I mean, if she has nerves doing this song for one small camera after taking as many takes as Stephanie and her want, how is she going to be during the actual broadcast when she only has one chance to nail everything?
Idk. She needs to put more power into it. That is how many people were drawn into stephanie when she played dorothy. She needs to relax, live in the moment, and sing it like she means it. She will get there. 3 weeks left. Just 3 weeks left
Teddy. Buddy. Just chill. Do something else besides post about The Wiz here. Read a book. Reads two books. ANYTHING else. I'm just as excited and optimistic about this broadcast as you are, but your posts are pretty damn tiring. The Wiz means a lot to me, as it was one of the first shows that got me in to musical theatre, but even I know that this broadcast isn't gonna be 100% perfect. Learn how to read criticism and not have the gut reaction to defend something that you haven't even seen yet. Move on, man.
Lots of people love to hate watch these live musicals lol. This is my first time i will be watching a live musical in full. I tried to get into the others but i couldn't finish watching them
Phyllis, you're the king of hate watching. Can we all have a party at your place and hate watch American Horror Story, Scream Queens and The Wiz?! I'll even bring Lea Michele posters that we can throw darts at! Nothing more satisfying than watching a tv every week that you claim to hate.
Honestly, my expectations are so low for this because of the last two outings. The Sound of Music was dull and airless and both leads were miscast, but Peter Pan was nearly grotesque. It's not that I don't want this stiff to be good. It has just yet to be good.
I cover many media/celeb events and this Tuesday I am attending "The Wiz" round table & media event with the cast and crew. If you had any questions about this production or the show in general, I will see what I can do in getting them answered.
With this production, it is going to be a lot different. They have a great creative team and the casting for this is way better than the last live musicals they have done. On top of that, this musical is more appealing than peter pan live. Nbc is taking this way more seriously than the last live musicals. Don't make judgements on this before you watch it. This could be 1000x better than the other live musicals
Pretty much ALL the posts in this thread are tiring. Half are blindly praising the other half turning their nose.
I reeeeeeally hope Stephen Oremus does justice with the orchestrations. The originals are dated but SO THRILLING and to lose all of that sound would be a pity. The redone charts for LaJolla (actually done by Hugh Wheeler who did them originally) took out all the instrumentation and it was terrible.
If you do not like what i am posting, simply move on
And if you do not like how others respond to your tiring posts, you can also move on from this thread and message board. Or simply not address them. You cannot, however, instruct us to "move on" from pushing back against your completely baseless claims.
teddy1996 said: "With this production, it is going to be a lot different. They have a great creative team and the casting for this is way better than the last live musicals they have done. On top of that, this musical is more appealing than peter pan live. Nbc is taking this way more seriously than the last live musicals. Don't make judgements on this before you watch it. This could be 1000x better than the other live musicals
So, teddy, you think Audra McDonald, Christian Borle and Laura Benanti were terrible in The Sound of Mjusic? Poor casting choices?
You think NBC didn't take The Sound of Music seriously? Really? I'm just shaking my head.
Your hyperbole is not helping and is generating negative kickback. I think most people on this Board want this show to succeed. If you were a real fan of The Wiz, you could use the search function and see the excitement from much earlier in the year. I don't want to discourage you from dropping items that you think are of interest regarding the production. But please do at least post a "goodbye" message on December 4. . .
I have no faith that they will "honor" the '70s sound and orchestrations when they have removed the unique design (art direction, costumes, and makeup) that gave "The Wiz" an identity. If you think about the previous interpretations of "The Wiz" (stage and film) and even "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked," each came up with a defined look that helped give it its character and flavor. They each had their own visual language of fashion and style.
What I see so far is "generic Oz." Could be a Disney kiddie show, a Muppet version, a puppet show, etc. There is no distinct "identity" or visual language here that makes it unique. That little snippet clip of the orchestration sounded pretty generic to me as well. Nothing particularly '70s or "funk" about it. They've updated it to a sound-bite from a game-show play-off or a an awards ceremony. Give me the Wah-Wah pedal guitar, give me added percussion instruments, give me a brass section that sounds more like Earth, Wind & Fire than the pit orchestra at the Oscars.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
audra McDonald, Christian borle and laura benanti did a great job. I thought they did the characters justice. but choosing carrie underwood as maria was wrong. she sounded fantastic but her acting is very stale and wooden. that is the only part nbc did not take seriously. Stephen was just ok. i felt that he should have put more heart into his performance. him and carrie had no chemistry at all. they should have chosen someone who has a lot of experience in theatre for that part. it doesn't make sense for them to choose someone who isn't an actress to play such an iconic role as maria. for peter pan live, I thought it was complete bull**** to choose grown men to play the lost boys. that was just so stupid. it is weird hearing and singing grown ups singing I won't grow up lol. they should have took their time and auditioned kids who can sing and dance to play those parts. the kids did a fantastic job. Allison Williams was ok. Christopher walken was entertaining but at the same time, it looked like his heart wasn't into it. the actress who played tiger lily was ok. nbc obviously took sound of music seriously but not serious enough. same with peter pan live. the excitement for the wiz live is super real. there are many people who are very excited for this project. there are some that are angry that they are 'remaking the movie' and there are some who think this is racist. and your telling me to post a goodbye message on December 4??? I am here to stay whether you like it or not.
I have enjoyed both the Sound of Music and Peter Pan. For teddy who said they should have cast children as the lost Boys, I do not believe you can find teenagers to keep up with that choreography on live television. Maybe if it was recorded, it would have been different.
For those who keep complaining about Underwoods performance, maybe you really should have seen Martin who won a Tony for the role. The way Mary Martin delivered her lines, was plain and with a southern accent. From a person who have seen the Original Broadway production, I never fell in love with the movie, and through the years I have seen many good stage presentations. But I felt the NBC was really good and so glad the original libretto was finally filmed to be on DVD. It was way due.
Now to 2015 The Wiz. I never said its a racial piece. Unfortunately I haven't watched the original show and wish I did. Lstening to the soundtrack and watching the first 17 minutes of the movie, I felt the show did not appeal to me, but people are saying that the original libretto was different than what went on screen. For a fan who enjoys the live broadcasts I ended up disappointed with this years selection and especially with the way things are going. If the original book is that good, why toy with it? And something which definitely made me not want to tune in, no matter what are the terrible costume designs. I do not recall any scarecrow being that ugly. Its terrible. I did a google search on past productions and not one came close. Lion and Tin Man are ok, but not great. Maybe for next year will hopefully get a better production. There are a lot of good musicals that will make a good live broadcast and can also attract the same number of viewers The Sound of Music did.
teddy - didn't you just state: This is my first time i will be watching a live musical in full. I tried to get into the others but i couldn't finish watching them ???
If so, then how can you criticize and critique television broadcasts you never watched in full? That's the equivalent to bashing a musical after leaving at intermission.
The public library in new york have broadway shows from different eras. If you want to watch the original broadway production, you can schedule an appointment and go there and watch it
I have seen most of them. I just didn't get a chance to finish then
If you have not finished them, you have no right to criticize. You bash two television broadcasts that you never finished and praise one that hasn't even happened yet. Hypocritical much?