"The Wiz" revival

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 12:50pm

It has been confirmed that this show is coming back to Broadway in 2005:
THE WIZ

Theatre: TBA
First Preview: 2005
Opening: 2005
Director: Des McAnuff
Choreographer: TBA
A new revival of the "Wizard of Oz"-inspired musical

Am I the only one who thinks that this show will clash with Wicked, and if so, it will not be good news for this revival because if it hurts one of these shows, it will DEFINITLEY NOT be Wicked. I think they should wait til like 2007 or 2006. What do you guys think???

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 12:58pm

Maybe if they open it in a theatre really near the Gershwin, anyone who doesn't get into Wicked can go see The Wiz. Then neither show would lose out.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:03pm

I dont think the two shows will clash. They are completly different stories.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:07pm

Yeah, youre right but they are both derived from The Wizard Of Oz.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:10pm

However one of them is a fully developed story while the other still needs serious work on it's book and character development.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:11pm

Not really...but whatever floats your boat

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:12pm

I saw the Original Production of The Wiz on Broadway and I thought the story was fully developed.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:14pm

I wasn't referring to THE WIZ.

Updated On: 7/16/04 at 01:14 PM

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:16pm

Really Matt_G...oops...my bad..LOL !!!!

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:29pm

WiCkEDrOcKS- i dfon't think there will be a problem with 2 oz inspired shows...after all la boheme and rent were on b'way at the same time and one is based off the other

Posted: 7/16/04 at 1:38pm

They complement each other....Wicked is sort of the 'backstory' so they would be fun to see together. Not many other two shows are as directly linked. (know of any others besides Annie and Annie Warbucks?)

Posted: 7/17/04 at 10:50pm

I loved the Wiz! I saw it when i went to visit my sister in Houston. It was grrrreat! (GO TONY THE TIGER!)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 11:11pm

Oh, get off it! THE WIZ will not clash with WICKED! That's ridiculous! Don't sit and try to create a problem. Get a life and stop worrying about poor WICKED. It's gonna run with or without Kristin and Idina and it's going to run with our without THE WIZ. But, only for now. Hopefully this revival will show what Oz really can be.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 3:35am

Get this going already. Anyone want Heather Headly as the Diana Ross character? Can MJ still do the scarecrow if we have young children as the crows?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 4:21am

Forget that terrible movie, which was a misguided, overblown, bastardization of Geoffrey Holder's original concept on stage (Berry Gordy should be shot for having a middle-aged Diana Ross running round, popping her eyes, and making a general fool out of herself -- she was so awful it effectively ended her movie career just a few years after she'd received an Oscar nod for "Lady Sings The Blues"). Holder's original was a brilliant marriage of innovative design and inventive direction (with an able choreographic assist from George Faison) -- one hopes this new creative team can match that precedent.

The original Dorothy in "The Wiz" was 17 year-old Stephanie Mills, a heck of an R&B singer (who could sing circles around Ross and had a long and successful recording career after she left the show), and the producers of this revival had better be intent on casting the role with someone who's convincingly a teenager, if they want this revival to have a better fate than the movie version which was a major flop (it's been cited as a main reason big budget movie adaptations of stage musicals went out of favor in Hollywood for many, many years).

Headley could play Glinda, perhaps, or Aunt Em, but otherwise, there's no reason for her to be in this revival (and if her recording career is doing half as well as it should be, there's no reason for her to accept those roles). Anika Noni Rose is a good pick for it, since she still can play a teenager, at whatever age she actually is -- personally, though, I'd go even younger. And I'm hoping they'll consider Jennifer Holliday, Lillias White or Mary Bond Davis for Evilene -- there's no reason "No Bad News" shouldn't be a major showstopper, and it would be if any of those three are cast.

Updated On: 7/18/04 at 04:21 AM

[musicaltheatreman]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 4:56am

i totally agree with you margo!!!! i think anika noni rose would make an awsome dorthy!!! and they should also consider the girl that was in camp and now she is in littel shop, but i dont remeber her name.
i would go with lillia white as evilene.
how big is the role of glinda in the stage production i know in the movie the role is not big at all. i am asking because i know the actress that played glinda when the show was 1st on broadway on the tony for supporting actress so that makes me think the role is kinda big??? thanks :)

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 5:18am

Sasha Allen as Dorothy! Apparently her talent isn't being put to much good use in her small role in BARE...

This girl needs to be a star and soon!

Akiva

[CastAlbumFan]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 7:50am

Once again, I am in agreement with Margo. I HATED the movie, which was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in my life! To this day, I still can't watch the ending without crying! Everybody knew that Diana Ross was wayyyyyyy to old to be Dorothy and only got the part because she and Barry Gordy were an item. Interesting to note that the best performances in the movie were from Ted Ross and Mabel King... both from the original Broadway cast!

The funny thing is, I wasn't judging the movie based on the Broadway show... I saw the movie four years BEFORE I saw the musical. In fact, I dreaded doing the show because of the movie. When I finally read the script and saw the wonderful songs that weren't used in the movie I thought "What the HELL was wrong with 20th Century Fox?!" The should have had a Wizard who could SING for chrissakes! Two of best songs from the show were deleted because Richard Pryor couldn't sing his way out of a wet paper bag. Too bad Andre DeShield was busy doing AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' at the time of the filming of the movie.

Please, please, PLEASE use the original Broadway score in the revival! Resistthe urge to interpolate "You Can't Win" into the show. I'm begging you!

[alterego]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 8:12am

Couldn't agree more with Margo! Lillas White would be a marvellous Evillene.

Here in Australia we had The Wiz a year after its Broadway premiere. Here, as we don't have a large black population the principals were black and chorus were white. Most of the principals were Americans who had come over here for other shows (Hair or such) and stayed. They did however bring in two imports. Nineteen year old Andrea Frierson (Dorothy), and Victor Willis (Tinman) who returned to the US to front the original Village People.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 8:34am

musicaltheatreman: Dequina Moore

I love "You Can't Win". The movie is fun in a major campy way. BUT, hopefully the revival will not be like the film!

[Kelliexo90]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 10:34am

I was in a local production of The Wiz once. I was a Winkie.

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:00pm

I think that the Wiz will never clash with Wicked. 1: they are SOOOOO different! Wiz is more parody and humor while Wicked is serious and quite a show (effects and it's on a HUGE scale) 2: IT JUST WON'T!

[sean martin]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:05pm

Diana Ross aside (pu her waaaaaaay aside, please), Tony Walton's design work in the film was inspired lunacy. And there's a certain poignancy to having the Royal Court of Oz set in the WTC.

But the design and the fact that they kept the original Evilene was about the only redeeming thing about that movie. I have the DVD, which I keep solely for swipe file purposes, and it's downright painful to watch in places.

Remember: Ross petitioned hard and long to get that role. There's a story (apparently true) that, during filming, she called the director in the middle of the night to tell him she'd had a nightmare that the film was in the theatres with her name on the marquee and nobody came! And folks say the art of omens is dead..... :)

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:06pm

not as much... but the Wiz sorta pokes fun at Wicked while Wicked more of tells a back story... i dunno...i saw the show a long time ago...

Posted: 7/18/04 at 12:12pm

NOT AT WICKED! It pokes fun at the WIZARD OF OZZZZZ!