VIDEO: Queen Latifah Talks NBC's THE WIZ LIVE! on 'Tonight'

By: Nov. 27, 2015
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On last night's TONIGHT SHOW, guest Queen Latifah talked about starring in and customizing her look for NBC's live production of THE WIZ LIVE! Later, the singer and actress joins Jimmy, Rashida Jones and Eric Nally to perform holiday-themed parodies of 2015's biggest song. Watch all the clips from the appearance below!

THE WIZ LIVE! airs Thursday, December 3rd.

NBC's upcoming holiday 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.

"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 Fiersteinproviding 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.

Photo: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC


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