Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:08pm
The last episode of M*A*S*H had 106 million viewers but it was aired during the early days of the AIDS epidemic when nobody went out anymore.
Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:09pm
gypsy, the last episode of MASH had something like a hundred million. People just don't watch as much live (in the sense of on a network, when it's on, not Live! like The Wiz Live! ETA - I just now saw that Namo posted about MASH just before me
Danser, I thought your posted was horribly boring and insipid.
Updated On: 12/4/15 at 10:09 PM
Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:11pm
"Give me the original Wizard of Oz"
Behold:
The iconic, legendary, and original 1903 Wizard of Oz Musical
Of course, the books are technically "the original" versions, I suppose.
Updated On: 12/4/15 at 10:11 PM
Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:16pm
For everyone who found the Elijah Kelley's Scarecrow costume to be terrifying, at least he didn't look like a burn victim!
Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:40pm
Nefertiti said: "uncageg said: "I know a lot of people taped it to view later. It was definetly a success. I don't think they would be re-broadcasting it if it wasn't.
Both Peter Pan and Sound of Music got re-broadcasts, as a matter of fact The Sound of Music twice.
So you are saying that Glee which was a series pulled in 12 million viewers, which is a lot more than most shows get these days. I still think that it could have done way a lot better.
Didn't see the first two. Had no clue they were re-broadcast but I am sure they did it because they felt they were a success. That was my point. I wasn't comparing it to the other 2. Also, I said nothing about Glee.
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Posted: 12/4/15 at 11:11pm
God, Namo, that's the darkest thing I'll feel bad about laughing at all year.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:08am
For some reason I was expecting a more legit soprano from Uzo. She should have used her head voice.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:14am
But Glinda is not a Soprano role.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:24am
Seriously. I loved hearing that kind of voice sing musical theatre again.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:28am
Someone described it perfectly a few pages back - smoky alto.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:31am
That was me. 
If you want to talk about a live musical TV event, nothing can or ever will top the original 1957 (yes, you can go back that far) telecast of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella" featuring Julie Andrews. It pulled in a record-setting 107 million viewers ... in 1957 when the population was a fraction of what it is now. It was a full 60 percent of the entire nation's population. That's not 60 percent of all TV viewers, that's 60 percent of US citizens.
Updated On: 12/5/15 at 06:31 AM
Posted: 12/5/15 at 10:32am
Just watched the broadcast again and holy crap does Amber Riley really steal this show. After listening to her rendition of "He's he wiz" I went to listen to the original broadway cast album of the song and holy crap does the song just completely suck on the obc. Thank Heavens for Amber Riley. She needs to come to Broadway.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 11:28am
agree about Amber. she was electric.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 11:34am
You know what I didn't think about that. About the smoky alto thing. She does have a beautiful voice i just wish she didn't have as much tension so she could have song with more vibrato.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 11:53am
Wonderful, wonderful production - some are looking too much into it.
I went through about 8 pages of posts and couldn't find an answer or comment - I wonder why the last-minute Glinda wig change - too ethnically inaccurate (although this is fantasy)? Does anyone know?
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:08pm
In the original production of the Wiz Dede Bridgewater won the Tony for supporting actress for playing Glinda. I am not familiar with the original script, but what else does Glinda do that makes her role a Tony worthy role because based on the live broadcast Glinda's role is very small and she only comes in speaks a few,ones sings an amazing song and then leaves. I know that her other song Rested body was cut from the broadcast, I was just curious if she had more scenes or lines in the original productions hat made it Tony worthy.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:24pm
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:28pm
Here is a wonderful interview with Dee Dee Bridgewater as she reflects on what "The Wiz" means to her.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:31pm
Her description of her character's entrance in the show sounds fabulous!
“I had never done actual Broadway theater before, it was my first turn. I was a big follower as a little girl of the Ziegfeld Follies, and I just loved all of the production numbers, with the men carrying the damsel down the stairs and all of that. And actually in the production, I was escorted down the stairs by the beautiful men from the Land of Oz and lifted in the air and carried while I sang the first song that I did, ‘A Rested Body Is a Rested Mind,’ and then after I told Dorothy how to get home, I sang that song ‘If You Believe.’”
Updated On: 12/5/15 at 12:31 PM
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:34pm
Good article, but I am still Interested in what made the role Tony worthy?
Posted: 12/5/15 at 12:43pm
I can only imagine the role was cut down by Fierstein in the adaptation process. Glinda had 2 musical numbers in the original production, "A Rested Body Is A Rested Mind" and "If You Believe". Sometimes it's not so much the size of the role it's what you do with it. It seems Dee Dee Bridgewater did something special with that role for whatever amount of time she was up on that stage to earn that Tony Award. I'm positive about one thing based on her performance on the cast album: Her singing was definitely one of the factors. She is an immensely gifted performer and a jazz legend.
The Smithonian's Museum of African American History and Culture will have several costumes designed by Geoffrey Holder from the original 1975 Broadway production of "The Wiz" on display.
Here is the beautiful gown worn by Ms. Bridgewater as "Glinda The Good":
Updated On: 12/5/15 at 12:43 PM
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:00pm
Dee Dee was (and is) stunningly beautiful, and that voice!
They cut Glinda's entrance song "A Rested Body Is a Rested Mind," and trimmed a lot of her dialogue. It's still basically one scene, but she comes on at the end and stops the show with "If You Believe." And her entrance along was staggering. Originally she descended in a giant watermelon slice, like a crescent moon (yes, that was an ethnic joke that barely went over back then and would cause outrage today). They changed that in the run and for the tour, and Glinda still had a fabulous entrance with a chorus of servants dressed in pink, looking like something out of the Arabian Nights.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:09pm
Interesting. This picture must have been from a tour maybe? This is another actress on the watermelon slice that best12bars mentioned. Even Glinda's makeup and costume is different.
Posted: 12/5/15 at 1:24pm
#3 from Playbill's 5 Things You Never Knew About The Wiz But Should List
3. Original Glinda, Dee Dee Bridgewater, won a Tony Award for about five minutes of stage time.
Joining the ranks of Marilyn Cooper in Woman of the Year and both Marian Mercer and Katie Finneran in Promises, Promises, Dee Dee Bridgewater holds the distinction of winning a Tony Award for an extremely brief performance. Her character of Glinda didn't appear onstage until the very end of the story; she sang a short entrance song ("A Rested Body is a Rested Mind"
, had a brief scene, and then sang a reprise of the show's emotional anthem "Believe In Yourself." When all was said and done, she was on stage for less than six minutes.
