Alan Mingo Jr. Whizzes Back to The Wiz on Broadway Tonight

Alan Mingo Jr. will reprise his title performance in The Wiz, joining the featured Broadway cast at the Marquis Theatre on June 13. He replaces Wayne Brady, who played his final performance on June 12. Mingo played the role of The Wiz on tour before Brady joined the company at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre and Los Angeles' Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Brady subsequently opened the revival on Broadway in April. 

"I’m thrilled to return to playing The Wiz, a role that I loved playing nightly on the national tour," Mingo said in a statement when the reprise performance was announced. "My mother took me to see this musical when I was a child, and there aren’t many shows you can say that about."

Mingo has replaced Brady on Broadway before, in the role of Lola in Kinky Boots. His other Broadway credits include Tom Collins in Rent and Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. He has also been serving as Brady's standby throughout the Broadway run.

An all-Black retelling of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wiz features such beloved numbers as “Ease On Down the Road,” “Be A Lion,” “Home” and “Brand New Day.” The show stars Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy, Deborah Cox as Glinda, Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em/Evillene, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman and Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow. Schele Williams directs.