The Wiz' Set as NBC's Next Live Musical

[CherubimII]

The Wiz' Set as NBC's Next Live Musical


Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Updated 7:14 PM ET, Mon March 30, 2015

<section class="zn zn-large-media zn-body zn--idx-0 zn-has-one-container" data-eq-pts="xsmall: 0, medium: 460, large: 780, full16x9: 1100" data-vr-zone="zone-0-0" data-containers="1" data-zn-id="large-media" data-eq-state="large" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 20px 0px 0px;">The cast of "The Wiz" (L-R Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Diana Ross and Ted Ross) pose for a publicity shot in 1978 in New York, New York. The movie was directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Universal Studios.</section><section class="zn zn-large-media zn-body zn--idx-0 zn-has-one-container" data-eq-pts="xsmall: 0, medium: 460, large: 780, full16x9: 1100" data-vr-zone="zone-0-0" data-containers="1" data-zn-id="large-media" data-eq-state="large" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 20px 0px 0px;">Story highlights</section><section class="zn zn-body-text zn-body zn--idx-0 zn-has-multiple-containers zn-has-15-containers" data-eq-pts="xsmall: 0, medium: 460, large: 780, full16x9: 1100" id="body-text" data-vr-zone="zone-1-0" data-containers="15" data-zn-id="body-text" data-eq-state="large" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 20px 0px 0px;">

• NBC following up "Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan" with "The Wiz" in December

• After airing on live TV, the musical will return to Broadway
• "The Wiz" is a retelling of "The Wizard of Oz" in a multicultural context

<cite class="el-editorial-source" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: CNN, 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700;">(CNN)
</cite>NBC is upping its live musical game.
The network on Monday announced that "The Wiz" will be its next live musical performance — with Cirque du Soleil boarding the project with plans to bring the show to Broadway in 2016.
NBC's "The Wiz," set for Thursday, Dec. 3, will again be executive produced by Sound of Music and Peter Pan duo Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, with Tony-winning director Kenny Leon attached to direct both the live event as well as the Broadway revival in 2016-17. Tony winner and Broadway icon Harvey Fierstein will contribute new material to the original book by William F. Brown and work alongside Zadan, Meron and Leon. Leon won a 2014 Tony Award for directing "A Raisin in the Sun," and earned a nomination for "Fences." Fierstein, as a writer, won Tonys for "La Cage Aux Folles" and "Torch Song Trilogy." He's also written books for musical hits including "Kinky Boots" and "Newsies." As an actor, he's won Tonys for best actor in a musical ("Hairspray") and best actor in a play ("Torch Song").

"We love this yearly tradition and we're more excited than ever to not only bring another Broadway musical to America's living rooms, but also see it land on Broadway as well," NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said. "It's a natural next step for our live musical events, and we're so pleased to be in business with this award-winning creative team and Scott Zeiger, president and managing director of Cirque du Soleil's new theatrical division. Cirque's incredible imagination will help bring the fantasy world of Oz vividly to life and give this great show a modern spin on the age-old story we all love."
Broadway musicals that have sung their way to the big screen
Zadan and Meron will reunite with Leon, with whom they worked on "Steel Magnolias" and "A Raisin in the Sun." Universal Television will produce. Casting for both the NBC telecast and Cirque's Broadway production will be announced at a later date.

"The Wiz" is adapted from L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," with a book by Brown and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. The production opened on Broadway in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre and won seven Tonys, including best musical. It ran for four years.
TV ratings: 'Peter Pan Live!' falls from 'Sound of Music'

"The Wiz" is a retelling of "Oz" in an African-American/multicultural context. It was adapted as a film in 1978 starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. It centers on Dorothy, a young woman from Kansas, who is swept up in a tornado and relocated to a fantasy world inhabited by munchkins, good and bad witches, and flying monkeys. She eventually takes a path down a yellow brick road to find a wizard who can help her go home. Along the way, she meets a scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion, who all learn to help one another.

