Are you ready to ease on down the road with The Wiz Live?
David Alan Grier (left) plays the Lion with Shanice Williams as Dorothy, Ne-Yo as Tinman and Elijah Kelly as Scarecrow in “The Wiz Live!”. The musical is a re-imagining of the classic movie The Wizard of Ounces and it’s set to air as a three-hour live event on Thurs., December three.
While big names such as Queen Latifah (The Wiz), Uzo Aduba (Glinda the Good Witch) and Mary J. Blige (Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West) signed on for a few of the iconic roles, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron wanted to cast an unknown as Dorothy. The production opened on Broadway in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre and won seven Tonys, including Best Musical.
Revealed last month, newcomer Shanice Williams was cast as Dorothy, beating out lots of competition – potentially the break of a lifetime for the actress/singer.
“The Wiz Live!” is produced by Universal Television in association with Cirque Du Soleil Theatrical. First adapted as a 1978 film starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor, it centers on a young woman from Kansas (Dorothy) who is swept up in a tornado and relocated to a fantasy world populated by munchkins, good and bad witches and flying monkeys.
NBC’s trip down the yellow brick road is getting closer!
{ SOURCE: NYSE | http://goo.gl/TV8TNi }
