The Wiz Live Was Everything Theatre on TV Should Be
8-12-15
NBC was THE place to be December 3rd for an absolutely epic staging of The Wiz. It featured a mega-talented cast headed by newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy, in her first major role. Her stage presence and breathtaking voice made sure this was going to be an amazing journey down the Yellow Brick Road. We can’t imagine anyone else doing such an iconic performance so early in their career. She absolutely nailed it and showed that undiscovered talent has a place on the big stage and that Broadway/TV should consider more open castings vs. just named celebrities.
After the past two productions on NBC of The Sound of Music and last year's disastrous production of Peter Pan, theatre fans rejoiced to finally see a theatre on TV production that was absolutely amazing and lived up to all the hype NBC put behind it.
The Wiz is an urban adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wizard of Oz and the also popular Broadway musical released in 1974. Of course, there was some backlash on Twitter about "Why is the cast all African-American?" but we will not give these people the time of day. Anyone with basic Broadway history knowledge understands where this show is coming from and it shouldn't have to apologize for casting the show true to the script.
What was really cool about this two-hour show were all the modern day references. They made jokes about songs, modern day celebs and even whipped out an iPad at the beginning of the show. Instead of “Follow The Yellow Brick Road” they sang “Ease On Down The Road.” This was also in the original 70s musical but teleplay writer and Tony award winner, Harvey Fierstein, took special care to update the script to modern day without forcing it.
One of the most beautiful things about The Wiz was the technical elements behind the production. They were the products of costumer Paul Tazewell and makeup artists Dave and Lou Elsey, turning actors into munchkins and flying monkeys and, of course, a Lion, a Scarecrow and Tin Man.
"With most television shows, you have the opportunity to cut and to go back and re-film and perfect as you go along," said Tazewell, a Tony Award nominee. "With this, there's no opportunity to do that. It does need to play as if we're on a Broadway stage. We hit the 'Go' button and there's no turning back."
On the makeup end, Dave Elsey, who won an Oscar in 2011 for co-creating the look for "The Wolfman", has teamed up with his wife, Lou, to update the Oz creatures for 2015 but without having the slower pace of a movie shoot.
"The biggest challenge is to get everything on in such a small amount of time and making sure that everything is locked down and perfect," said Lou Elsey, who worked with her husband on the effects for the final "Star Wars" prequels with George Lucas.
The Wiz Live will be available for free online via the NBC website and youtube page for a limited time before going on sale on Itunes. DVDs of the production will also be available around Christmas. It is a truly magical production that is recommended for any musical fan.
It's wonderful to see theatre returning to its "home" in people's hearts.
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