THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL- Page 39

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 7:14am

The more I think about it, why didn't they hire or be inspired by modern African-American artists to help tell their story. Instead of looking like the Muppet Wizard of Oz, they could have had costumes and sets that looked like this ... FAR more interesting ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wealth of inspiration for sets and costumes ...

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 7:23am

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're missing a chance to embrace and celebrate a heritage and a culture instead of sanitizing it.

 

"The Wiz" may be a musical, but it seems to have lost its voice.

Updated On: 11/15/15 at 07:23 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 8:01am

Also, I'm not sure what Latifah is going for there with her look and line reading. She comes off as an androgynous Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

Updated On: 11/15/15 at 08:01 AM

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 9:12am

You've seen like 5 costumes. You have no idea what they are "missing out on" because you've only seen about 10 percent of footage. Not even really. Perhaps you should direct a production of The Wiz at your local theater since you're already hate watching this production.

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 9:59am

I love those pictures best12bars. Yes, it would have been good if they had gone for something more African tribal-inspired, but I suppose they want to make it more closer to the "MGM look" to attract a wider audience / demographic.

[teddy1996]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:23am

For me, i really do not like what the winkies are wearing. I find it unimaginative and silly. Paul tazewell is better than that. As for the choreography, you haven't even seen the whole thing yet. Fatima is an amazing choreographer, but she isn't the only one that is choreographing it. She is the main choreographer but there are 3 other assistant choreographers as well. In the q&a event, the cast said that her choreography is no joke 

[Showface]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:41am

I think Brand New Day would look better if the stage setting didn't scream "Rent" or something. It looks like Evilene is still alive and enslaving them--thus is their freedom song--it should be bright and opened up! I'm nitpicking,  though.

[teddy1996]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 10:54am

Hopefully the staging of brand new day does not look like that when it goes live

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 11:32am

I'm reviewing what I've seen, people, not the show in its entirety.

 

And yes, I agree they are giving it this approach to reach a wider audience, which is why it's coming off as sanitized.

 

I don't want to see a "Muppet Show"-inspired Fiddler on the Roof either ... to reach a wider audience.

Updated On: 11/15/15 at 11:32 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 12:03pm

I guess we can all agree that it is not staying true to the original.

[teddy1996]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 12:43pm

It is staying true to the original. The book is just slightly revised. The structure of the original musical remains intact. The only differences between this and the broadway musical is that there is a female wiz, you can't win is replacing born on the day before yesterday, and there is a new song written by elijah kelley, ne-yo, harvey mason jr, and steven ormeus. It is the same musical that people fell in love with it is just a little more modernized. 

Updated On: 11/15/15 at 12:43 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 1:27pm

teddy, you can keep on insisting the show is remaining true to the original, but blatantly ignoring the people who actually experienced the original and understand the reasons why the original production succeeded creatively and financially is the reason why you have zero credibility on this thread. Zero.

Besty, those images are stunning. It'd have been genius for the creative team to be inspired by those images. However, I'm guessing NBC played a huge factor in the sanitization of the show in order to guarantee a bigger audience. The "one size fits all" approach the show seems to be taking fits with NBC's long history of meddling with the creative process of its content to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 1:56pm

teddy1996 said: "It is staying true to the original. The book is just slightly revised. The structure of the original musical remains intact. The only differences between this and the broadway musical is that there is a female wiz, you can't win is replacing born on the day before yesterday, and there is a new song written by elijah kelley, ne-yo, harvey mason jr, and steven ormeus. It is the same musical that people fell in love with it is just a little more modernized.

 

And all the CHANGES you have listed indicate to me that this version of THE WIZ is not staying true to the original.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 1:59pm

ray-andallthatjazz86 said: "teddy, you can keep on insisting the show is remaining true to the original, but blatantly ignoring the people who actually experienced the original and understand the reasons why the original production succeeded creatively and financially is the reason why you have zero credibility on this thread. Zero.

