We’re still two months away from getting swept back to Oz for The Wiz Live! For the film adaptation the show’s creators reinstated the song as a solo for Jackson to perform as the Scarecrow – dropping the character’s Broadway song “I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday”.
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The Scarecrow (Elijah Kelley) is perhaps the most striking, his straw spilling out of a slim-cut, boldly accented suit.
The poster featured newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy arm-in-arm with the Cowardly Lion played by David Alan Grier and the Tin Man portrayed by Ne-Yo. The production opened on Broadway in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre, starring Mills. Prior offerings of The Sound of Music and Peter Pan brought in such big ratings that this year’s production was in the planning stages long before last year’s appearance of Christopher Walken as Captain Hook. Fatima Robinson serves as choreographer. Reportedly, pivotal scenes from the production. like the flying monkeys and the tornado, will be orchestrated by Cirque Du Soleil Theatrical!!!
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The Wiz tells the familiar story of The Wizard of Oz in an African-American/multicultural context. When she eventually takes a path down a yellow-brick road to find a wizard who can help her go home, she meets a scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion.
