The Night in Review
- Everyone agrees, Shanice Williams will ease on down the road to super-stardom after this performance. Her voice was incredible and her performance top-notch.
- Mary J. Blige, with only one song and a couple of songs managed to outshine Queen Latifah who was a bit pitchy, surprisingly. Sorry, Latifah, Mary is the only royalty here.
- While the sets looked great, the costumes were nightmares, especially those of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Looking at them was like staring into the soul of a serial killer or at least looking at a giant pasta monster.
- There was vogueing in the Emerald City in the evening’s best number where dancers swanned around in Keith Haring inspired costumes. Underground gay culture finally made it to network TV!
- The new song “We Got It,” while not going to light up the iTunes charts is certainly great.
NBC has no business doing musicals this good. - Speaking of which, this was the network’s best effort to date. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked better than the chintzy flying in Peter Pan and the hand-painted Alps of The Sound of Music Live. The hate Tweeters were silenced — almost.
- Grease Live is going to have some tough competition when it airs on Fox next month. NBC just dropped the mic and walked away with a creative victory. Your move, Rupert.
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Not only did Shanice Williams sing the hell out of “Home,” blonde Toto is alive!
Holy crap, Uzo Aduba is blowing me away with this song! Well until the end when she fumbled a bit.
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Falling from the sky in a gold dress flanked by circus performers is the only way to make an entrance.
Wearing a loose coat, a long tunic, and a jaunty scarf, it appears Queen Latifah and Dame Judi Dench have the same stylist.
The show is almost over, but we still have this to look forward to.
So cool the make up artist referenced Jean Michael Basquiat for the scarecrow. #TheWiz #BlackExcellence pic.twitter.com/fQu4qDtUj5
— Steven Mitchell (@hermesxos) December 4, 2015
Commerical Break Assessment
This is by far NBC’s best production to date, mostly due to a skilled cast and material that not everyone is so intimately familiar with. But it is really flat for television and the non-singing parts feel as long and boring as the commercial breaks. Also, where the hell is TOTO?
They've cut so much from the original show--hope they keep "Ya'll Got It." #TheWizLive
— Hank Stuever (@hankstuever) December 4, 2015
Queen Latifah’s no-makeup makeup is even better than the prodigious contouring she had before.
Yellow isn’t flattering on anyone.
Is this a Gap ad? #TheWiz pic.twitter.com/s9pFG0oq27
— Vulture (@vulture) December 4, 2015
My big brother @NeYoCompound really did What Would I Do If I Could Feel justice. amazing #TheWiz
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015
@BrianJMoylan oh I forgot the speedos.... pic.twitter.com/mj9M64gPLL
— Leah Kathryn (@LaLahLaLeah) December 4, 2015
This is how they should have done Can’t You Feel a Brand New Day.
I’m digging Can’t You Feel a Brand New Day. I am not digging the Ne-Yellow outfits.
OK, the effect for Mary J Blige to be killed was sad adn fake and awful. But she was so damn fierce all is forgiven.
Mary J. Blige is my personal trainer #TheWiz pic.twitter.com/z1vpji7RgZ
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) December 4, 2015
These Cirque du Soleil winged warriors looked like the Bodies exhibit grew hair.
Nobody Bring Me No Bad News was the best performance of the night. No one beats Mary J!
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Mary J Blige’s outfit looks like all the cords in the back of my TV. She wasn’t doing so hot until she started to sing. I’m sold!
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Mary J. Blige doesn’t want any drama in her life. But maybe a musical?
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This song “We Got It” was written just for The Wiz Live! It was written by Ne-Yo, Harvey Mason Jr, Stephen Oremus & Elijah Kelley
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Maybe I was wrong.
Ok queen is killing it as the wizard #TheWizLive
— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) December 4, 2015
Wouldn’t it be awesome if the cast of The Wiz Live! Just broke out into “Hotline Bling” for no reason.
Queen Latifah looks like a cross between Elvis, Barbara Bush and a truly great idea for the new $100 bill.
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) December 4, 2015
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Commercial Break Assessment
So far the voices have been great (except Queen Latifah), the production has been good, and the performances adequate. Where did all the hate tweeting go? I’m kind of happy it’s good, but does it seem to be losing steam? This is where the intermission usually is in the musical, so hopefully act two will add some energy.
When Ne-Yo sings “If I Could Feel” he’s actually talking about his arms. The circulation is being cut off by his costume.
Sorry, but so far Queen Latifah has been the worst singer of the whole night! I did not want to meet that wizard.
.@IAMQUEENLATIFAH is FIRE 🔥🔥🔥 #TheWiz pic.twitter.com/T60xZDwgMd
— NBC (@nbc) December 4, 2015
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Good one NBC.