For NBC, "The Wiz" combines two of TV's biggest trends: live programming and the growing appetite for diversity — both in terms of casting and programming that best reflect society today. It comes as networks continue to look to live programming like sporting events and awards shows in a bid to break through the clutter in a crowded DVR landscape. In terms of diversity, the success of Fox's hip-hop drama "Empire" and other scripted entries including "Black-ish" as well as "Fresh Off the Boat," "Cristela," "Scandal" and "How to Get Away With Murder" have prompted a crush of diverse castings again this pilot season.

"The Wiz" was one of two productions NBC had been eyeing (alongside "A Few Good Men" and "Music Man"). Greenblatt confirmed in January that he had optioned both properties.

©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/30/entertainment/the-wiz-nbc-musical-feat/



</section>

 

[barbee0715]

Re: he Wiz' Set as NBC's Next Live Musical

Isn't this Wonderful news?? They were debating between The Music Man and the Wiz and I was rooting hard for the Wiz. (Writing "Broadway world"Ha)

Kenny Leon, Harvey Fierstein AND Cirque?? Can you imagine what Oz will be like?

Fingers crossed that they cast one of those darling LITTLE girls from Black-ish as Dorothy and cast Stephanie Mills as Glenda!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!

 

[Smooth72]

Re: he Wiz' Set as NBC's Next Live Musical

Loved Michael in the movie. If it wasn't for him it would have been unwatchable. I tried watching it again a while back but just couldn't do it. Some of the scenes and production is awful. In my opinion of course. Just not my cup of tea.

 

[Snow White luvs Peter Pan]

^I totally agree, Michael is the best thing from that movie. Actually he was the only who didn't have negative critiques.

 

[barbee0715]

Funny, I went to see "The Wiz" on opening day at the movies-and had 3 specific opinions, that I still have whenever I watch it again. The first one is that I didn't like the way Diana looked in the movie-AT ALL. I knew she was playing Dorothy as a spinster schoolteacher, but I didn't expect her to look so plain-I think I expected something like the young Billie in "Lady Sings the Blues" and it kinda ruined the movie for me. Then my second was I adored every second of Michael in the movie and I was so proud of him, you'd think I was his mom. And third, Tony Walton's sets and costumes were breathtaking-I think I raved about him for months.

Later on, I think the best thing from the movie was that Michael snitched Diana's haircut from the movie when he started promoting "Off the Wall" and I LOVED IT ON HIM. LOL.

Anyway, I think this TV production could be pretty good-especially with Cirque's involvement and the right cast. I thought "Sound of Music" was good-I only could take about 30 minutes of "Peter Pan" though.

 

[barbee0715]

More Wiz news:
This Wednesday NBC is running a special on Behind the Scenes making the live musical.

And here's a video of Stephanie Mills with the girl who plays Dorothy-Shanice Williams.

 

[barbee0715]

Speaking of, am I the ONLY one that didn't realize that Elijah Kelly (Scarecrow) is the kid in "Hairspray"? A YouTube commenter informed me. Now, I'm a little more hopeful-I thought he was great in Hairspray. And after watching this clip again, I see why they cast him.

 

[#MJforever57]

I love that song Home when Stephanie and Shanice was singing it it gave me goose bumps beautiful job.

Stephanie still got it i love to hear her sing.

 

[Sardox]

We have to go see it !! I will not miss you.

 

[barbee0715]

One more day til the Wiz Live-I'm starting to get excited about it. Here's a pretty good interview from the leads, no thanks to Wendy Williams, though. I did enjoy when Elijah Kelly shut her down when she asked about his personal life. LOL.

 

[barbee0715]

This is what got me really excited about the live show. I caught this on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last week-It was really exciting. As good as the original movie version, I think.

And here's the original movie version as a reminder of this great number. Adore Michael iin this.

