The Wiz to Ease on Down to La Jolla Playouse in the Fall
The Wiz, based on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, features music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and a book by William F. Brown. It first opened on Broadway on January 5, 1975 at the Majestic Theatre. After a move to the Broadway Theatre, it ran for another 1672 performances. The first revival of The Wiz opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on May 24, 1984 and lasted for 13 performances. Despite this poor second showing on the Great White Way, The Wiz continued to thrive on the road. One successful tour, reuniting original stars Stephanie Mills and Andre de Shields, played Gotham's Beacon Theatre and was briefly rumored for a Broadway transfer. The Wiz is also remembered as an Oscar-nominated 1978 film starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor.
In April 2003 it was announced that Dodger Stage Holding was expecting to present The Wiz, helmed by McAnuff, on Broadway in the spring of 2004. It was to be the show's second Broadway revival, but it never materialized.
Just as the planned Broadway production was to feature a racially diverse cast, a La Jolla statement promises their mounting will be "re-imagined" and "multi-cultural."
"Our production will reflect the shifts that have occurred in the dominant pop culture, in both music and theater, since The Wiz's history-making Broadway debut in the 1970s," McAnuff, who is the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, said. "This is modern Oz, with a modern look and modern sounds." The Wiz is scheduled to run at La Jolla in the fall, with exact dates to be announced at a later time.