Dorothy's got 99 problems, but a witch ain't one. #TheWiz
— NBC (@nbc) December 4, 2015
I don’t know what is scarier, that creepy anamatronic wizard head or the Wicked rip-off that is happening right now.
rihanna still ain't dropped that album but she probably hiding in the back of this set liiiike #TheWizLive pic.twitter.com/n4ysQW1FOl
— Hannah Giorgis (@ethiopienne) December 4, 2015
With the all-green light up vogue dancers, the inside of the Emerald City looks like every Stefan sketch or what local news anchors think happens at a rave.
so grace jones pic.twitter.com/ssCy83szbT
— dodai (@dodaistewart) December 4, 2015
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So, where can I get the green crystal pointy outfit that Common is wearing as Oz’s bouncer. It’s my 2016 Halloween costume.
Stop being a dick, Common.
— Gene Demby (@GeeDee215) December 4, 2015
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My favorite part of every children's musical is the orgy.
— emily nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) December 4, 2015
Walk up in the club with the squad like pic.twitter.com/z5lPxsXLej
— Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty) December 4, 2015
So far the thing voted most likely to give me nightmares was that roar the Lion let out right before this Opdivo commercial.
The “Be a Lion” number was always one of my least favorite and really bogs down the forward action of the show. But that David Alan Grier can sang!
Seriously though, what happened to Toto?
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I think Dorothy and company are currently being attacked by Pizza Rat and his family.
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All this melanin... All these natural locks and curls... All this black talent on my television. #TheWiz pic.twitter.com/CulI8Zrvli
— Tony James (@TonyJamesOnAir) December 4, 2015
Commercial Break Assessment
For my money this is the best of NBC’s productions yet. The sets look great, if a little amateur. The crows’ flying looked way better than Peter Pan’s, and everyone in this production can sing like hell. The Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and Tin-Man costumes look a bit like the bottom of an empty Dumpster, but every thing else is great.
That said, all the non-singing parts (and the endless commercials) are starting to bore me.
The one missing brains: Charlotte The one missing a heart: Samantha The one missing courage: Miranda The one who makes it about HER: Carrie
— Daniel D'Addario (@DPD_) December 4, 2015
David Allen Grier as The Cowardly Lion looks like a furrier version of a The Walking Dead character.
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This is a bit like when Sly Stallone got fat for Copland. Ne-Yo’s new get up is certainly a departure from his usual shtick:
Ne-Yo, on the other hand, was first in the queue when they were handing out confidence and sex appeal: his twinkly smile alone has fans eyeing him like cats spying a particularly succulent mouse. So far, so R&B dreamboat. But this Las Vegas songwriter is cut from a different cloth to Usher and the rest. At several points, he praises women who “don’t necessarily need a man” (apart from him, one presumes), and dedicates She Got Her Own and Miss Independent to them.
That’s how we described him when he was touring in 2013. Not sure the ‘metal’ look will prove as tempting …
He also looks like Kryten from Red Dwarf.
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Props to Ne-Yo for popping and locking in an all-metal outfit during “Slide Some Oil to Me.”
Ne-Yo is playing one of those guys in the subway who paint themselves silver and will only move when you give them money.
Isn’t it hilarious that the programme we’re watcing has an all-black cast and then all the commercials are full of white people.
It’s “Ease on Down the Road” time. They sound great, but does the stage look a little claustrophobic? It’s starting to look a little big more high school musical.
For someonene without a brain, The Scarecrow sure is giving us some Electric Bugaloo style dance moves.
Why does The Scarecrow look like he is wearing an omelet for a mask?
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So Toto also died in the tornado? #TheWizLive #WCFieldsRule
— Hank Stuever (@hankstuever) December 4, 2015
Commercial Break Assessment
We’re 30 minutes into the production and so far, I hate to admit, but it’s been really great. Stephanie Mills and Amber Riley nailed their song. The sets are a little bonkers, but don’t look cheap. The wig budget is probably more than a whole season of Dance Moms. Sure the weird tornado thing was kinda stupid, but so far this is killing it.
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Shanice Williams sings her first song and a star is born. Man, she was great!
this is a good tweet https://t.co/YiNESCeUXg
— Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty) December 4, 2015
Not gonna lie, I could go for some “Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Follow the Yellow Brick Road” right now.
Something is terribly wrong, I’ve actually been enjoying The Wiz so far. And we haven’t even gotten to “Slide Some Oil to Me” yet.
