Tag Archives: The Wiz Live!

The Wiz Live! Teaser Stars Queen Latifah, Uzo Aduba and More

Twice now, American television network NBC has tried its hand at live Broadway productions. In 2013, the network aired The Sound of Music Live! (starring country music singer Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp) and in 2014 it followed that up with Peter Pan Live! which featured Girls’ actress Allison Williams in the titular role.

The two telecasts brought in over 18.62 and 9.1 million viewers each, giving NBC its highest Thursday night (non-sports) ratings since 2004.

With all of that success, the network was keen to give viewers yet another Broadway experience and so on December 3, NBC will air The Wiz Live!.

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The Wiz Live! is based on The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, which is itself based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel.

However, this particular take on the iconic story is special as it’s actually a “urbanized retelling” of the original plot, done whiten the scope of African-American culture.

As such, The Wiz Live! will feature some of the most well-known African-American performers, singers and actors in its production.

Grammy Award winning actor and musician Queen Latifah stars as The Wiz, Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black) plays Glinda the Good Witch, Elijah Kelley (Hairspray) plays the Scarecrow, nine-time Grammy Award winner Mary J. Blige is Evillene, Common (who is also a Grammy winner) plays the Bouncer, Amber Riley (Glee) is in as Addaperle, while Ne-Yo and David Alan Grier are in as Tin Man and The Lion (respectively).

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Also, Dorothy is being played by newcomer Shanice Williams, while Stephanie Mills (who played Dorothy in the original Broadway cast) is in the show as Auntie Em.

Despite The Wiz Live! being a three hour live telecast where anything and everything could potentially go wrong, those names are all experienced and talented enough to b able to pull it off without a hitch.

It’s also worth noting that the Emmy-nominated duo of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will be executively producing The Wiz Live! (they also produced The Sound of Music and Peter Pan’s live telecasts) and the Cirque Du Soleil team is also on board so this could really be a rather special night of entertainment.

The Wiz Live! airs on December 3 at 8PM EST on NBC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzPnU6NtCHQ