It’s official. NBC’s The Wiz Live! turned me into a believer. Perhaps it was because I am completely unfamiliar with the retelling of The Wizard of Oz, but my snark meter was surprisingly silent on Thursday evening. With a batch of energetic performances drop dead gorgeous costumes, The Wiz Live is easily the best musical venture from NBC.
The Wiz seemed familiar enough to those who haven’t seen it, but the devoted fans are rabid and vocal about their love. Dorothy is living on a farm with her Aunt Em (the original Broadway lead, Stephanie Mills), and she misses her parents and longs to be back home (…and cue the tears…). As Dorothy, Shanice Williams is adorable, and you can see the spunk underneath her pouty teenage face. When the tornado comes, Cirque du Soleil performers soar around Dorothy, and she is literally swept into the action. I’m sure Allison Williams is mad that she didn’t handle the flying with this much aplomb.
Rather than cast huge, headline-grabbing stars like in years before it, NBC chose actors that can handle the music with ease and they delivered on all fronts. Elijah Kelley had probably the biggest shoes to fill as The Scarecrow, but who can compare to Michael Jackson? Ne-Yo’s body language and movements brought a new dimension to The Tin Man (arguably the most boring character in all of musical theater—at least in The Wizard of Oz), and David Allen Grier goes back to his Yale roots at the sassy Lion.
The production had its powerhouse moments, and it was basically any time a featured supporting actress had a solo. Mills’ gave us a taste to what we were in for at the beginning back in Kansas, but it kicked off again when Amber Riley’s Addapearle welcomed Dorothy to Oz. I personally thought that Mary J. Blige looked stiff in some of the promos, and her untimely end with a bucket of water seemed to happen really quickly. Fans of Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black might be unfamiliar with Uzo Aduba’s singing prowess. She descended from the sky and sang her face off that set Twitter ablaze. Will Aduba be up for 2 Emmys come next year?
The production and costume designs seemed amped up—or maybe it’s because Peter Pan Liiiiiiive! Was marred with criticism from the get-go. The stage was flanked with large digital screens, and The Emerald City seemed to be a cross between Madonna’s “Vogue” and The Capitol from The Hunger Games. The arrival into the Emerald City sequence is one that many a snarky gay boy will capture in memes for years to come.
If there is one standout of the entire production , it’s easily Shanice Williams. Plucked from a cattle call to play the iconic Dorothy, she succeeds because we were not judging the casting decision from the time it was announced. No one was hoping that Williams would fail and no one tuned in to see her make an ass of herself. And her voice just soars. In the climactic “Home” at the very end of the show, it was as if her toes were going to lift off the stage and she was going to fly back to Kansas before our very eyes. It’s a clichéd phrase, but a star is born. Just keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that someone out there (I’m begging you!) will know how to cast her properly. Give her a role in a show or musical—STAT!