THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL — Page 9

Read that article earlier. It says that Hinton Battle was cast as the Wiz.Andre DeSheilds played The Wiz on Broadway. So either that is an error or he changed roles.

Such an interesting article and I remember how Ease on Down The Road became a hit. A 45 version of the song was released before the cast album came out. And if I am not mistaken, it was not the cast on the 45. It was the version that was played on the radio. We played that song to death.

I remember the woman who owned the beauty shop on the corner of my block getting a bus trip together to go see it and it sold out in a day. I was on that bus!

"I wish the press would stop referring to that god-awful movie version of The Wiz."

Me too. I HATED the movie and thought THE WIZ was just a terrible property till I actually saw the stage version and was blown away by how great it was.

I know the film is very popular and has many fans but form what they've said the TV special will be more in line with the stage show (like THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE I suppose) so they should advertise the difference.

"My first ever double post!"

^

Was it good for you?!

So Bandy wants to play Dorothy. i think she would be good and can pass for 18! What do you guys think?

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/attention-nbc-i-just-feel-like-im-next-in-line-says-brandy-on-her-dream-to-be-dorothy-in-the-wiz-350507

No she would not! She is 36 years old!!! Dorothy in THE WIZ is a YOUNG GIRL and no, Brandy Norwood canNOT pass for 18...let alone a young girl like Dorothy in THE WIZ.

She seems really passionate about theater. Nettie is probably a great idea.

Brandy is currently two years older than Diana Ross was when she was too old to play the part. It's not going to solve any of the problems that people have with the film version if they just begin repeating the same mistakes.

Only thing I like about the film is the orchestrations and vocal arrangements (when it doesn't pertain to Ms. Ross, that is). Quincy Jones fancied up nicely what sounds like a pretty dull score on the record.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it had vitality in the theater, I'm sure it had power, but to me, none of that comes across in the recording except for the solo performances. The ensemble vocals in particular (except for maybe "The Feeling We Once Had") just sap the life out of me every time I hear them.

Seriously. Compare "Everybody Rejoice" (or "Brand New Day," if you like) between the movie and the Broadway recording. No comparison whatsoever; the movie's got life, and the recording sounds like dishwater at a church retreat.

"Quincy Jones fancied up nicely what sounds like a pretty dull score on the record.
I don't know about anyone else but I'd strongly beg to differ about the Original Cast Recording. I think it sounds perfectly fine... not dull. "

I do like the OBC very much and aside from "Home" my favorite track on the album is the "Tornado" number which is completely instrumental and very funky.

I am a big fan of what Quincy Jones did with the score. The orchestrations and vocal arrangements are top notch and first class all-the-way. In my opinion it is easily one of the best movie musical soundtracks ever produced. If you take a look at the liner notes the list of musicians and background vocalists who lent their talents to the project will simply blow your mind away: David Foster, Cissy Houston, Gwen Guthrie, Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, Ron Dante, Tom Bahler and Roberta Flack are just some of the performers that can be heard on the soundtrack.

If anything great came out of the 1978 film version I would say it was most definitely that soundtrack.

Diana Ross and Michael Jackson's single version of "Ease on Down The Road" was a hit and went on to win a Grammy Award.

Updated On: 6/4/15 at 11:18 AM

"I don't know about anyone else but I'd strongly beg to differ about the Original Cast Recording. I think it sounds perfectly fine... not dull. "

Maybe that's what happens when one is comparing a thin-sounding cast recording to something that had more money and more oomph like a movie soundtrack. It could be for a variety of reasons. It's an opinion; you don't have to agree with me.

For what it's worth, I also love the "Tornado" number and am a huge fan of "I Was Born On The Day Before Yesterday." The latter is a terrific approximation of Otis Redding's sound on "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" that one would likely have trouble pulling off today without it sounding plastic.

Updated On: 6/4/15 at 02:37 PM

The cast album is awful. The cast and their vocal performances are wonderful but a large majority of the score went unrecorded and I believe it's 8 of the 17 tracks don't even contain the full songs as they were performed on stage. They just fade out at the end. That's part of what makes the album so lifeless because all the buttons to the ends of songs are missing. It may have been a great keepsake at the time but it's difficult for listeners today to get a sense of what the show was like when they didn't even bother to record the songs the way that they performed them in the show.

Having said that, a lot of the songs that did go unrecorded ended up being cut from the movie anyway as well as subsequent revivals. "The Emerald City Ballet" while not technically a song was replaced with that green/red/gold song in the movie and replaced with a simple reprise of "He's the Wizard" the one and only time I saw the show at the La Jolla Playhouse. Since Harvey is rewriting the book I'm assuming we'll be getting something completely new this time around as well and I can't say I'm optimistic given how poorly the new material in Peter Pan was received.

When is the revival supposed to come to Broadway?