The hyperbole is flying on the set of “The Wiz Live!” at Grumman Studios in Bethpage, where the backstage personnel and the cast have come to talk to the press. To a person, this production has been “the most amazing experience” anyone has ever had.
You have to wonder if Donald Trump is writing their copy.
Except some things are not so amazing — like last year’s production of “Peter Pan Live.” Ratings for that live telecast were half of what they were for the first of NBC’s live musicals, “The Sound of Music,” which drew 18 million viewers.
(Rates for a 30-second ad have also dropped from $345,000 to $400,000 for “Peter Pan Live” to $330,000 to $350,000 for “The Wiz Live!,” according to Variety.)
In a moment of unexpected clarity, producer Craig Zadan sheds his superlatives and levels with a reporter about what went wrong. “We found out something we didn’t know: The Peter Pan story seems to have overstayed its welcome,” Zadan says. “If you look at the fact that two months ago, a $150 million movie named ‘Pan’ came out and not one person went to see it, you realize something has changed in the culture.”
With “The Wiz Live!,” then — airing 8 p.m. Thursday on NBC — Zadan and co-producer Neil Meron have a chance to gain lost ground. They’ve chosen a more contemporary show — the musical was first produced on Broadway in 1975 — and are able to offer viewers the diversity that TV audiences now demand.
The production is not without its challenges, though: “The Wiz” is not a classic that is regularly staged (and the 1978 film starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson flopped). And rather than cast a megastar like Carrie Underwood — who played Maria in “The Sound of Music” — producers have given the role of Dorothy to unknown Shanice Williams.
“We saw hundreds of girls, but Shanice was the only one who could sing, dance, act and be the character,” Zadan says. “What would have happened if she had decided not to go in for the open call? Where would we be right now? It’s terrifying, if you think about it.”
If there’s one reliable judge of Williams’ potential, it would have to be Stephanie Mills, who played Dorothy for four years in the original Broadway production and now, at age 57, is playing Auntie Em.
“She embodies everything that Dorothy can be,” says Mills. “I did my part 40 years ago. I see myself in her. I see how young I was, how afraid I was at that time being around [my Broadway co-stars] Geoffrey Holder and André De Shields and Dee Dee Bridgewater.”
The production team sought to update the choreography and the music, adding six acrobats from Cirque du Soleil. Choreographer Fatima Robinson also scoured YouTube for inspiration.
Director Kenny Leon worked with musical director Stephen Oremus, Ne-Yo (playing the Tin Man) and Elijah Kelley (Scarecrow) to create a new song at the end of Act One. Dorothy and her companions will now sing “We Got It” when the Wiz (Queen Latifah) says they have to get the Wicked Witch’s (Mary J. Blige) broom. “It complements everything that’s already there,” Leon says of the song.
Easin’ on down other roads
The cast of “The Wiz Live!” has a long history of excellence on TV. Here’s a brief look at their credits:
• QUEEN LATIFAH (The Wiz)
Latifah made an indelible impression on TV audiences with Fox’s “Living Single,” a popular ’90s sitcom. She played magazine editor Khadijah James, who lived in Brooklyn with her cousin Synclaire James (Kim Coles).
• MARY J. BLIGE (Evillene)
In 1998, Blige made her acting debut on the sitcom “The Jamie Foxx Show,” playing Ola Mae, a preacher’s daughter who wanted to sing more than gospel music.
• DAVID ALAN GRIER (Cowardly Lion)
This showbiz veteran co-starred in the original Broadway production of “Dreamgirls,” but first caught our attention in the ensemble sketch show “In Living Color” (1990-2001), where he played a variety of roles. None was as notorious — or as uproarious — as Antoine Merriweather, the flamboyant film critic from the show’s “Men On …” series. Together with Damon Wayans, Grier made some of the funniest TV you will ever see. Two snaps up!
• UZO ADUBA (Glinda the Good Witch)
Aduba won two consecutive Emmy awards for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in the Netflix prison dramedy “Orange Is the New Black.”
• COMMON (The Bouncer)
Before he won a Best Song Oscar for “Selma,” Common co-starred with Anson Mount in AMC’s western series “Hell on Wheels.” As Elam Ferguson, he played a recently freed slave who is trying to find his place in the 19th-century American West.
• AMBER RILEY (Addaperle)
As a regular on the Fox series “Glee,” Riley played Mercedes Jones and sang her butt off. Her repertoire hinted at some of her idols: Aretha Franklin (“Respect,”), Jennifer Holliday (“And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”) and Mariah Carey (“All I Want For Christmas Is You”). She also won the cheesy mirror ball trophy on Season 17 of “Dancing With the Stars.”