The Wiz - 1975 - Broadway Articles Page 11

The cast and crew of NBC's acclaimed production of THE WIZ LIVE! reunited Wednesday, June 1 at Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles for a panel discussion and live musical performances.

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.

On Monday, June 6 at 7:00 PM, Film Forum will present a special screening of Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob's 2005 documentary Carmen & Geoffrey, with the filmmakers and dancer Carmen De Lavallade in person. 

Joining the original cast as the Wizard is Tony Award-nominated actor Andre De Shields, Broadway's original 'The Wiz' (1975).

Oh, the places you'll go! The Oregon Shakespeare Festival transports audiences to a ghostly Danish castle, dynastic China, and Oz's Emerald City when its outdoor theatre opens the weekend of June 17-19. The Allen Elizabethan Theatre will feature Hamlet, directed by Lisa Peterson; the classic 1970s musical The Wiz, directed by Robert O'Hara; and The Winter's Tale, directed by Desdemona Chiang. The shows will close the weekend of October 14-16.

Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center has announced updates to its 2016 schedule. Scroll down for details!

As BroadwayWorld reported last week, after winning big at this year's GRAMMYs, the cast recording for Broadway's HAMILTON has reached a another huge milestone -- going gold.

Paper Mill Playhouse is hosting its largest fundraising event of the year, the Paper Mill Playhouse Gala on Friday, May 6, at the renowned Hilton Short Hills. The reception and silent auction begin at 6:00pm followed by dinner and dancing featuring The Eddie Bruce Band. 

When it opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in 1975, The Wiz was heralded as a groundbreaking theatrical event because it was a large-scale, big-budget musical featuring an all-African American cast. The Wiz laid the foundation for other African-American hits including Dreamgirls. Most recently, The Wiz Live! was featured on NBC in December of 2015, and beginning on March 23, The Wiz will ease on down to Jacksonville with its debut at the Alhambra Theatre & Dining featuring a big cast, big costumes and a big set. The show will run through April 24.

Take a journey through the rich history of New Orleans with Grammy Award-winning Dee Dee Bridgewater, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 12th and Douglas streets, tonight, March 12, 2016, at 8 p.m.

Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced casting for the Encores! production of 1776, the classic Tony Award-winning musical about how the founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence and gave birth to a new nation. 1776 will star Terence Archie, John Behlmann, Larry Bull, Nikki Renee Daniels, Andre De Shields, Macintyre Dixon, Santino Fontana, Alexander Gemignani, John Hickok, John Hillner, John Larroquette, Kevin Ligon, John-Michael Lyles, Laird Mackintosh, Michael McCormick, Michael Medeiros, Christiane Noll, Bryce Pinkham, Wayne Pretlow, Tom Alan Robbins, Robert Sella, Ric Stoneback, Jubilant Sykes, Vishal Vaidya, Nicholas Ward, and Jacob Keith Watson. 

Take a journey through the rich history of New Orleans with Grammy Award-winning Dee Dee Bridgewater, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 12th and Douglas streets, Saturday, March 12, 2016, at 8 p.m.

THE WIZ LIVE producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron chatted with BroadwayWorld about the production's recent success at the NAACP Image Awards and more. Check out the full interview here!

Among the winners announced was NBC's THE WIZ LIVE in the category of Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special.

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) presents renowned jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater with Irvin Mayfield and his New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), February 27, 2016 at 8pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall.

With this strong ratings report, NBC will air an encore telecast of its holiday production on Saturday, Dec. 19 (8-11 p.m. ET).

Grammy-winning singer Ne-Yo and Shanice Williams starred in THE WIZ LIVE! on NBC on December 3rd, and together they conquered Oz and social media.

This week FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visitwww.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

Sony Music Masterworks and Broadway Records release the original soundtrack of the NBC Television event 'The Wiz LIVE!' via all digital service providers (download and streaming) today, December 11, followed by the CD on December 18.

Saturday's episode of NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE featured a spoof on last week's live broadcat of THE WIZ LIVE! In the sketch, West Oz's Scarecrow (host Ryan Gosling) mistakenly ends up in East Oz with Dorothy (Sasheer Zamata), Cowardly Lion (Kenan Thompson), Tin Man (Jay Pharoah), Scarecrow (Michael Che) and The Wiz (Leslie Jones).

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: David Bowie's LAZARUS bows off-Broadway, Nathan Lane leads THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER and more!

When mounting an upcoming Broadway version of NBC's THE WIZ LIVE, maybe producers should consider casting superstar Beyonce.

NBC aired its colorful holiday production of THE WIZ LIVE! last night, featuring 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. Whether you missed the special presentation when it aired or just want to re-live the amazing journey through Oz, watch the entire show below!

As BWW reported earlier today, NBC's live broadcast of THE WIZ LIVE! brought in a whopping 11.5 million viewers - a reason to celebrate for the network. Another reason? The introduction of the unforgettable Shanice Williams. Cast member James Brown III caught Williams' re-entry backstage following her powerful performance of the show's finale, 'Home,' last night. Check out a quick video of the cast and crew's standing ovation for 'Dorothy' actress below!

As BWW reported earlier today, NBC's live broadcast of THE WIZ LIVE! brought in a whopping 11.5 million viewers - a reason to celebrate for the network. Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron chatted with the Hollywood Reporter today about the huge success of the show and what is in store for the future.