The Wiz

[sweeneytodd2]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 11:23pm

Does anyone else agree that The Wiz has a really fantastic score?

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 11:25pm

does anyone else wonder what happens to todo. Maybe the show is diffrent, but in the movie, they completely forget about him!!

[sweeneytodd2]

Posted: 9/20/08 at 11:26pm

I've wondered that too. And who is Charlie Smalls and why hasn't he done anything else?

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:24am

It's actually "Toto". And Charlie Smalls hasn't done anything else because he died 21 years ago.

But yes, "The Wiz" is a fantastic show and I'm looking forward to the revival.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:38am

In the original production and tour (which I saw), Toto was a real little white dog.

You only saw him run across the stage at the very beginning of the show, and then again at the very end, when Dorothy holds the last note of "Home," clicks her heels together, and he comes running out. She picks him up and hugs him as the lights go out. It was a very effective and emotional ending to the show.

Toto didn't go to Oz with her, though.

Here's a video of the '80s Broadway revival with Stephanie Mills singing "Home." You'll see her little white dog Toto at the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD0MgoFDGGI

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:59am

In the film he does make it to Oz, but serves very little, if any, purpose.

Great score. Great Book. Great show. Deserves a top-notch revival.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 12:45pm

i too love the score... let's just hope it's not like the version that played the La Jolla Playhouse last year... ugh... they just tried waaay too hard on that one...

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 12:56pm

"Great Book"

Really?? REALLY???

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:06pm

It was a good book for 1975. I actually am more and more convinced that THE WIZ was something very of its time that is going to be very hard to revive successfully. Everything about the score, the lyrics, and the script were totally of its day and updating any of it isnt ever going to really work.

And keeping the show set in 1975 isn't exactly going to work for modern audiences - though I think it would be better than all the horrible rewrites the script and concept have had to endure in productions over the past five years.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:23pm

couldn't they just keep the musical simple? the story of dorothy is very simple and you could always rewrite it without making it feel like it is set in a specific time period... i mean that's what works with The Wizard of Oz and wicked, right? well i'm assuming that's why it works on some level... but then again i'm not a playwright so i have no knowledge in these things... i just like this musical alot and want to see it done right..

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:46pm

That's the problem with using strong pop music influences as well as pop references or slang in any show.

They're bound to be dated very quickly. I agree with MB.

You either present them as period pieces, or get stuck trying to rewrite and "improve" them for a new age... which almost never works.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:50pm

As we've discussed here already, the thing that was really most wonderful about the original WIZ was the staging. But I think some of the black urban jokes in the original design might even be offensive to audiences today.

As a few of us have been saying all along -rather than revive THE WIZ, somebody just needs to write a new musical adaptation of OZ to appeal to this generation. But perhaps we have that already with WICKED.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 1:56pm

As a few of us have been saying all along -rather than revive THE WIZ, somebody just needs to write a new musical adaptation of OZ to appeal to this generation. But perhaps we have that already with WICKED.

As much as I would love a new musical adaptation, I *really* hope that Wicked isn't it.

I think what really makes a new adaptation tough, is the MGM Zetigiest is everywhere. It's so much a part of our lives, that without the right team, I'm afraid it would flop quickly.

That said, Jeanine Tesori could probably write a KILLER score for it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 2:00pm

Any remotely straightforward theatrical version of that story would automatically draw comparison to the MGM film and the original books.

You'd have to put a completely new spin on it. The Wiz did that with style, and Wicked did it with a new POV.

I could see it set in a completely unexpected era, culture, or theatre style, and having it "hit" once again.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 2:12pm

Good point besty.

I really wish "Great and Terrible Oz" would get liscenced. That was a brilliant adaptation...and if expanded right could make a stellar musical.