When Backstage visited the New York City rehearsal for the “The Wiz Live!” in late October, the cast was 10 weeks in with a month to go until their Dec. 3 NBC broadcast.
Tony-winning director Kenny Leon and what he calls his Fierce Four were still “putting air” in their dialogue and movements, and Broadway star Elijah Kelley, R&B crooner Ne-Yo, David Alan Grier, and newcomer Shanice Williams were in crunch mode as Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy, respectively, to perfect staging and choreography with the camera in mind.
“I always tell people this isn’t a play and it’s not a movie—it’s a hybrid,” Leon says. “It’s taking the very best television has to offer and the very best theater has to offer, putting it together, and disguising the warts.”
Most audiences today best know the musical retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” from its 1978 film adaptation starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross. But this musical telecast will hearken back to the original 1975 Broadway production, which saw a much younger Dorothy—played by Stephanie Mills, who’s coming back as Auntie Em in this rendition—taking the Emerald City by (literal) storm.
Cast via a nationwide search, Williams is putting a brassy spin (eye rolls and all) on Ross’ more timid leading lady; it’s a fresh take that extends into the show’s foundation. Choreographer Fatima Robinson, who’s created work for Prince and the King of Pop himself, is incorporating 2015 dance moves like the whip/nae nae, while Ne-Yo is adding a new song entitled “We Got It.”
“Hairspray” actor Kelley and his co-stars have melded modern updates with inspiration from the iconic actors they follow to build their own takes on familiar characters.
“What I took from [Michael Jackson] is his eyes,” Kelley explains during his lunch break, before widening his own to demonstrate. “The zeal for every moment—every moment was gold. He had these golden flakes on him every time he and the rest of the cast stepped onscreen.”
Taking another page from Jackson’s book, Kelley’s knowledge of the singer-actor’s close relationship with Ross pushed him to a similar one with 19-year-old Williams, who says that being the only girl, the youngest, and not a celebrity can make her feel slightly “awkward.” But the tight dynamics the four have developed eased her nervousness. “I asked David if I could call him Uncle David. He told me no,” she says, laughing.
Working eight hours a day, five days a week builds an inevitable relationship between cast members, which Leon strengthens at every turn.
“When someone’s late or misses a beat or line, I require pushups for everybody; that’s an ensemble-building thing,” he says about his “everybody in the bed, or everybody on the floor” way of working. Leon, who directed Sophie Okonedo to a Tony win for 2014’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” also has his actors swap lines to “see what it feels like to have those come back at you.”
In addition to directing the four main friends, his cast also includes Emmy winner Uzo Aduba as Glinda the Good; Golden Globe winner Queen Latifah as the Wiz; and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige as Evillene.
During rehearsal, the Fierce Four are still switching up blocking and working out harmonies around the piano, but even without costumes and makeup, they paint a vivid picture of what’s to come: Grier’s “Mean Ole Lion” highlights the newly deepened relationship between Dorothy and Scarecrow, and Ne-Yo’s “Slide Some Oil to Me” features pop-lock dance moves sure to hammer home the 2015 timing.
“The most important thing is this is now,” says Leon when asked about what he wanted to bring to audiences with this version of “The Wiz.” “This is not something that’s on a shelf. I want them to feel that it’s entertaining, but I want them to feel the truth of the story, which is that love and family, no matter what that family looks like, is a good thing.”
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