The Wiz - 1975 - Broadway Articles Page 1

Dorthy Gale arrives at Stranahan Theater by tornado (and tour bus!) as Broadway in Toledo brings the National Tour of The Wiz to town this week. I had a delightful night easing on down the road with familiar characters reimagined in a creative and moving way. The production is top-quality, featuring powerful performances, memorable music and dazzling effects. It is highly recommended to catch this vibrant revival that’s been 50 years in the making.

The Wiz at Bass Concert Hall delivers dazzling visuals, standout performances, and plenty of personality. Hannah Beachler’s scenic design and Sharen Davis’ costumes are unforgettable, while Phoenix Assata La Freniere, Kyla Jade, and the charming trio of Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion keep the journey lively and fun, even when the score lacks the lasting punch of its famous Oz relatives.

Friendship is nearly always a side element in musicals. From the comic sidekick of the leading character to the backup pals who provide background vocals, friends are part of the fabric of many shows—but rarely are they the main event. 

The Tony Award-winning Best Musical THE WIZ, a soul, gospel, and funk-infused twist on The Wizard of Oz, will play The Stranahan as part of its touring run.

A tremendous cast breathes new life into this Broadway classic. See what our critic had to say.

What did our critic think of THE WIZ at Aronoff Center, Procter & Gamble Hall?

It’s… Hairspray! BroadwayWorld is taking a look back at what the cast of this beloved musical has been up to since the show first graced the Broadway stage!

For years, I'd written off THE WIZ. My only prior experience with the show had been a disappointing production that left me confused about why the original had swept the Tony Awards in 1975, winning Best Musical and Best Original Score among other honors.

THE WIZ will return to Chicago as part of Broadway In Chicago’s touring season with a limited engagement at the James M. Nederlander Theatre. The national tour includes Dana Cimone, Alan Mingo Jr., Sheherazade, Kyla Jade, D. Jerome, Cal Mitchell, and Elijah Ahmad Lewis.

The Tony Award-winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is back and coming to Austin. Tickets for The Wiz will go on sale Friday, Jan. 30, for eight performances from May 12 to 17 at Bass Concert Hall.

Opening Night of The Wiz at Broadway San Jose was dazzling, the kind of evening that reminds you why musical theater, at its best, feels communal, electric, and alive. From the moment the curtain rose, the production burst onto the stage with color, rhythm, and unmistakable joy, offering a vibrant and imaginative retelling of Dorothy’s journey from Kansas to Oz.

If the longevity of a Broadway classic is judged by its ability to reflect both its historical significance and its present existence in popular culture, this new revival of THE WIZ is somehow caught somewhere between reverence and reinvention.

THE WIZ is back and coming to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts for a limited engagement. The musical features a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others).

What did our critic think of THE WIZ at Short North Stage?

Tickets for the Milwaukee engagement of THE WIZ will go on sale November 14 at 10 a.m. ahead of the production’s one-week run at the Marcus Performing Arts Center from March 24–29, 2026.

Everybody look around! The Wiz is back and coming to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway, with its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and 70s funk.

Fifty years after The Wiz premiered on Broadway, a new short film is revisiting the landmark musical through the voices of two of its original cast members: Director Samira Fuller-Farquhar’s If You Believe.

While different tryout theaters have different relationships to the development of new shows, it’s worth looking at both which commercial rental theaters and which non-profit theaters have had the most Best Musical Tony Award winners come from their stages.

Tckets for the Portland, OR engagement of The Wiz will go on sale Monday, October 20 at 10 AM. Learn more about the Portland engagement and see how to purchase tickets here!

The benefit of a stage production means it will always be malleable to change, always willing to look at how a story written in the past can still be relevant in the present, and remain timeless for the future. What follows in this new production of The Wiz is a recontextualization of our favorite characters. While the structure of the story is faithful to the Baum novel and MGM film, it comes with small, but noticeable details that reframe this familiar story not just as a fantastical quest, but as a bildungsroman and revenge tale at the same time.

The Springer Opera House, Georgia's historic State Theatre, will kick off its 2025-26 season with a high-voltage, soulful celebration of courage, heart and home.

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts has announced that tickets for THE WIZ and additional performances of ’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE… BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL will go on sale to the public Friday, August 29 at 10:00 a.m..

What did our critic think of THE WIZ at Citizens Opera House?

The Adrienne Arsht Center will open its 2025–26 Broadway in Miami series with the South Florida premiere of THE WIZ, running October 7–12. The 50th anniversary revival will star Dana Cimone, Alan Mingo Jr., and Miami native Amitria Fanae’ in a high-energy, all-Black reimagining of The Wizard of Oz.

The Wiz is an all-Black musical reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story follows Dorothy, a young girl who lives on a farm in Kansas, until a cyclone arrives, picks up her house, and blows her away to the fantastical land of Oz.