 

[HIStory]

Mary J. Blige Was Inspired By Michael Jackson And Diana Ross&#8217;s Role In The Wiz

DECEMBER 2, 2015LEAVE A COMMENT

[/IMG]

The Wiz Live!&#8217; airs on Thursday, December 3 at 8pm on NBC. The highly anticipated show is a remake of the 1975 version of the famed Broadway Play The Wiz starring, Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, and the 1978 film version featuring Diana Ross (Dorothy), Michael Jackson (Scarecrow) and Richard Pryor (The Wiz).

Life-long MJ fan and singer Mary J. Blige plays Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West inLive! She pays homage to Jackson and Ross for their role in inspiring her as a child:

&#8220;The Wiz means so much to me,&#8221; professes Mary J Blige. &#8220;It changed my life, as a kid in the inner cities it&#8217;s hard to believe so when you see Michael Jackson and Diana Ross who are the untouchable entertainers of our time&#8212;it kind of makes you believe you can do it too because it&#8217;s Michael Jackson&#8212;so it just gave me hope; it inspired me; it encouraged me. So to be apart of something that can do the same thing for another generation I couldn&#8217;t ask for more in my life.&#8221;

http://vallieegirl67.com/2015/12/02...hael-jackson-and-diana-rosss-role-in-the-wiz/

​

 

[barbee0715]

If you watch the parade clip, pay attention to the Scarecrow around 1:18. Little homage to Michael's dancing.

 

[HIStory]

LMAO at the ignorance:

These People Complaining About &#8220;The Wiz&#8221; Seem To Have Forgotten That &#8220;The Wizard Of Oz&#8221; Exists

Let&#8217;s learn some Broadway history, shall we?
posted on Dec. 2, 2015, at 4:20 p.m.Andy NeuenschwanderBuzzFeed Staff


As you might already know, The Wiz Live! is premiering on Dec. 3 and it&#8217;s probz going to be amazing.

NBC
It&#8217;s a live performance of the now-classic 1970s musical, which was famously made into a film starring Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, and many other incredible performers.

The musical, which was written to feature an all-black cast, is based loosely on The Wizard of Oz, which had its own screen adaptation.

MGM
Let the record state that The Wizard of Oz had an all-white cast.

Some people aren&#8217;t aware of the difference between the two, though, and seem ~confused~.

Twitter

They&#8217;re not really getting it.

Twitter

Still not getting it.

Twitter

Nnnnnnope.

Twitter

Maybe we should tell them that The Wiz and The Wizard of Oz are two different musicals.

Twitter

And that there&#8217;s already been an all-white Wizard of Oz.

Twitter

Because they really seem confused.

Twitter

Not grasping the concept. Or the irony.

Twitter

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuensc...-why-the-wiz-has-an-all-black-cast#.qcY22Zq06

 

[HIStory]

[h=1]How Ne-Yo's Dream of Reprising Michael Jackson&#8217;s Role in 'The Wiz' Led Him to Playing the Tin Man[/h] Sowmya Krishnamurthy

2 Comments

Photo Credit: Getty Images / NBC


Anything is possible in the land of Oz. Superstar Ne-Yo was sure that he wanted to play Scarecrow in The Wiz Live!, the role made famous by Michael Jackson in the 1978 movie, but fate had something else in mind.

&#8220;I actually went in for Scarecrow,&#8221; he says, in between rehearsals. &#8220;I took time and really learned three different versions of the lines and got the songs down. I took time away from my schedule to study for the role of the Scarecrow. I did what I thought was an amazing audition, right? Then [director] Kenny [Leon] said, &#8216;Great. Do you mind looking over the Tin Man and seeing what you can do with that?&#8217;&#8221;

See All the Costumes from 'The Wiz Live!' Cast

On December 3rd, the 36-year-old singer and songwriter takes on the role of the Tin Man in The Wiz Live (airing 8pm ET on NBC). Ne-Yo&#8217;s come to love the character without a heart&#8212;and he has no hard feelings that actor Elijah Kelly is playing Scarecrow. &#8220;That&#8217;s my brother. Good friend of mine. He can sing. He can dance. It&#8217;s all good.&#8221;

