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The Wiz is a 1978 American musical fantasy adventure film directed by Sidney Lumet. Adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same name, the film reimagines the classic children's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum with an African-American cast.
The show had a pre-Broadway tryout at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit in November 1974, [4] and at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia from December 11, 1974, through December 21, 1974. [5] After drawing mixed critical reviews, producer Ken Harper considered closing the musical after its Broadway opening night.
In 1972, an ex-disc jockey named Ken Harper came up with a notion you could look at in one of two ways: either revoltingly cornball or commercial as hell.
- IT WAS CONCEIVED AS A TV SPECIAL. NBC is about to come closer to realizing late producer Ken Harper’s original vision than anyone ever has. During the early 1970s, Harper hatched the idea of dramatizing L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast.
- THE MAIDEN RUN’S COSTUME DESIGNER WAS A FORMER JAMES BOND VILLAIN. For his work on The Wiz, Geoffrey Holder won a Tony for Best Costume Design. It was one of several that the show would bring home (keep reading).
- FINISHING THE SCORE TOOK THREE YEARS. “I’d start to work at 11:30 at night, when everyone else went to bed,” lead composer Charlie Smalls told The Los Angeles Times.
- “EVERYBODY REJOICE” WAS WRITTEN BY LUTHER VANDROSS. Though the score was mostly written by Smalls, he couldn’t take credit for every single number. One of the show’s most popular songs, “Everybody Rejoice” (a.k.a.
The Wiz: Directed by Sidney Lumet. With Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross. An adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" that tries to capture the essence of the African-American experience.
- (17K)
- Adventure, Family, Fantasy
- Sidney Lumet
- 1978-10-24
Oct 24, 2023 · On this day in 1978, 45 years ago, The Wiz was released in theaters as the film adaptation of the 1974 broadway musical of the same title. Of course, the original source of inspiration for all of these amazing films and musicals we've gotten over the decades stems from L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
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It bombed upon its release on Oct. 24, 1978 (it cost more than it earned, and critics dismissed it as a saccharine imitation of its stage predecessor), but that didn’t matter to audience...