 

Besty, those images are stunning. It'd have been genius for the creative team to be inspired by those images. However, I'm guessing NBC played a huge factor in the sanitization of the show in order to guarantee a bigger audience. The "one size fits all" approach the show seems to be taking fits with NBC's long history of meddling with the creative process of its content to appeal to the lowest common denominator."

 

It's a UNIVERSAL TELEVISION production. UNIVERSAL PICTURES was responsible for the misguided 1978 film version. As long as UNIVERSAL holds the screen rights to this property I am afraid we will never again see anything that comes close to the sheer brilliance of the original 1975 production. 

 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 9:27pm

teddy1996 said: "It is staying true to the original. The book is just slightly revised. The structure of the original musical remains intact. The only differences between this and the broadway musical is that there is a female wiz, you can't win is replacing born on the day before yesterday, and there is a new song written by elijah kelley, ne-yo, harvey mason jr, and steven ormeus. It is the same musical that people fell in love with it is just a little more modernized. 

 

"

A revised book, a female Wiz, replacing Born the Day Before Yesterday with You Cant Win, and adding a new song are ALL examples of how this is not true to the original.

 

Adaptation is important when bringing a piece to a new medium. I don't object to this principle, and I really don't think the preview looks bad at all. I find little point in complaining about the production as a whole until I see it. What I do object to and wish to complain about is your constant insistence that this is going to be a faithful representation of the original production of The Wiz when it clearly will not be so. We have pretty much been told all along that this is a new and revised production. NBC has been very public about that fact, so why deny it when even the producers and network tell us this? By all means, be excited about the production, talk about what you like about what you have seen, talk about what you don't like about what you have seen, but don't lie to yourself and everyone else about what this production is.

[Liza's Headband]

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

It is staying true to the original.

 

BASED ON EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN RELEASED AND PUBLICIZED THUS FAR, IT IS NOT "STAYING TRUE TO THE ORIGINAL." STOP SPREADING LIES!!!

[teddy1996]

Posted: 11/15/15 at 11:09pm

Starship said: "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...

 

"

I doubt this would surpass the sound of music live in the ratings. The wiz is an iconic musical but it is not as popular as the sound of music. It probably won't do sound of music live numbers, but it will definently be higher than peter pan live. It would probably be between 12-14 million viewers. That is my prediction. As for the design, i am not too fond of it yet. I was hoping that some of the design would be a little urban since the wiz played a huge part in black culture. It would have been cool for the set designs and costumes reflect black culture a little bit. We haven't seen the rest of the costumes and sets yet so we will have to wait and see.

[BobBenson]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 2:39am

teddy1996 said: "It is staying true to the original. The book is just slightly revised. The structure of the original musical remains intact. The only differences between this and the broadway musical is that there is a female wiz, you can't win is replacing born on the day before yesterday, and there is a new song written by elijah kelley, ne-yo, harvey mason jr, and steven ormeus. It is the same musical that people fell in love with it is just a little more modernized. 

 

"

 

I love "Born on the Day Before Yesterday". I'm bummed they're using "You Can't Win". I know people love Michael Jackson singing it, but I wanted Elijah Kelley to be able to sing "Born..."

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 2:59am

jimmycurry01, I actually don't feel like NBC and the producers are being upfront about the revisions. Read the back of the DVD case on Amazon. It does use words like "fresh" and "new" but it also says they're "staying true to the groundbreaking Broadway show..." It's deliberately misleading.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 3:42am

teddy1996 said: "It is staying true to the original. The book is just slightly revised. The structure of the original musical remains intact. The only differences between this and the broadway musical is that there is a female wiz, you can't win is replacing born on the day before yesterday, and there is a new song written by elijah kelley, ne-yo, harvey mason jr, and steven ormeus. It is the same musical that people fell in love with it is just a little more modernized. 

Ok, read your comment. Read. It. And tell me how that says staying true to the original. Adding You Can't Win is  their stupid thought that it may  draw people in because MJ sang it in the movie. The movie that even MJ fans didn't flock to. A female Wiz. A mew song. Yeah, that is staying true.