The transformation into the Tin Man, who Ne-Yo describes as &#8220;Dorothy&#8217;s protector,&#8221; involves a complicated costume with heavy makeup and prosthetics. &#8220;The first time they [put it on] it took about three hours to put it all together.&#8221; The process is streamlined to around 25 minutes but the metallic ensemble is still as uncomfortable as you&#8217;d imagine. &#8220;It&#8217;s a little heavy. There&#8217;s pieces that poke you and you can&#8217;t move the way you want to move, but these are sacrifices for art. I gotta say, it helps. The fact I can&#8217;t move in it the way I want to helps the Tin Man character. You take all the negatives and use them as positives.&#8221;

EXCLUSIVE: See Lance Gross' Portraits of the Cast of 'The Wiz Live'

Ne-Yo explains that the live event is not a remake of 1978&#8217;s The Wiz (or even the 1974 onstage version). &#8220;This production is a hybrid of the Broadway version and the film. They&#8217;re different. It&#8217;s not based in the &#8216;70s. It&#8217;s based in 2015. The hardest part is, who is the Tin Man today and how he would respond to the things going on around him. What am I going to add to the legacy of this character?&#8221;

The Wiz Live! also features Queen Latifah as the Wiz, Mary J. Blige as the Wicked Witch of the West, Uzo Aduba as Glinda the Good Witch, David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion, Common as the Bouncer of Emerald City, Stephanie Mills (who originated the role of Dorothy in The Wiz) as Aunt Em and newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy.

Your Definitive Guide to NBC's 'The Wiz Live'

With just days until opening night, the rehearsal schedule is rigorous even for this seasoned performer. &#8220;It&#8217;s definitely a work load to say the least,&#8221; Ne-Yo says. &#8220;Rehearsal is absolutely every day. We normally get the weekends off but they&#8217;ve been finding things to throw in on the weekends. It&#8217;s six to eight hours a day and it&#8217;s all of it, the script, dancing and the songs.&#8221;

So does he have any jitters? &#8220;Of course. The day I don&#8217;t get nervous before a show is the day I quit because I don&#8217;t care anymore at that point,&#8221; he admits. &#8220;The nerves is about wanting to do as good as humanely possible. Everybody is aware of our responsibility. It&#8217;s our responsibility to bring this iconic story to the next generation.&#8221;

The Wiz Live airs on NBC this Thursday, Dec 3 at 8pm ET/7c

http://www.essence.com/2015/12/01/ne-yo-the-wiz-live-reprising-michael-jackson-tin-man

 

[barbee0715]

^^ in response to respect's buzz feed article: I was watching (or trying to watch) the making of the Wiz at my brothers house and he was harping about how racist this was.
I tried to explain how this was groundbreaking in 75 back when he was a kid-and tried to explain the concept and history. Gave up. Let him be an ignoramus.
Like all the other commenters I've seen on news feeds.

 

[CherubimII]

Behind the Scenes of the Wiz With Michael Jackson
http://time.com/4135018/the-wiz-michael-jackson/

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images​

The cast of 'The Wiz' (L-R Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Diana Ross and Ted Ross) pose for a publicity shot in 1978 in New York, New York.

Filming the original movie was a pivotal time for the performer,
who liked the way his makeup covered his nose and impressed his
cast mates after-hours at Studio 54

This earlier production of The Wizcould have been so much better. It had a great concept (an African-American take on “The Wizard of Oz” in which the characters don’t follow the yellow brick road, they ease on down it), a strong director (Sidney Lumet, who’d just done Dog Day Afternoonand Network) and a solid cast (Diana Ross as Dorothy, Richard Pryor as the Wiz, Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man). And it had Michael Jackson, a year before he would start his solo career with immortal dance hits such as “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Off the Wall.” But The Wiz was most important for what happened behind the scenes—veteran producer Quincy Jones, Lumet’s longtime film-score colleague, was musical director, and he met his future “Thriller” collaborator MJ by correctly pronouncing “Socrates” to the young singer on set. Later, Jones called his new friend and listened intently as MJ explained he could hear fully formed songs in his head and needed someone to help write them down.Before there was NBC’s The Wiz Live!, starring Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier and Stephanie Mills, there was The Wiz, a 1978 movie based on the musical of the same name.

