THE WIZ: 2015 NBC LIVE MUSICAL- Page 29

[teddy1996]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:11pm

The structure of the original musical remains intact. But there are added characters and it is more emotional and the humor is enhanced. There will be a new song written by neyo and the scarecrow will be singing you can't win from the movie. The cast said that since the wiz is such an iconic musical, they want to take it to the next level for the 2015 audience. 

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:13pm

... So they basically said that because it's such an iconic musical, they want to change it?

 

LOL

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:16pm

I keep hearing about the next level.  What level is on it now and what happens at the next one?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:18pm

But there are added characters and it is more emotional and the humor is enhanced.

 

Added characters? Bad idea. More emotional? They didn't see the original show then, and they aren't the ones to judge how emotional their adaptation is until it airs. Also, we don't need to cry through the whole story. Diana Ross tried that in the movie, and look where it got her. The humor is enhanced? Meaning they rewrote all the funny lines.

 

That's exactly the kind of arrogance that kills "modern" adaptations of classic material.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:22pm

Amen besty!

Updated On: 10/26/15 at 12:22 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:22pm

I hear it is very true to the original.  

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:23pm

And Teddy, yes, they did announce they were replacing "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday" with "You Can't Win."

 

He's not singing both.

 

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:42pm

teddy1996 said: "The structure of the original musical remains intact. "

Great! So it's still an adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Whew, thank God, I was worried the basic structure wouldn't remain untouched and that they'd go all crazy and start basing it off of a different source material. Glad that it's very true to the original.

I can't help but think of that moment in the 30 ROCK pilot where Jack Donaghy decides to retool the show within the show, called The Girlie Show, even though it's doing well in ratings. Tina Fey's character, the writer of the show, responds with sarcasm: "So your job is to take things that are doing well and fix them. That must be a great job."

 

Updated On: 10/26/15 at 12:42 PM

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:49pm

Maybe Teddy1996 is really the Fabulous TeddyZ? 

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:49pm

Maybe Teddy1996 is really the Fabulous TeddyZ? 

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 1:08pm

"They've added characters" is probably the one that makes me laugh the most.

 

You know, because the ones L. Frank Baum created, same ones in "The Wiz," aren't memorable enough and haven't stood the test of time.

Updated On: 10/26/15 at 01:08 PM

[musicaljen]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 1:50pm

I have said it before and will say it again. This should have been The Wizard of Oz Live. instead of The Wiz.

I cannot understand why such a good piece would require revisions, the adding of characters etc. Despite the fact that the original production has fans, lot seems to agree that the cinematographic version was a disaster. Personally I couldn't sit through the first 15 minutes of the Diana Ross movie. Its surely a good thing that on Thursday evening my favorite show Reign is on another channel

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 2:30pm

The movie is nothing like the stage show. Not anything like it. Different in tone, concept, pacing, humor (or lack of it in the film).

 

The biggest thing that the original story by Baum, the MGM film, and the original Geoffrey Holder production of "The Wiz" all have in common is the tone ... overall it's whimsical, buoyant, humorous (sometimes subtle humor, sometimes broad) ... even though the story is at times a bit frightening, taking a simple girl from her humble surroundings in Kansas to a strange world where she triumphs over witches and wizards and helps her friends to realize their own potentials.

 

But it's not irreverent, dark, gritty, ... Dorothy isn't sassy or confident. She's genuine, determined, honest, and mostly positive about her chances of getting back to Kansas again. She doesn't sob every five steps the way Diana Ross does. She isn't from Harlem, and doesn't teach school. She's a simple, wholesome child from the Midwest. So was Judy Garland, so was Stephanie Mills.

 

There are many ways to tell the story, new ones included, but trust the material. The minute you say, "I can make it better," you lose. Because you can't.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 2:36pm

Its surely a good thing that on Thursday evening my favorite show Reign is on another channel

Because otherwise you'd be legally required to watch?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 3:43pm

"Cinematographic"?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:34pm

best12bars said: "The movie is nothing like the stage show. Not anything like it. Different in tone, concept, pacing, humor (or lack of it in the film).

 

The biggest thing that the original story by Baum, the MGM film, and the original Geoffrey Holder production of "The Wiz" all have in common is the tone ... overall it's whimsical, buoyant, humorous (sometimes subtle humor, sometimes broad) ... even though the story is at times a bit frightening, taking a simple girl from her humble surroundings in Kansas to a strange world where she triumphs over witches and wizards and helps her friends to realize their own potentials.

 

But it's not irreverent, dark, gritty, ... Dorothy isn't sassy or confident. She's genuine, determined, honest, and mostly positive about her chances of getting back to Kansas again. She doesn't sob every five steps the way Diana Ross does. She isn't from Harlem, and doesn't teach school. She's a simple, wholesome child from the Midwest. So was Judy Garland, so was Stephanie Mills.

