The film was a critical and commercial failure, performing poorly at the box office and severely panned by critics, who branded the casting of Ross instead of Mills as Dorothy a disastrous blunder.[24][25]. Each time it happened, a tinsmith replaced each missing part with one made of tin until he was entirely made of it. [18] Stage Entertainment mounted a full-scale production at the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, Netherlands, in 2006. After a great fight and harrowing escape, they stop by the road to rest. It set a high … Motown singer and actress Diana Ross asked Motown CEO Berry Gordy to cast her instead, but he declined, feeling that the then-33-year-old Ross was far too old for the part. Sixteen-year-old Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and dog, Toto, on their farm in Kansas. THE WIZ is an endlessly-delightful soul/R&B musical reworking of "The Wizard of Oz", with both music and lyrics written by Charlie Smalls. She is evil, power hungry, and ruthlessly determined to get her hands on her sister's silver shoes, so that she may increase her power and rule over all of Oz ("Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News"). Smalls' score—supervised by musical director Ron Melrose and original orchestrator Harold Wheeler—sounds fresh and contemporary". It then ran in London at the Lyric Hammersmith from December 11, 1984, through February 2, 1985. A re-imaging of The Wizard of Oz, set against an urban background with an African American cast. Not being made of flesh, the Scarecrow and Tin Man are unaffected, but Dorothy and the Lion begin to become disoriented and drowsy. This retelling includes various urban settings and extreme sadness and melancholy, and features themes of rising above one's background and the expectations of others. Stephanie Mills (pictured in 2017) played Dorothy in the original 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz. With Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross. The song "Wonder, Wonder, Why" was added for the 1984 Broadway revival, but is not part of the current licensed score. Sidney Lumet served as director, working with screenwriter Joel Schumacher (who used none of Brown's stage script) and music supervisor Quincy Jones. Behind it stands a bewildered man who claims to be the Wizard. It starred Ashanti as Dorothy, Tichina Arnold as Evillene, Dawnn Lewis as Addapearl, Joshua Henry as the Tin Man, James Monroe Iglehart as the Lion, Orlando Jones (succeeded by Colman Domingo) as The Wiz, and LaChanze as Aunt Em and Glinda.[19]. This is … “Y’All Got It!” allows the Wiz to reassess and begin a new journey. Parents Guide, Kenneth Chisholm . The production was directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler. He is dragged from the field and returned to his friends by the Field Mice who police the area. She lives a sheltered life and is shy and unfulfilled. Evillene rules over the yellow land of the west, enslaving its people, the Winkies. In his preface Bordman says that “few readers will want to read this book from beginning to end but will rather ‘dip into’ it.” Probably true. They continue following the Yellow Brick Road deeper into the forest, where they are attacked by a large lion ("I'm a Mean Ole Lion"). Catching up to them in the forest surrounding her castle, the monkeys dash the Tin Man against rocks until he falls apart, and rip the straw out of the Scarecrow, leaving both of them helpless. Dorothy is a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher from Harlem, who along with her dog Toto are lost in a snowstorm on the night of Thanksgiving and end up in the Land of Oz, which looks like a strangly surreal verison of New York City. The songs were originally recorded in 1978, produced by Ross, Suzanne de Passe and Grammy Award winner Lee Holdridge. We search a large scrabble dictionary for scrabble words starting with wiz - we take the letter or word you enter, and generate all words starting with Wiz. The Wiz was released in October 1978, the meaty end of a decade that was, at least on paper, the post-Civil Rights Movement era (just like this is supposed to be the post-racial era). Give her time. "[40], 1974 musical based on the 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. [3] After drawing mixed critical reviews, producer Ken Harper considered closing the musical after its Broadway opening night. Summer Stars series production ran June 12 through July 5, 2009. There Dorothy is met by the Munchkins, all of whom are dressed in blue, and Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, who tells her that she is in the Land of Oz. "The Wiz – West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds", The Public Reviews. A number of members of the original Broadway cast returned for this celebratory run. Actress Phylicia Ayers-Allen, a munchkin and swing in the original production, co-hosted the performance with George Faison. The idea for the musical originated with producer Ken Harper. Synopsis Furthermore, her house has fallen on Evamean, the Wicked Witch of the East, and killed her, freeing the Munchkins from her evil powers. The girl begins her journey with the shoes of a wicked witch at her feet and she's joined by a scarecrow, a tin man and a lion, who want to ask something to the magician too, respectively a brain, a heart and the courage. The haughty and condescending people laugh and ridicule this odd group for wanting to see the Wizard until they see that Dorothy is wearing Evamean's silver