The Wiz came along at a perfect time for Berry Gordy and Motown Records. To finish Lady Sings the Blues, Gordy had to sink in $2 million of his own money because Paramount’s top executive, Frank Yablans, had told him the maximum a studio could spend on a black film at the time was $500,000. “This is not a black film,” Gordy corrected him. “This is afilm with black stars.” There were clashes on the set, as star Diana Ross made her transition from music diva to Hollywood diva, demanding an upgrade of her period-piece wardrobe. But the 1972 drama was a success in the end, drawing five Oscar nominations, although Ross lost Best Actress to Liza Minnelli of Cabaret.
In 1977, Motown bought the rights to The Wiz, a script based on a Broadway hit with African-American stars putting their own spin on The Wizard of Oz. Gordy and producer Rob Cohen cast Ross, then 33, as Dorothy. The director who signed on, after a number of false starts, was Sidney Lumet, who had collaborated with a young Al Pacino on Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. At 53, Lumet was an old Hollywood hand with fast-talking charisma, ending sentences with “darling sweetheart.” To giveThe Wiz an orchestral punch, Lumet sought out an old friend to request a favor.
He called Quincy Jones.

Q didn’t want to do it. Jones liked only three songs from the Broadway show—“Home,” “Brand New Day,” and a funky ensemble number called “Ease On Down the Road.” But he felt indebted to Lumet, who’d hired him for many film scores in the past. “I felt I owed him more than one,” Jones said of Lumet. “I owed him a lot.”

Lumet stocked The Wiz with top-tier African-American talent—Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne. Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Michael Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and he approached Gordy with the idea. To his surprise,
Gordy agreed. “Aw, Michael’s great,” said the Motown chief not far removed from years of litigation with the Jacksons over contracts. “Michael’s a star.”

Lumet was harder to convince. He wanted Jimmie “J. J.” Walker, star of TV’s Good Times. “Michael Jackson’s a Vegas act. The Jackson 5’s a Vegas act,” the director told Cohen. Quincy Jones was skeptical of Jackson, too, but Cohen arranged a meeting, flying 19-year-old MJ to New York. Finally, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. “That boy is so sweet! He’s so pure!” Lumet exulted. “I want him as the Scarecrow.”

The final barrier was Joe Jackson, who wasn’t thrilled about Michael doing a project that separated himself financially from the rest of his siblings. Cohen mollified Joe by offering roughly $100,000 for Michael to play the Scarecrow. When The Wiz began filming in New York, the 27-year-old producer moved Michael and La Toya into a Manhattan apartment, and Michael was on his own for the first time. He lived a normal life, except for a strange habit Cohen happened to discover—taking baths in Perrier water.

The shoots were long and grueling, lasting all day underneath the World Trade Center towers. At night, the young cast went out to play in New York City. Cohen took Michael, along with other members of the cast, to Studio 54, the disco hot spot known for both its crazy sexual escapades and celebrity regulars like Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, Cary Grant, and Brooke *******. The rest of the club took notice whenever Michael Jackson danced. “The gay side of the dance floor would stop,” Cohen says, “and the hetero side would stop.”
During lunch on The Wiz set, Lumet, the director, told an oblivious Michael that women around him were “like ricocheting bullets all over the place.”

On the set, Michael took extremely seriously his choreography sessions with Louis Johnson, who’d been a pioneering African-American ballet dancer over years of punishing Hollywood racism. In the film, Michael’s most impressive steps are with Diana Ross, as he clumsily learns to walk after being imprisoned by crows on his scarecrow pole. In giant clown shoes, he stumbles, rolls on the ground, and knocks out his knees. “He had seen Charlie Chaplin. He was a great fan of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly,” says Johnson, who is in his early eighties, by phone from his New York home. “So I let him use it … He asked me, ‘Could I do this?’—and then enhanced it.” Jackson’s Scarecrow costume was hot and cumbersome, with a huge curly wig, a hat and vest stuffed with scraps of newspaper, not to mention a painted-on nose. Tony Walton, the film’s production and costume designer, didn’t know Michael was tormented by his brothers’ constant teasing—they called him “Ugly” and “Big Nose.” “He was thrilled to have his nose covered,” Walton says. His costume, stuffed with newspaper and bits of trash bags, was more cumbersome, but Jackson made it work.