 

There are many ways to tell the story, new ones included, but trust the material. The minute you say, "I can make it better," you lose. Because you can't."

 

All of this!

 

i love when best12 starts speaking about Oz

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 4:40pm

AEA AGMA SM said: "best12bars said: "The movie is nothing like the stage show. Not anything like it. Different in tone, concept, pacing, humor (or lack of it in the film).

 

 

 

The biggest thing that the original story by Baum, the MGM film, and the original Geoffrey Holder production of "The Wiz" all have in common is the tone ... overall it's whimsical, buoyant, humorous (sometimes subtle humor, sometimes broad) ... even though the story is at times a bit frightening, taking a simple girl from her humble surroundings in Kansas to a strange world where she triumphs over witches and wizards and helps her friends to realize their own potentials.

 

 

 

But it's not irreverent, dark, gritty, ... Dorothy isn't sassy or confident. She's genuine, determined, honest, and mostly positive about her chances of getting back to Kansas again. She doesn't sob every five steps the way Diana Ross does. She isn't from Harlem, and doesn't teach school. She's a simple, wholesome child from the Midwest. So was Judy Garland, so was Stephanie Mills.

 

 

 

There are many ways to tell the story, new ones included, but trust the material. The minute you say, "I can make it better," you lose. Because you can't."

 

 

 

All of this!

 

 

 

i love when best12 starts speaking about Oz

 

"

He does know his sh!t. I believe he wrote the book I bought a couple years ago. I think it was Called The Silver Shoes or something like that. 

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 5:27pm

LOL Thanks, guys. I'm definitely passionate about the subject! ... but I also think it's open to new interpretations. Just honor the material. It sounds so simple, but egos get in the way. Be faithful to the intent of the story even if you adapt it.

 

If you're going to change the tone and the characters and who they are, you're not being faithful to the intent, and I am not interested. That shows me you don't know what you're doing or you're arrogant ... or both.

 

"The Wiz" is not foolproof material, either. It almost died on opening night. It went through a huge overhaul when Geoffrey Holder was called in to replace the director. He quite literally went around the stage and all through the theatre with the cast trailing behind him, "casting out" the bad energy and bad perspective and bad tone. (Eccentric,sure! But also a genius.) He changed the tone, he gave "The Wiz" its style, he found his own creative voice and perspective, AND he also honored the material while he did it.

 

Honoring the material. "Thinking inside the box." But THINK. That's the trick. Outside the box is easy! You can take the Wizard of Oz and make Dorothy a Nazi spy with one leg who puts on ruby earrings and dreams she's back at Camelot with a yellow road leading her into the woods to find a Cowardly Dragon, a robot, and a rag doll named Scaredy. ... See how easy it is to think outside the box?

 

When you're telling an iconic story like this, think inside the box. Be creative and imaginative and clever INSIDE the box. That's where the real challenge, the real magic, and the real genius lies. And get your damn ego out of the way.

Updated On: 10/26/15 at 05:27 PM

[musicaljen]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 8:02pm

Unfortunately I have not seen the Original production. But my point is that if its that good they should not have toyed with it. I have a feeling that narration would be add to this.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 11:02pm

musicaljen said: "Unfortunately I have not seen the Original production. But my point is that if its that good they should not have toyed with it. I have a feeling that narration would be add to this.

 

"

On one hand I agree with you. On the other hand, one could argue that there was nothing wrong with the original Cabaret, yet it has been tweaked for two different revivals now, and the latest revision was viewed by most to be pure gold in 1998.

The same can be said of every revival of Show Boat. Every revival has had a slightly different book than the one before it. Same for Annie Get Your Gun, and Anything Goes. Many classics get a new book as times change.

This is a reason to be concerned for The Wiz, because the revision may suck; however, it is unfair to say that a revision must mean that the original was not good enough in the first place. History is against that theory.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 11:09pm

She said she gonna watch Reign, anyway. 

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 11:21pm

I don't think we should take the opinion who likes Crappy Driftwood in the Sound of Music (Died)  .. seriously. at all.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 9:01am

^ ...says the troll who sent me this message out of the blue: 

 

drop dead from c0113g3b0y 
on 10/15/15 @ 01:53:10 AM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 9:18am

Completely agree with everything Best12 has said. I am still excited about it but every creative decision they've announced worries me. 

[skies]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 10:45am

It's hard to overestimate how the casting of Diana Ross as Dorthy changed the tone of the movie version.  As others mentioned, her Dorothy was a scared and pathologically timid 33 year old teacher in Harlem.

The yellow brick road essentially became  a shrink's  path to self actualization.

it completely took out any whimsy or humor the project might have had.