What really puts the show across, however, is the songs. The wealth of black pop of the mid-70s is on display here, including power-pop ballads (THE FEELING WE ONCE HAD) and disco (EMERALD CITY BALLET), with definite echoes of the Shaft Theme in the TORNADO BALLET. And here this great music is put across by pros.
In the opening song on Barbra Streisand's stunning new album, RELEASE ME (produced by Streisand and Jay Landers)- a career-spanning collection of rarities and recordings that have been heretofore hidden away in vast vaults and rarely even referenced, let alone ever heard - she powerfully imparts a lyric from the Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Jule Styne score of the Arthur Laurents-directed Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 1968, HALLELUJAH, BABY!, also acting as an oh-so-apt autobiographical summation: 'I'll be the best or nothing at all.' Indeed, so goes the legacy of Barbra Streisand - the voice of a generation; the greatest living recording artist, bar (or, if you prefer, Bar) none; who, now, today, is in the final stages of preparation before embarking on her new tour in conjunction with the release of this new album, directed by longtime creative collaborator and co-director, Richard Jay-Alexander with musical director and conductor William Ross.
Today 1985, the first Broadway revival of The Wiz opened at the Lunt-Fontanne THeatre, where it ran for 13 performances. The Wiz is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to the Majestic Theatre. The 1975 Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Join Dorothy and her friends on their fabulous journey as they ease on down the yellow brick road in a multicultural view of Oz in The Wiz June 21 - August 7 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will close August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will blow audiences away July 7 through August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana. The production will open Sunday, July 10 at 7 p.m. Stacey Flaster will direct and choreograph. THE WIZ first opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for four years (1600 performances). It made a historic footprint as the first large-scale big-budget musical featuring an all-African American cast. THE WIZ won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and was produced in 1978 by Motown/Universal as a film starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will blow audiences away July 7 through August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana. The production will open Sunday, July 10 at 7 p.m. Stacey Flaster will direct and choreograph. THE WIZ first opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for four years (1600 performances). It made a historic footprint as the first large-scale big-budget musical featuring an all-African American cast. THE WIZ won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and was produced in 1978 by Motown/Universal as a film starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will blow audiences away July 7 through August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana.
Join Dorothy and her friends on their fabulous journey as they ease on down the yellow brick road in a multicultural view of Oz in The Wiz June 21 - August 7 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will blow audiences away July 7 through August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana.
Join Dorothy and her friends on their fabulous journey as they ease on down the yellow brick road in a multicultural view of Oz in The Wiz June 21 - August 7 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.
The Broadway smash hit musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown and music by Charlie Smalls, will blow audiences away July 7 through August 7, 2011 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana.
Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents Nicholas Leichter Dance with Monstah Black at Intermedia Arts, presented in collaboration with Bedlam Theatre and Intermedia Arts, May 4-8 (times vary).
Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents Nicholas Leichter Dance with Monstah Black at Intermedia Arts, presented in collaboration with Bedlam Theatre and Intermedia Arts, May 4-8 (times vary).
Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents Nicholas Leichter Dance with Monstah Black at Intermedia Arts, presented in collaboration with Bedlam Theatre and Intermedia Arts, May 4-8 (times vary).
Northrop Dance at the University of Minnesota presents Nicholas Leichter Dance with Monstah Black at Intermedia Arts, presented in collaboration with Bedlam Theatre and Intermedia Arts, May 4-8 (times vary).
Arkansas Repertory Theatre (The Rep), the state's largest professional nonprofit theatre, is proud to announce its 36th MainStage Season. The new season has been specially prepared for a newly renovated theatre, and will include new musicals and dramas, plus timeless classics to form a season that exemplifies The Rep's mission of producing diverse work of the highest artistic standards for its Arkansas audience.
Once again, Maine State Music Theatre breaks new ground in Northern New England with a show that is rarely produced on a professional theatre stage and never before presented to an MSMT audience. The 2011 season ends with a bang, featuring an all-African American cast revving up theatregoers in THE WIZ, the retelling of Frank L. Baum's THE WIZARD OF OZ in a unique 70s style.