Quincy Jones was always present. (In the film, Jones appears dressed in gold, playing a giant piano in Times Square.) He, too, began to pay attention to Jackson. When it came time for the Scarecrow part, Michael stepped to the microphone and began to sing, not the bright-sounding Michael Jackson of “I Want You Back” but the 18-year-old MJ whose voice had evolved into something as smooth and powerful as the Concorde. Cohen, the producer, noticed Jones gaping. “He looked at Michael the way a jaguar looks at a goat,” Cohen says. “It was like, ‘I want him.’ ”

Jones made his move on the set. At one point, he took Michael aside to explain a Scarecrow bit in the script—that the Greek philosopher’s name is pronounced “Sock-ra-tees” and not “Sow-cray-tees.” As Jones would tell the story, he asked Michael right then if he could “take a shot” at producing his next solo album. That stuck with Michael. During The Wiz post-production, he called Quincy unexpectedly during a rare home hiatus from touring. They were on the line for 45 minutes, the experienced producer doing most of the talking, about studio equipment, Star Wars, the newest synthesizer models, and unfinished Wiz clips he’d seen. Michael mostly listened, with “mmm-hmms” and an occasional “whoo!” When Quincy enthusiastically mentioned he’d seen the Rolling Stones perform, Michael sniffed, “You know it’s not talent, though.” The key moment in this nascent partnership came when Michael said he’d been writing songs: “I hear something in my head. I make the sounds with my mouth—I can do that.” Quincy became excited. “There’s an instrument that can make the sounds you want. I can write anything down on paper,” the veteran arranger said. “If you can hear it, I can write it down.” The exchange, which MJ recorded, ends with Quincy requesting his number.

The Wiz cost $22 million and did not perform well at the box office. It was a spectacular, flawed experiment. Michael and Diana have terrific chemistry, but Ross is mismatched for the part. Not because she’s too old (although she is), but because she plays Dorothy the same way she played Billie Holiday, with an emaciated world-weariness, when the part, as Judy Garland had shown the world forty years earlier, called for a wide-eyed, childish wonder. A less obvious problem was that during filming, Lumet’s wife at the time, Gail Jones, daughter of Wiz star Lena Horne, had approached the director on set and asked for a divorce. The usually exuberant Lumet became despondent—a quality that came out distinctively in the film, recalls production designer Tony Walton. “Everybody has a crying jag—the Lion cries, and Diana Ross and the Tin Man,” he says. “None of which was really in the script.”

The Wiz has its timeless qualities, especially the lovingly rendered scenes to Lumet’s home city, prominently showing landmarks such as Coney Island, Shea Stadium, and the Brooklyn Bridge. But its reception was marred by racist backlash. Theater chains in white neighborhoods wouldn’t scheduleThe Wiz for fear of scaring off white regulars, producer Cohen recalls glumly. “As big and as spectacular and as musical as it was,” he says, “we never got a real solid distribution.” Black films, aside fromShaft, were for black audiences. White films were for white audiences. Just as black music, despite brief exceptions such as Motown and disco, had been for black radio stations and white music for white radio stations.
Somebody needed to fix this problem.

This has been adapted from Steve Knopper’s MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson (Scribner).

 

[barbee0715]

^^^wow. Wow. Wow. What a fantastic story!!! I feel so excited. I feel like I'm 20 again and reliving this time again.

Damn that it comes from Knopper's book-I read in the reviews that the first half of the book is well written and researched but the last half (93 on) is not.



