look messy at all. they have the best team. they have Fatima Robinson, who is one of the best choreographers in the game, Derek McLane who is one of the best set designers, paul Tazewell, who is one of the best fashion designers, Harvey fierstein, who revised the original book, Grammy winner Harvey Mason Jr who is set as music producer, and Tony and Grammy winner Stephen Oremus who will serve as music director, orchestrator and music co-producer. and they have picked out many great dancers and they have cirque du soleil involved, and the cast is great so I am sure it is going to be amazing. hopefully
Clearly you haven't watched the mess of the past 2 live broadcasts. Why would this year's be any different?
Posted: 10/9/15 at 8:19pm
Well, I'm fine with the modern costumes.
It's not like The Wiz was a period piece to begin with, and isn't this what The Wiz is supposed to be, anyway? A modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz. I mean, if that is indeed a huge part of what The Wiz is, I don't see why it should be remain set in the 1970's...
I don't think having Dorothy wear something young girls wear nowadays is anything bad, and in my opinion, I find that to be very good!
On top of this, 90% of The Wiz takes place in a fantasy land! Why not give a walking and talking lion a head of dreads?
I'm not going to say that making it contemporary is going to mess with anything. If anything, this is staying true to the original Broadway production of The Wiz, which by reading comments, I've gathered was very "self-aware" in many ways.
I don't know, I'm digging it.
I mean, I'll probably be upset if they drastically modernize it to the point where they start having Dorothy take selfies in the Emerald City, or if they turn "Ease on Down the Road" into "Whip and Nae Nae Down the Road", but from what I've gathered, that is far from the case.
"Clearly you haven't watched the mess of the past 2 live broadcasts. Why would this year's be any different?"
I have many reasons to be optimistic about this year's broadcast. I liked The Sound of Music broadcast a lot, but I am aware many did not, and it seems to be because they chose a well-beloved piece, like TSOM, and it was not with a well-beloved cast. They cast a country pop-star in a role Julie Andrews made famous in the beloved film, and they cast a non-singer star of True Blood as her opposite, and on top of all of this, they had zero chemistry. With Peter Pan, there were many issues, which varied from poor casting to simply the fact that they chose to broadcast Peter Pan, which isn't that good to begin with, and the sets looked like they were out of a Dr Seuss book.
Why do I think The Wiz will be better? For one, they chose a somewhat well-known piece that is not held to high standards due to an iconic film, so casting comparisons will take the back-burner. The cast is wonderful, featuring a new, rising star in the lead role. And, on top of this, the creative team is entirely different from TSOM and Peter Pan--both of which were directed by Rob Ashford.
I'm not saying this is going to be the can't miss event of the decade, but I am saying that I think it is unfair to put this down as a disaster, just because the last two broadcasts were a mess. Especially considering that all signs on this broadcast seem to be pointing in a positive direction.
Updated On: 10/9/15 at 08:19 PM
Posted: 10/10/15 at 10:49am
Actually, I think the post reveals how little you understand about THE WIZ. The show was modern when it was written, but it is now absolutely a period piece. The show was crafted to very specifically reflect the urban black culture of 1975 and to respond to the struggles for black performers to book a Broadway show, as part of a larger black movement in the 1970s that included such things as a black production of Guys and Dolls that made the score more "soul" infused.
the idioms in the show from dialogue to music, the very sound of the show, is entirely 1975. Significantly changing that significantly alters the very core of the show and shreds the sensibility in it. La Jolla Playhouse updated the show nearly a decade ago to absolute disastrous effect.
No one here will argue that Fatima Robinson is not a strong choreographer, but the question remains as to whether she can be a theatrical choreographer.
McLane's sets are often nice, but sometimes horrific. Where will this fall? We won't know til we see it, but the style of this show is certainly outside of his wheelhouse, so there is excitement in wondering what he will bring to it.
paul Tazewell is a wonderful designer, but like every designer, he is hampered by the concept of the director, so. I am sure he will wonderfully realize cthese character ters, but in what style? To be honest, I hated nearly every costume he designed for THE WIZ at City Center.
As as far as Fierstein writing a new book... Well, he is a great weirder, but not one. I would ever match with THE WIZ... and after what was done to Cinderella, I am nervous with anyone touching a period libretto to update the sensibilities.
One last point for the record, this cast has a few amazing choices in it, but it is far from an amazing cast.
Posted: 10/10/15 at 12:29pm
"
Actually, I think the post reveals how little you understand about THE WIZ. The show was modern when it was written, but it is now absolutely a period piece. The show was crafted to very specifically reflect the urban black culture of 1975 and to respond to the struggles for black performers to book a Broadway show, as part of a larger black movement in the 1970s that included such things as a black production of Guys and Dolls that made the score more "soul" infused.
the idioms in the show from dialogue to music, the very sound of the show, is entirely 1975. Significantly changing that significantly alters the very core of the show and shreds the sensibility in it"
You make excellent points, but so far, I still don't think they're significantly altering anything, at least from we've heard. So far, the most "drastic" thing they've done is give Dorothy a slightly outside-of-the-box costume. I don't even think giving the lion dreadlocks is drastic in any way, shape, or form, because dreadlocks aren't just specific to the 2010's--they've actually been around for quite some time now, and didn't they actually become mainstream in America in the 1970s? And, I can't see much of them, but if you zoom in on the poster you can see Dorothy, Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow's costumes, and nothing drastic is done at all, it seems. If anything, they all (except for Dorothy) look rather traditional.
Now, I will agree that there could be issues with the sound not matching the look of the production, but even then, they're in a fantasy world that bends time and space, and is very out of the ordinary.
On top of this, I feel like a touch of "now" in The Wiz interesting and could be rather successful with this production, especially now with people taking steps to ensure diversity, so that POC can be easily cast in Broadway/Film (which paralells nicely to what the original was trying to do), and the different movements (#Blackliveamatter for example).
Again, if they ever start adding dustep to the show, then I'll think we may have a problem. I think the changes being made to the script are jist to tweak small things. But right now, all we've heard is a little hunt as to what we may expect, and a blurry photo at the bottom right hand corner of a poster.
Updated On: 10/10/15 at 12:29 PM