If they had just been up front and said they are going to make some changes, I may have been on board. But I, and a lot of people, saw the original and they are not staying true to it. T

. My problem with this is that they are pretty much bold face lying About "staying true to the original". They are forgetting there are those of us that saw it and lying to those who didn't.

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 3:57am

Why is it that whenever anything alleges to be "updated", it just gets more generic? Still looking forward to this show, but really feeling Best12's points. 

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 7:29am

All this talk about being "true to the original" is really leaving off one important word, and that's "intent." When you adapt material, there are alterations, embellishments, refinements, and edits. But I don't mind that, and I understand that's part of a creative process. But what I want and hope for is that they are being "true to the original INTENT" of the material. If they are, I am often (more often than not) fine with the changes made.

 

I love the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and the MGM adaptation "The Wizard of Oz" even with the changes made, because it is true to the original intent of the material. The adaptation captures the essence, the tone, the point, etc., as well as the basic story, even when that story differs on occasion from the source.

 

If you had to summarize "The Wiz" in a very brief sentence, you would say, "It's an all-black adaptation of The Wizard of Oz." That boils it down to the bare basic premise.

 

But does that premise mean "we cast black people" and then do a sanitized, generic creative interpretation of Oz? Where does the African-American perspective on the material begin and end? At the racial casting? We're talking about a cultural experience and not just a skin color.

 

What this production seems to be lacking from everything I have seen and heard so far is any African-American perspective on the material. They needed a Geoffrey Holder to focus it. It doesn't have to be HIS interpretation from 1975, but it shouldn't step out of the intent of an "African-American," aka "all black," version of The Wizard of Oz.

 

And I'm not saying that the creative team has to be "all black" behind the scenes. They just have to understand and honor the intent of the material and embrace the artistic culture and perspective of what "all black" means. It doesn't mean "The Muppet's Wizard of Oz" or making a one-size-fits-all TV special so little Jimmy in Texas can tune in and not feel like he's stepped into a strange land.

 

Wait, that's exactly what happens in the story. A little Midwestern kid is exposed to a new world with a vastly different culture than the one she has known.

 

I was a 14-year-old white boy from Kansas when I saw the original national tour of "The Wiz" in Kansas City. I went back to see it a second time. I thought it was breath-takingly imaginative, inspiring, soulful, strange, wonderful, exciting, funny, and it oozed creativity from every aspect of the production. I still can't get over the genius of having the Yellow Brick Road played by four 6-foot-five-inch dancers with yellow afros that shook golden glitter from their hair when they danced in their yellow-brick tuxedos.

 

There is nothing remotely approaching that level of genius here, and from everything I see, they have lost the original intent of the production. So in that regard, it's not "true to the original."

Updated On: 11/16/15 at 07:29 AM

[ggersten]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 8:15am

Best12Bars - now I'm wondering what George C. Wolfe would have done with this show.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 9:12am

He has the imagination and (of course) a firsthand experience of his own to bring to the table. Julie Taymor did incredible things with bringing Africa onto the stage in The Lion King, without being black or African, so again, I'm not saying the creative team needs to be black. But whoever is creatively in charge can't ignore the premise of the material either.

 

And let's face it, a firsthand experience doesn't hurt. Plus I'm a huge fan of Wolfe's work and his creative mind.

Updated On: 11/16/15 at 09:12 AM

[Danster]

Posted: 11/16/15 at 11:24am

The problem is that as long as Zadan and Meron are going to be involved, we are going to get musicals inspired by Disney's works. Maybe this has something to them being involved with the company in the mid-nineties. If one looks closely to the opening of Peter Pan's broadcast last year, one cant help noticing the resemblance with the animated movie.

That being said, I will not be surprised if sets and costumes are inspired by the Muppets and the OZ film version by Disney. The question is whether what they are doing to reach a wider audience, because with these choices it is clear that these shows are aimed for younger viewers.