TV's The Wiz Live!'s First On-Air Promo Is Here
NBC has just released the first promo for its upcoming live TV presentation of the classic musical The Wiz. In the promo, Tony-nominated actor David Alan Grier (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) gets excited about playing the Cowardly Lion in the remixed Wizard of Oz tale.
As previously announced, in addition to Grier as the Cowardly Lion, The Wiz Live! will feature R&B singer Ne-Yo as the Tin Man, rap artist Common as gatekeeper to Oz, Elijah Kelley as the Scarecrow, Queen Latifah as the Wiz, Mary J. Blige as Evillene, original Dorothy Stephanie Mills as Aunt Em, Uzo Aduba as Glinda, Amber Riley as Addaperle, and newcomer Shanice Williams in the leading role of Dorothy.
Tony winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun) will stage the live production, which is based on Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown's Tony-winning stage version. Four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots) will contribute new material to Brown's book. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron serve as executive producers, with Universal Television producing.
The Wiz, a retelling of L. Frank Baum's classic Wizard of Oz stories, opened on Broadway in 1975 and won seven Tonys including Best Musical and Best Score. A 1978 film version starred Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. The musical was last seen in New York in a New York City Center Encores! Summer Stars revival in 2009, with a cast led by Ashanti, Orlando Jones, and Tony winner LaChanze.
The live television broadcast of The Wiz, hitting the airwaves on December 3, serves as the precursor to a Broadway revival, coproduced by Cirque du Soleil's new stage theatrical division, in the 2016-17 Broadway season. The telecast follows The Sound of Music and Peter Pan in NBC's annual series of live musical presentations.
