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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: Scott6263 10:00 am EST 01/18/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - Greg_M 01:31 pm EST 01/16/15

I saw the original Broadway production of "The Wiz" back in '75 or '76. Loved it! I went to see the movie version when it was released in '78.....what a catastrophe. A 30 year old whiny Dorothy? What were they thinking? All of the charm of the original had been destroyed by this over-bloated mess. A total critical and financial failure. Shame.


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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: enoch10 03:42 pm EST 01/18/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - Scott6263 10:00 am EST 01/18/15

i can't remember any of my friends liking the movie even when it first came out and some of them were obsessed with diana ross. i think the tipping point between just not liking the film and responding with something resembling moral outrage was/is influenced by whether or not you saw it on broadway.

i remember enjoying THE WIZ on broadway very much but there was nothing earth-moving about it - until stephanie mills sang "home" and that's an experience i will never forget. that odd but wonderful, weirdly childlike and not at the same time voice coming out of that tiny little girl and going places with that song no one, including streisand, would ever take it again. stunning.

no way diana ross in what could well be the biggest casting disaster ever was going to compete with that. i think the film of THE WIZ is a big ole mess but i don't hate it the way others do. then, i didn't have the investment in the broadway production others had, either. like i said i enjoyed it. i loved the design and, especially, the score but the magic, for me, was stephanie mills.


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re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical

Posted by: Scott6263 09:43 am EST 01/19/15
In reply to: re: THE WIZ -- not MUSIC MAN -- might be NBC's next live musical - enoch10 03:42 pm EST 01/18/15

Great points. My mother took me to see it on Broadway. We were mesmerized by the whole thing. Just a completely joyous affair. Then the film came out. Thud city. Diana Ross destroyed that film. Nothing at all like "Dorothy" should be.....way too old, crying, whining. The whole movie was just so "over" everything.....they threw in everything but the kitchen sink. And it sunk. I love "The Wiz"...the story, that score. I wish it was remade....this time into a quality movie musical.


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