The reason Stephanie Mills should have been in The Wiz movie.- Page 2

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 2/6/22 at 11:50pm

Briken4L said: "Stephanie Mills is a living legend and has MANY hit records. Home is played and listened to all the time but she has bigger hits than Home. If you use social media and actually tried to find her you would see that she's on social media and is still touring and doing concerts that sell out almost every night. She did her first to shows last month one in New Jersey and the second in her Hometown Brooklyn, and she turned the house OUT. In a few days she will be touring with Patti Labelle and Gladys Knight."

Was this a response to lovepuppy's question at #8 of where Mills is now? If so, did you really bump an old thread that hadn't been commented on since 2015 to lecture someone about a comment from 2011?

Updated On: 2/6/22 at 11:50 PM

[Stephen5]

Posted: 2/7/22 at 2:54am

The Wiz is a retelling of the popular book and film, The Wizard of Oz. According to She Knows, the new story began as a stage musical in Baltimore, Maryland. For the off-Broadway show, actor Renee Harris played Dorothy. However, Harris decided to leave The Wiz before it made it to the Broadway stage.

[Stephen5]

Posted: 2/7/22 at 2:59am

The Wiz is a retelling of the popular book and film, The Wizard of Oz. According to She Knows, the new story began as a stage musical in Baltimore, Maryland. For the off-Broadway show, actor Renee Harris played Dorothy.  However, Harris decided to leave The Wiz before it made it to the Broadway stage. 

Check out the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dslpHxTuA-w&t=6s shagle

[Tony Taharqa]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 3:01pm

If Stephanie Mills had gotten the role, I don't know if the film would be the cult classic that it is now. I've been laughing for decades at the people still crying and complaining about the film that keeps attracting new fans. 

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 3:25pm

No question that Mills was more than fantastic.

That said, we saw Ren Woods as Dorothy in LA and she was electrifying and I can still here the end of Home as she sang those notes, clicked her heels (we were third row center) and Toto ran out.  Tears. A few years later, Ms. Woods is electrifying singing Aquarius in the film of Hair. 

[morosco]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 5:31pm

The first time I saw THE WIZ was a national tour in the late 1970s. A young lady named Lilias White starred as Dorothy.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 7:29pm

lovepuppy said: "Where is Ms. Mills, now? She hasn't seemed to make a movie, record, or do a show in decades. How is she making a living? It's not like "Home" gets tons of spins on radio to give her royalties. (I'm a radio person. Never played it, and can't think of the last time I even heard it.)"

 

Ms. Mills moved south 33 years ago. She has stayed there to be with and care for her, now 22 year old, son who has Down Syndrome. She has toured and is currently touring and takes her son along. She also has a foundation for people with special needs. She wouldn't sing the song "Home" for a long time as she wanted to move away from it, from what I understand. She finally did start singing it again and re-recorded her version of it on her "Home" album in '89. (Which is killer). Her last album was in 2004.

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 8:02pm

Here’s the music video for that 1989 re-recording of “Home.”

 

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 7/15/23 at 11:38pm

I had forgotten how wonderful she is:  

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 1:17am

[Fosse76]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 5:08am

DottieD'Luscia said: "Didn't Stephanie play Sarah in one of the productions of Ragtime (Chicago, I think)?"

Indeed, it was the Chicago sitdown of Ragtime. Though, I don't remember if she was the direct replacement of LaChanze, or if it was a little later.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 12:10pm

Fosse76 said: "DottieD'Luscia said: "Didn't Stephanie play Sarah in one of the productions of Ragtime (Chicago, I think)?"

Indeed, it was the Chicago sitdown of Ragtime. Though, I don't remember if she was the direct replacement of LaChanze, or if it was a little later."

Mills replaced Lovena Fox, who replaced LaChanze. Mills closed RAGTIME in Chicago. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 12:23pm

She was also in Stephen Schwartz's "Children of Eden" at Papermill in 1997

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 4:42pm

CarlosAlberto said: "Stephanie Mills *was* in serious consideration to reprise her Broadway role. This was when it was a lower budgeted production that was being produced by Motown Productions.

