{"id":72005,"date":"2015-05-11T14:47:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T14:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2015\/05\/11\/the-wizs-stephanie-mills-coming-back-for-nbcs-live-production\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T03:46:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T03:46:16","slug":"the-wizs-stephanie-mills-coming-back-for-nbcs-live-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/the-wizs-stephanie-mills-coming-back-for-nbcs-live-production\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wiz\u2019s\u2019 Stephanie Mills Coming Back For NBC’s Live Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wiz\u2019s\u2019 Stephanie Mills Coming Back For NBC’s Live Production<\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

May 11, 2015<\/p>\n

Source: Variety<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Stephanie<\/a><\/p>\n

Actress-singer Stephanie Mills<\/strong>, who originated the role of Dorothy in the 1979 Broadway\u00a0production of The Wiz<\/strong>, has been cast\u00a0in NBC’s live\u00a0staging of the famed musical, Variety reported following\u00a0its announcement at the network\u2019s Upfronts presentation this morning.<\/p>\n

Mills will be play Auntie Em. According to Playbill<\/a>, Aunt Em isn’t a huge role; she’s in the first scene and then makes a brief appearance at the end. She does, however, get the opening number (“The Feeling We Once Had”), which has lots of room for an show-stopping vocal performance to start the broadcast off with a bang.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Producer Bob Greenblatt also announced that the network is looking for a “fresh face” to star as Dorothy.<\/p>\n

While playing Dorothy, Mills received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance.<\/p>\n

Airing on Thursday, Dec. 3, \u201cThe Wiz\u201d<\/strong> will be co-produced by Cirque du Soleil\u2019s new stage theatrical division. After the television event, the musical will make its Broadway revival for the 2016-17 season, presented by Cirque du Soleil.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Kenny Leon<\/strong> will direct both NBC\u2019s production and the Broadway revival, along with Harvey Fierstein<\/strong>, who will contribute new material to the original Broadway book by William F. Brown<\/strong>. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron<\/strong>, who exec produced NBC\u2019s \u201cSound of Music\u201d and \u201cPeter Pan,\u201d return as exec producers. The duo also recently produced Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\"Stephanie<\/a>“The Wiz” tells the classic story hundreds of millions of people have read in the L. Frank Baum books and then saw in the much-beloved 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” but retold in an African-American\/multicultural context. Dorothy, a young woman from Kansas, is swept up in a tornado and relocated to a fantasy world that is inhabited by munchkins, good and bad witches, and, of course, flying monkeys. She eventually takes a path down a yellow brick road to find a wizard who can help her go home and along the way meets a scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion, who all learn to help one another.<\/p>\n

It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to the Majestic Theatre with a new cast on January 5, 1975. The 1975 Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.<\/strong> The musical was an early example of Broadway’s mainstream acceptance of works with an all-black cast. The musical has had revivals in New York, London, San Diego and theNetherlands, and a limited-run revival was presented by Encores! at New York City Center in June 2009. A film adaptation was released in 1978. That film starred Diana Ross, Michael Jackson<\/strong> (in his first film), Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne<\/strong>, and Richard Pryor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The musical toured the US in 1976 and the show was revived on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre from May 24, 1984, through June 3, 1984, closing after 13 performances and 7 previews. Directed by Geoffrey Holder<\/strong>, the cast featured Stephanie Mills<\/strong> as Dorothy.<\/p>\n