And all these years-I didn't realize Michael's nose was PAINTED on-I always thought it was a real peanut butter cup.

 

[Paris78]

Missy Elliott ?@MissyElliott

#TheWiz had to go pull out my cd

ShenellicaBetencourt ?@AshleyShyMiller

When Ease on Down the Road plays, all I can think about is Michael Jackson, sighs I miss him #TheWiz

 

[HIStory]

Unfortunately I couldn't watch it from here, but everyone seems to be in awe of it. I hope it will be available to watch outside of the US as well somehow.

Many people noted they missed MJ.

 

[HIStory]

Good ratings.

<time datetime="2015-12-04T07:02:04" data-pubdate-value="2015120407" class="publish-date js-publish-date">December 04, 2015</time> 7:02am PT by Michael O'Connell
[h=1]TV Ratings: 'The Wiz Live!' Flies Higher Than 'Peter Pan'[/h] <figure class="blog-post__media">

<figcaption class="blog-post__image-info"> 'The Wiz' Virginia Sherwood/NBC </figcaption> </figure> <aside class="blog-post-features">
<article class="blog-post-features-points">
</article> </aside> <aside class="blog-post-deck"> The live musical starred newcomer Shanice Williams, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Common and Uzo Aduba.
</aside> NBC's The Wiz Live! eased on up in the ratings compared to last year's musical, Peter Pan Live. The Wiz Live! posted a 4.4 rating among adults 18-49, up from Peter Pan Live, which managed a 2.3 rating with adults 18-49 and 9.1 million viewers.
The rating also gives NBC the highest-rated Thursday for any network in the local markets, excluding sports, since an American Idol episode on Jan. 17, 2013. And it's NBC's highest-rated Thursday in the local people meters since April 2, 2009, which was the second night of the ER finale.
In metered-market households, the live musical scored a 7.9 rating, 13 share. Fast-national and official ratings will be available later.

2013's The Sound of Music Live remains the standard of for success. Broadcast TV's first live musical staging in decades nabbed a winning 4.6 rating in the key demo and an obscene 18.6 million viewers. It set a bar that Peter Pan was never going to top, but that 50 percent drop stung.




NBC was clearly angling to turn the ratings decline around with The Wiz. Chairman Bob Greenblatt, a Broadway vet whose championed live telecasts since taking the reins at the network, spoke candidly about the ratings dip with Peter Pan. &#8220;In spite of the fact that there was a lot of critical negativity, I think Carrie Underwood was an enormous amount of draw for The Sound of Music,&#8221; Greenblatt told reporters in January. "Peter Pan&#8217;s not as well known as a show... We didn&#8217;t have stars that were as big as Carrie."

The Wiz suffered no shortage of high-wattage stars. Dorothy may have been played by newcomer Shanice Williams, who the network found at an open casting call, the supporting players were almost exclusively boldface names. Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Common and Uzo Aduba toplined the rest of the ensemble.

Though this marks the third consecutive December where NBC has aired a live musical production, Greenblatt has been very shy to ever commit to making it an official "annual" event. It's hard to imagine there won't be another outing in 2016, however, now that The Wiz has prompted a ratings turnaround &#8212; however modest.

And, either way, viewers won't have to wait another year for a live musical telecast. Fox has been plotting a staging of its own, setting Grease: Live for Jan. 31.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-wiz-live-flies-845594?utm_source=twitter

 

[HIStory]

Some highlights.

Mary J. Blige

Ease on Down The Road

Queen Latifah as The Wiz

Home

 

[barbee0715]

^^I got home just in time to see Glinda descend and sing 'Believe' and Dorothy sing 'Home' and the dramatic end. What a night for my VCR to decide not to record.
I get to see it this weekend because I'm pet sitting and they recorded it for me.

The internet was full of raves and the part I saw lived up to the promise.

I thought Carrie Underwood was great in the Sound of Music but I could only take about 30 minutes of Peter Pan.
I'm glad they learned from their mistakes.
And I'm really happy so many people watched it.