shoes. The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. [14][15], A production ran at the La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego, from September 26, 2006, through November 12, 2006, receiving good reviews and extending its run by three weeks. Singer-songwriter Wallace Gary joined the cast as the Scarecrow. [28] Stephanie Mills, who originated the role of Dorothy on Broadway, played Aunt Em. They enter the city and look about in awe at the richly dressed people that inhabit it ("Emerald City Ballet"). The Ozians had never seen such a sight and proclaimed him Wizard. Here, Oz is a fictionalized New York and the film’s Munchkinland is Harlem through an urban fantasy lens, tagged with graffiti and bounded by presumably busy highways. However, he is quickly revealed to be a coward hiding behind bravado as Dorothy stands up for her friends. Directed by Matthew Diamond, Kenny Leon. Damien L. Sneed acted as the musical director and conductor of The Wiz: A Celebration in Dance and Music. When she gets caught in a snowstorm while chasing her dog Toto, they're transported to the mysterious Land of Oz, where she's informed that the only way she can find her way home is through the assistance of the powerful wizard in the Emerald City. (2014), Zadan and Meron announced The Wiz Live! Plot Keywords [26] NBC's live performance of the stage show aired on December 3, 2015. Once in the throne room, they are assaulted by a great show of lights, smoke, and pyrotechnics as the Wizard appears in several forms before them ("So You Wanted To See the Wizard"). The Wiz film takes themes from the stage version and builds on them to create a blended fantasy and sci-fi world that is at once evocative of the Black urban condition. as their next production (NBC, by this point, having purchased Universal Studios). The Yellow Brick Road leads them into a great forest where they discover a man made of tin, rusted solid. Walter “Wiz” Zumwalt is a bit out of sorts. Clicking her heels together three times, she finds herself transported back to Kansas in an instant. "[6], The Broadway production moved to The Broadway Theatre on May 25, 1977, and closed on January 28, 1979, after four years and 1,672 performances.[7]. Definitions are short excerpt from the WikWik.org. It was directed by Des McAnuff, who, with Harold Wheeler, orchestrator of the original Broadway version, revised the musical for contemporary audiences. The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. The original Baltimore cast included Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, Stu Gilliam as the Scarecrow, Tiger Haynes as the Tin Man, Ted Ross as the Cowardly Lion, and Butterfly McQueen as the Queen of the Field Mice. He proposes that Dorothy can return to Kansas the way he came, and offers to pilot her in his hot air balloon. In addition there is a list of Words that end with wiz, words that contain wiz, and Synonyms of wiz. Dorothy recalls that the Munchkins warned her of these poppies, and runs from the field as fast as she can with the Scarecrow and Tin Man behind her. When Harris eventually departed the company, the tour continued with Deborah Malone in the role of Dorothy. [22] The production will be directed and choreographed by Kim Duddy. Seeing Dorothy's silver shoes, however, they dare not harm her. That baby! Our daughter's fine. 18 Oct Arts Hope College Faculty Member Gabe Southard to Present Flute Recital on Oct. 21 "[38], In their review of the 2006 La Jolla production, Variety wrote: "'The Wiz' remains a collage of contemporary slang and imagery, but La Jolla's is a multicultural collage in which Baum's themes speak to the broadest possible audience. The farm help soon discover about Dorothy's repeated attempt to run away to her birthplace in Omaha, Nebraska, but before anything else could be said, Aunt Em (Stephanie Mills) follows after her. Give her time, honey. Instead, they carry her to Evillene's castle along with the Lion. The cast also featured Tony Terry as the Tin Man. [11], In August 2015, George Faison presented The Wiz: A Celebration in Dance and Music, performances of the original songs and choreography in honor of the Broadway hits 40th Anniversary at Summerstage in New York City. Both men were subsequently featured in other Broadway shows and were as replacements in the Broadway production of Ain't Misbehavin'. In their quest to find the wizard, they also face Evillene, the equally evil sister of Evermean, the wicked witch whom Dorothy inadvertently killed when she arrived in Oz; Evillene might be their biggest obstacle. As he puts it, “I packed up my [27] With Queen Latifah, Patti LaBelle, Busta Rhymes, and Little Richard among its planned cast,[27] the telefilm ultimately went un-produced; FOX instead became a co-producer on The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2004), starring Ashanti as Dorothy and Latifah as Aunt Em. She bids a tearful goodbye to her friends, and as their faces fade into the darkness, she thinks about what she has gained, lost, and learned throughout her journey through Oz ("Home"). With their goals seeming further out of reach than ever before, they sink to the floor in tears. Angered by this, she picks up a bucket of water and throws it over Evillene, who melts until only her magic golden cap remains. [32] The following month, David Alan Grier was cast as the Cowardly Lion, and newcomer Shanice Williams was chosen to play Dorothy. [12]. The Wiz Live! 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