Miss Ross got wind of it and she contacted Berry Gordy, who told her she was too old for the part. Since Miss Ross doesn't take no for an answer she got Rob Cohen from Universal involved. Cohen loved the idea and got in contact with Berry Gordy and convinced him to cast Diana and in turn Universal would co-produce the film with Motown.

This afforded them a much bigger budget than intended, financial security and a big star in the lead to assure box office success.

We all know how *that* turned out."

My understanding is that she didn't just contact Rob Cohen, she said "If you get me, you get Michael Jackson" before, apparently even asking Jackson if he was interested in the project. And that one-two punch is what really sealed it. 

Despite the oddness of it all, I really like the idea of an adult Dorothy who doesn't need to get home but to get out in the world. They never fully worked the concept out--the final image is her walking into the home that...theoretically she's ready to move on from. And it's far from a perfect film. But I still quite enjoy Ross in the role, and find the reconceptualization of the material interesting. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 4:45pm

Gothampc said: "Too bad Lena Horne didn't have the push that Diana Ross had. Lena wanted to play Evillene but they made her play Glinda instead (and Lena's son-in-law was the director of the film!!)."

Wow, I never knew this. It surprises me, since Horne wound up loving "Believe in Yourself" and included it in her concerts afterward. She's more suited for Glinda, and I'd have hated to lose Mabel King's superb turn: she steals the show with "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News."

 

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 5:36pm

Saw the movie in a theater once when it came out. I have seen bits and pieces of it since. It was not the big hit in the black community that they expected it to be. The soundtrack was more popular than the film. Everyone in my orbit owned it and was obsessed with Lena Horne's "If You Believe". (It got a standing ovation in the theater the afternoon I saw it) The one good decision they made was to have Quincy Jones do the arrangements and write original music along with Ashford & Simpson. The Emerald City Sequence was a favorite in the black gay community at the time and the arrangements were incredible with that signature "Q" sound. (It was Q's first time working with MJ and a year later we got the 1st of three legendary albums they did together.)  "Green" was played at some after hours clubs that I went to.

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 9:18pm

uncageg said: "Saw the movie in a theater once when it came out. I have seen bits and pieces of it since. It was not the big hit in the black community that they expected it to be. The soundtrack was more popular than the film. Everyone in my orbit owned it and was obsessed with Lena Horne's "If You Believe". (It got a standing ovation in the theater the afternoon I saw it) The one good decision they made was to have Quincy Jones do the arrangements and write original music along with Ashford & Simpson. The Emerald City Sequence was a favorite in the black gay community at the time and the arrangements were incredible with that signature "Q" sound. (It was Q's first time working with MJ and a year later we got the 1st of three legendary albums they did together.) "Green" was played at some after hours clubs that I went to."

Interesting that you say that since someone else on this board has said the movie was for Black people their The Sound of Music. Being white, I don't have a clue. I like the movie, while recognizing its many weaknesses. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/16/23 at 11:42pm

joevitus said: "uncageg said: "Saw the movie in a theater once when it came out. I have seen bits and pieces of it since. It was not the big hit in the black community that they expected it to be. The soundtrack was more popular than the film. Everyone in my orbit owned it and was obsessed with Lena Horne's "If You Believe". (It got a standing ovation in the theater the afternoon I saw it) The one good decision they made was to have Quincy Jones do the arrangements and write original music along with Ashford & Simpson. The Emerald City Sequence was a favorite in the black gay community at the time and the arrangements were incredible with that signature "Q" sound. (It was Q's first time working with MJ and a year later we got the 1st of three legendary albums they did together.) "Green" was played at some after hours clubs that I went to."

Interesting that you say that since someone else on this board has said the movie was for Black people their The Sound of Music. Being white, I don't have a clue. I like the movie, while recognizing its many weaknesses."

 

I didn't see that comment. Was it in this thread? (If so I missed it)

It became like a cult classic but we didn't get together on a Holiday to watch it every year. At least not my family or the people in the community that I know. However, my black, gay, Ross fan friends loved it!

 

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/17/23 at 12:08am

It was in another thread on the Wiz. Honestly, I don't remember which one. Probably the one about the recent tour which is coming to Broadway.