 

[barbee0715]

<header class="post-header clearfix" style="font-family: ProximaNova, AvenirNext-Regular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; width: 728px; position: relative; color: rgb(32, 31, 30); font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rashida Jones Shares the Ultimate #TBT In Honor of The Wiz Live

by Brittney Stephens <time title="Fri, 04 Dec 2015 11:45:00 -0800" datetime="2015-12-04T11:45:00-08:00" itemprop="datePublished" style="font-family: ProximaNova, AvenirNext-Regular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px 0px 2px; max-width: 500px;">12/04/15</time>
196 Shares



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Rashida Jones joined the legion of social media users live-tweeting about The Wiz Live on Thursday night when she shared an adorable throwback photo. The actress, who is the daughter of The Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton and music producer Quincy Jones, posted a snap of herself holding up a tiny satin jacket and wrote, "Pulled out my crew jacket in honor of tonight. I was 2 months old when my dad started filming!! #TheWiz #loveit."
Rashida's father was the musical supervisor for the original 1978 film and also produced the soundtrack. The Wiz marked the first time that Quincy worked with Michael Jackson, who played The Scarecrow &#8212; he went on to produce three of Michael's hit albums: Off the Wall,Thriller, and Bad. How cool is it that Rashida still has that cute souvenir from decades ago?
http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Rashida-Jones-Shares-Photo-Her-Childhood-Jacket-3929021




[FONT=PS Savoy, Lora, Georgia, Times New Roman, serif]The next time Quincy spouts off about "what could he learn from Michael" or "Michael just did what we told him"-someone should throw this article from Knopper's book in his face-where he first hears him sing and looks at him the "way a jaguar looks at a goat"-can you imagine how his creative desire just went absolutely crazy with this untouched virgin talent? The moment where he first heard a singer that could realize his most wildest dreams? I know this is truth-because I lived in that time and I remember seeing and reading the interviews and the buzz that went along with it.[/FONT]</section><section class="post-footer" style="font-family: ProximaNova, AvenirNext-Regular, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 50px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(32, 31, 30); font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></section>

 

[barbee0715]

One more-I love how people are remembering so many great things about the Wiz-original movie and play. Here at the NAACP Image Awards-Michael won best actor, Sidney Lumet won best director-Michael also picked up the awards for Quincy for the score-and the Jacksons, themselves, won for best vocal group (Triumph).

 

[HIStory]

One more-I love how people are remembering so many great things about the Wiz-original movie and play. Here at the NAACP Image Awards-Michael won best actor, Sidney Lumet won best director-Michael also picked up the awards for Quincy for the score-and the Jacksons, themselves, won for best vocal group (Triumph).

LOL, everyone always wanted to hug and kiss Michael.

From another forum:

The Wiz movie dvd and blueray are now both sold out on Amazon lol. If you didn't already have it, it's gonna be a while.

 

[CaptainEoLove85]

I thought the show was great. Really impressive. Way too many commercials though lol. The sets and costumes were amazing and the singers very talented. Elijah Kelley as the scarecrow did remind me of Michael sometimes. So many bittersweet feelings.

 

[barbee0715]

Unfortunately I couldn't watch it from here, but everyone seems to be in awe of it. I hope it will be available to watch outside of the US as well somehow.

Many people noted they missed MJ.

Can you get to NBC.com? They're supposed to be running it. Try this:

http://www.nbc.com/the-wiz-live?utm_source=youtube

 

[barbee0715]

I'm really going to stop reminisciong so badly over the original Wiz-but ran across this adorable little interview with Stephanie when she was asked about her "relationship" with Michael-Gene Shalit from the Today Show (I used to love him) showed a cute picture. She mentions Greg Burge, who was then playing Scarecrow in the stage play and everyone here remembers from Bad 25 doc, I'm sure-

 

[HIStory]

Can you get to NBC.com? They're supposed to be running it. Try this:

http://www.nbc.com/the-wiz-live?utm_source=youtube

Thanks. Unfortunately it is only available in the US, but I will try to use an IP changer or something.