She Can't Stop the Beat! Watch THE WIZ's Queen Latifah's Musical Performance Highlights

By: Jul. 29, 2015
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As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Queen Latifah and nine-time Grammy-winner Mary J. Blige have joined the cast of NBC's highly-anticipated THE WIZ LIVE! Blige will play Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, while Latifah will take on the role of the mysterious and powerful wizard who holds the keys to the Emerald City. The titular role has traditionally been played by a male actor, including the likes of André DeShields in the 1975 original Broadway production, and Richard Pryor in the 1978 film adaptation.

While casting Queen Latifah as the first female to take on the role makes yesterday's news even more intriguing, the actress is no stranger to musical theater. Her numerous appearances in big screen adaptations of CHICAGO and HAIRSPRAY have proven time and again that she has the chops to take on the challenge. Below, revisit some of her greatest musical performances!

Queen Latifah took on the role of Matron "Mama" Morton, the corrupt but nurturing matron of the Cook County Jail in the 2002 six-time Oscar winning film CHICAGO. Check out her performance of "When You're Good To Mama"


Queen Latifah portrayed "Motormouth" Maybelle, a Baltimore rhythm and blues radio DJ who hosted "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show and ran a record shop business on the side. Watch her stirring performance of "I Know Where I've Been"

One of the greatest show-stopping numbers in musical theater! Watch Latifah's performance in HAIRSPRAY's "You Can't Stop the Beat" finale

The singer was "Big, Blond And Beautiful" as Motormouth Maybelle. Watch the performance below

Queen Latifah rocked the house on a recent episode of SPIKE TV's "Lip Sync Battle" with a hip hoppin' performance of LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells"

Watch Queen Latifah perform "Just Another Day" from her 1993 album "Black Reign"

About NBC's THE WIZ LIVE

"The Wiz Live!" is adapted from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, with a book by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. The production opened on Broadway in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre, starring Mills. It won seven Tonys, including best musical. As previously announced, Mills is set to return to the show on NBC, this time in the role of 'Auntie Em'.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron ("The Sound of Music Live!," "Peter Pan Live!") serve as executive producers. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct with Harvey Fierstein providing new written material. Fatima Robinson serves as choreographer. "The Wiz Live!" is produced by Universal Television in association with Cirque Du Soleil Theatrical.

"The Wiz" tells the classic story hundreds of millions of people have read in the L. Frank Baum books and then saw in the much-beloved 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," but retold in an African-American/multicultural context. Dorothy, a young woman from Kansas, is swept up in a tornado and relocated to a fantasy world that is inhabited by munchkins, good and bad witches, and, of course, flying monkeys. She eventually takes a path down a yellow brick road to find a wizard who can help her go home and along the way meets a scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion, who all learn to help one another.



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