Feature: Countdown to THE WIZ LIVE! A Brief History of Live TV Musicals From The Golden Age

NBC's upcoming holiday production of THE WIZ LIVE! will air tonight, Thursday, Dec. 3! The production will star newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy alongside Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Queen Latifah as the Wizard, nine-time Grammy-winner Mary J. Blige as Evillene, original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, as Auntie Em and David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion. For More Information, Click Here.

Tonight an all-star cast and a crew of hundreds will go live in high definition to present the musical that eases on down to Oz, THE WIZ LIVE! This is the third annual live TV adaptation of a Broadway musical classic, following 2013's THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! and PETER PAN LIVE! from 2014. Once THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! aired, NBC signed the producers up to continue adapting iconic stage musicals to the medium of a live television production. Meron was even quoted as saying at the time, these musicals "open the door to another kind of entertainment that can exist on TV."

Of course, Meron and Zadan were aware the live, TV musical had existed before and they were responsibl e for this renaissance of what used to be called television spectaculars. From the earliest days of television through the late 60s and into the 70s, Broadway's top talent and many great theatre artists were showcased on the small screen. The names involved read like a "who's who" from the Golden Age of Broadway, film and popular music: Merman, Martin, Sinatra, Ritchard, Andrews and Burnett. The work of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green and others were presented live with no retakes to millions of homes across the country.

Before you meet the Wiz tonight, sit back and enjoy a stroll down memory lane with some of the legends of the past. Sure, the videos may be vary in quality, but where else can you relive those live moments from the past?

Here is our brief history of the live TV musical, 1953-1966.

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FORD'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The First "Television Spectacular"

Even while millions of American homes still gathered around their radios in the early 1950s, television sets were becoming more and more a regular fixture. Right after World War II, there were barely 10,000 sets in U.S. homes. By 1950, that number had increased to around six million televisions. Families would flock to their lucky neighbors' houses just to get a glimpse of the little box filled with vacuum tubes and gray, glowing screen.

It was into this world, the Ford Motor Company purchased airtime on both NBC and CBS on June 15, 1953 in order to reach the majority of American homes with their 50th Anniversary show, directed by legendary Broadway director and choreographer Jerome Robbins (before he was a legend). The show featured many acts and celebrities, but one duo stood-out when they joined forces to perform 14 minutes of musical theatre heaven on television for the first and only time. Ethel Merman and Mary Martin were Broadway royalty and their prodigious talent came together that night as never before. While this is not a full musical, I look as their joint performance as the kick-off to an era where Broadway was brought to the American public through television. Ethel and Mary: Take it away!

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ANYTHING GOES - 1953

The Colgate Comedy Hour put together a number of small screen adaptations of Broadway shows during its heyday. Merman was called on to recreate her original role Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES for an hour long, extremely truncated redo of the musical. Her co-stars were Broadway funny man Bert Lahr as Moonface Martin and Frank Sinatra as Billy. Merman belted as Sinatra crooned several of Porter's memorable tunes from the show.

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PETER PAN - 1955, 1956, 1960

Last year Allison Williams and Christopher Walken took a live trip to Neverland that some people in the Twitter-verse are still debating to this day. Back in 1955, there was no question in the minds of millions of viewers: Mary Martin "was" Peter Pan. After a short stage run in New York, NBC had the production remounted for TV cameras and the spell of the boy who wouldn't grow up was a mega-hit. The next year it was brought back again, with Martin and co-star Cyril Ritchard. Both of those live productions were meant to be just one-shot deals. Demand was so high for another broadcast, NBC had the creative team do it one more time in 1960, this time in color and it was video-taped at last. Any of the existing clips from Martin and Ritchard's performances show theatre magic being captured and preserved for one and all to enjoy for many years to come.

Basil Rathbone as Ebenezer Scrooge: priceless. Even though the British star, known for his iconic Sherlock Holmes, never got to play Scrooge on the big screen, he makes the role his own in this tuneful adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL with score and lyrics by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre. The 81 minute musical also feature pop singer Vic Damone, opera star Patrice Munsel and (remarkably) the Four Lads, featured in the title song.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein brought the magic of a beloved fairy tale to life with an original musical penned for television when they created CINDERELLA. Julie Andrews, the vibrant Broadway ingénue fresh from her triumph as Eliza Doolittle in MY FAIR LADY. When CINDERELLA aired in March, 1957, an estimated 107 million viewers were watching the live, color spectacular. Years after Hammerstein died, in 1965, Rodgers freshened up the score and it was once again presented with Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella. For the remount, Warren was joined by Broadway singer-comediennes Pat Carroll and Barbara Ruick as her wicked stepsisters.

A decade after they wooed Broadway with comedy and romance based on Shakespeare's TAMING OF THE SHREW, Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison recreated their leading roles for a live TV adaptation as the on-again/off-again married couple Fred and Lilli.

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JULIE AND CAROL AT CARNEGIE HALL - 1963

If Merman and Martin ruled Broadway musicals in the 1950s, Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett came close to being their worthy successors in the 1960s. Even though the newer stars were not exclusively stage performers - even by 1963 - they had the chops to conquer any medium they chose. Soon after Andrews ruled CAMELOT as Guenevere and Burnett showed off her not too shy persona as Princess Winnifred in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, they were paired in a live show from the mecca of concert venues, Carnegie Hall. Picking up the mantle from Martin and Merman, Burnett and Andrews got perform their own mega-medley.

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ONCE UPON A MATTRESS - 1964

Carol Burnett is one of the rare performers who was able to recreate a stage role on the small screen with a big impact. MATTRESS wowed Broadway with fractured fairy tale of Hans Christian Anderson's THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA, with Burnett belting out a hilarious score by Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer. Most of the original cast joined their princess for the live TV version. Burnett would return to MATTRESS again as Fred in 1972, and finally as the evil Queen Aggravain in 2005.

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ANNIE GET YOUR GUN - 1967

Bringing things around full circle, Ethel Merman was able to recreate one of her other signature roles for television - twenty years later! Even though some pundits dubbed the revival and television adaptation "Granny Get Your Gun," since La Merm was on the comfortable side of 50 by 1967, time had not diminished her famous, stentorian vocal power. The year before the show was presented, Merman and her company from the 1966 Lincoln Center revival popped in to the ED SULLIVAN SHOW for a piece of "I Got the Sun in the Morning."

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Do you have a favorite TV musical? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.

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