"The Wiz Live!" Reviews- Page 3

[Dave19]

Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:00pm

That can also mean 2 things, not necessarily connected to her talent.

1. A percentage of the audience is tone deaf/quality blind.

2. They are cheering for other things.

Updated On: 12/5/15 at 06:00 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:09pm

THOSE are the things?  Boy you really do know everything!

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:10pm

riiiiiiight, You're smarter than all the critics praising her, right? LOL so delusional. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/5/15 at 6:15pm

Shanice for sure had pitch problems throughout but she has a beautiful gorgeous voice. She slayed Home as far as I'm concerned. She's not a robot she's human. Every singer sings a few off notes here and there. 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 4:04pm

Pretty nice write up of "The Wiz: Live!" by Mr. Eric Deggans over at NPR.

 

When NBC first considered bringing The Wiz Live! to television, the network couldn't have known how much America would need to see this.

At a time when the country is reeling from mass shootings, protests over police killing black teens, and presidential candidates railing against immigrants and refugees, there is no better time to experience a soothing, expertly executed celebration of family, friendship and black culture.

 

 

[Dave19]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 6:27pm

broadwayboy223 said: "Shanice for sure had pitch problems throughout"

 

Thank you. Now, people can choose to not care, or to be forgiving, but it was too much for my taste. I did not like the intonations and the way she started words with that "bouncing ball" sound either.

 

Updated On: 12/6/15 at 06:27 PM

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:14pm

Dave, I agree that she has pitch problems but if you had quoted the rest of my post you would have also seen I that I think Shanice has a great voice. 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:16pm

Dave19, I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Shanice Williams' performance in "The Wiz: Live", for this being her first professional acting and singing role she really held her own. Were her vocals perfect? No. But she redeemed herself quite nicely and her performance of "Home" was really, really beautiful.

 

I don't think that you quite understand that the casting of  "The Wiz" with African Americans is quite intentional. That is how the show was conceived back in 1975. It is very much an alternative version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". 

 

For someone who says that they are in "the business" I am surprised you wouldn't already know that. "The Wiz" is a very well known property, it's not some obscure, unknown musical.

 

I write all of this not with the intention of trying to sway you from your opinions, opinions that you are surely entitled but they do not reflect the majority and are very much in the minority.

Updated On: 12/7/15 at 07:16 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:17pm

My absolute favorite insane comment on the Internet (buried on a review site) about the Broadcast was that Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige were awful and she hated the others in it too. Then she said (get ready) ... "Black people just can't do The Wiz."

 

LOL

 

Racist ignorance at its finest.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:27pm

best12bars said: "My absolute favorite insane comment on the Internet (buried on a review site) about the Broadcast was that Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige were awful and she hated the others in it too. Then she said (get ready) ... "Black people just can't do The Wiz."

 LOL

Racist ignorance at its finest.

 

Yes. Many of these comments were truly baffling and born out of pure ignorance of the show. 

 

 

 

 

 

"

 

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:31pm

Dave obviously isn't in the business. No one in the business would be so cluless and say such idiotic comments about the Wiz. He's lying.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 8:10pm

I actually thought that it was a pretty good production.  It had its flaws, but the music sounded wonderful. 

I actually really did not care for Latifah though.  I think that there were many people who could've played the role better.

[Dave19]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 7:01am

A young Whitney Houston kind of quality would have been great. Or a Cynthia Erivo kind of quality.

A girl that knows how to relax her vocal chords instead of constantly straining them, even at the soft parts.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 10:34am

Minor quibbles aside in regards to the truncated Emerald City Ballet, Tornado sequence and the exclusions of "Born on The Day Before Yesterday" "Rested Body..." and "Who Do You Think You Are?" I feel this version of "The Wiz" brought back the joy and fun to the piece. The Lumet film version sucked all the joy of the piece. It was just too dark.

[skies]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 3:15pm

I don't get all the outrage about an "all black cast", I thought I saw a couple of white (cough...cough...token..cough..cough) dancers in some numbers.

If the reverse was done in another show, all main cast White with token black dancers no one would bat an eye.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 3:42pm

skies said: "I don't get all the outrage about an "all black cast", I thought I saw a couple of white (cough...cough...token..cough..cough) dancers in some numbers.

 

If the reverse was done in another show, all main cast White with token black dancers no one would bat an eye."

 

Even if they didn't have those so-called "token" dancers in the ensemble this "outrage" is unwarranted. "The Wiz" was conceived as a show with an African-American cast. It's "The Wizard of Oz" re-envisioned through an African American sensibility. I fail to understand why anyone would have a problem with that. No one was shouting "racism" or up in arms about it when the show premiered forty years ago. You would think we as a society would have PROGRESSED. That doesn't seem to be the case. This country, this society seems to have REGRESSED.

 

Updated On: 12/7/15 at 03:42 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:05pm

We'll show them! Let's do Timbuktu with an all white cast!....., Oh, wait.

 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:08pm

SNAFU said: "We'll show them! Let's do Timbuktu with an all white cast!....., Oh, wait."

 

LOL...yes! But let's call it "Kismet"!

 

 

 

[NJ_BroadwayGirl]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:14pm

Sidenote, the SNL skit was pretty funny ... If you didn't see it live it looks like BWW has the video up. It also looked like they were wearing the actual costumes. Gosling actually looked quite a bit like Ray Bolger.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:21pm

SNL was able to get the actual costumes. I was on call to recreate the Tin Man's jacket if they were not able to get them. They managed to get the costumes for Peter Pan last year as well.

 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:24pm

SNAFU said: "SNL was able to get the actual costumes. I was on call to recreate the Tin Man's jacket if they were not able to get them. They managed to get the costumes for Peter Pan last year as well."

 

 

I was wondering why the costumes were so "on the mark"!

 

 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:29pm

NBC was more then happy to lend SNL the costumes. It is all promotion for the show and upcoming DVD and CD release.

 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:58pm

SNAFU Do you have any info about why certain cuts were made to the score?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 6:20pm

No, I do not. Other then two meetings with the creatives about the WIZ head, I really had no inkling on why certain decisions were made.

 

[Tag]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 6:23pm

^What was the inspiration for the Wiz head?