Bitch where I get me one of them Tornados? That was better than a Rihanna concert. #thewiz
— Him Kardashian-West (@mrLdavis) December 4, 2015
Amber Riley from Glee was pretty good as the Good Witch of the North before she pulled out her Apple Product Placement Tablet.
Thank all that is holy that The Munchkins are being played by non little people. Their outfits look like a million candy wrappers turned into Koosh balls.
The tornado is being played by Cirque du Soliel in creepy masks that look like the Scarecrow from Batman Begins. Dorothy is flying on extremely visible wires. The performance is blowing me away. Yuk yuk.
Stephanie Mills is currently slaying the show’s first song, “The Feeling We Once Had.” The ghost of Judy Garland is singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in a gay bar down the block.
Ooooh, look at those very expensive projection screens in the background showing the corn fields of Kansas. They’ve ditched the summer stock sets for some real technology this year.
Here we go, ladies and gentlemen, it’s your last chance to refresh your cocktails and web browsers before the fun starts.
To get everyone pumped, here is Stephanie Mills, the original Dorothy on Broadway, singing “Home,” one of the songs from tonight. She’s playing Auntie Em in tonight’s production.
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We’re less than ten minutes away from kick off now.
I’m going to go eat some pasta so I’ve got energy to get through three hours of this. Brian Moylan will be your ‘no chill’ host for the evening. (It’s true: I’m not into Broadway.)
Come live blog The Wiz Live with me and @Lanre_Bakare the least Broadway person I know. https://t.co/DClNE0gcv6
— Brian Moylan (@BrianJMoylan) December 4, 2015
Ease on Down the Road
As Brian pointed out in his guide to The Wiz this is a show of some pedigree:
The Wiz was originally produced on Broadway in 1975 and retells the story of The Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast singing soul and R&B music. Charlie Smalls wrote the music and William F Brown wrote the book. It won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical. In 1978 it was made into a totally wacky screen adaptation starring Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, pre-Thriller Michael Jackson and post-Supremes Diana Ross as Dorothy … Influential 70s director Sidney Lumet, usually known more for his gritty realism than fantastical musical numbers, was responsible for the production. Just look at Ross and Jackson singing Ease on Down the Road, perhaps the show’s most famous song.
No pressure then …
Is there a drinking game to go with this?
My favourite drinking game can be found at Annoying Actor Friend. It’s quite convoluted but stick with it, you’ll definitely get drunk.
PRE-GAME: take a shot in honor of every actor friend you know who is live tweeting or Facebooking this event on a Thursday night at 8pm, because it probably means they’re unemployed.
NOTE: I trust you’ll be surrounded by friends either in person, on social media, or both, so some of these rules pertain to you and those around you, as well as what you’ll be viewing on screen.
DRINK WHEN…
- someone says, “Home.”
- you’re like, “where the fuck is Laura Benanti?”
- and then you’re like, “oh yeah, right.”
- sing Shanice.
- a set piece breaks or malfunctions.
- someone tweets about knowing Uzo.
- you know Uzo.
- Hamilton manages to make The Wiz Live about them.
- Neil Meron and Craig Zadan interrupt the telecast to announce that The Wiz Live will be transferring to Broadway.
- why. is. this. so. good.
- there are sound problems.
- someone is really confused by the influences from the original L. Frank Baum novel.
- you’re the one who’s confused.
- Neil Meron and Craig Zadan interrupt the telecast to announce that Bombshell will be transferring to Broadway.
- SING Shanice.
- the camera cuts to an actor who is not really paying attention.
- QUEEN LATIFAH.
- they still haven’t figured out how to fix the awkward silence that follows a musical number.
- Mary J. Blige takes an acting beat.
- Neil Meron and Craig Zadan interrupt the telecast to announce something they produced five years ago.
- one of your friends says, “I almost booked this.” (if you almost booked this, keep drinking until the next commercial break because do you know how much those Lost Men made last year?)
- NBC stamps an awkward hashtag at the bottom of the screen. #SingShanice
- someone in the cast is phoning it in like they are doing an open ended run.
- riffing.
- screlting
- screlffting.
- you change your major to Ne-Yo.
- Toto walks away with the show like Audra or Kelli O’Hara.
- Shanice Williams walks away with the show like Benanti.
So what should we expect?
Quite a lot of the build up to this year’s nonsensefest has been about how it might actually be good. After the disasters that were Sound of Music (Live!) and Peter Pan (Live!), it seems like NBC has decided to go a different route, and opt for rap and R&B stars and terrifying costumes.
Who is in this?
The cast is genuinely quite impressive …
David Alan Greer is the Cowardly Lion
Ne-Yo is the Tin-Man
Elijah Kelley is the Scarecrow
Common is the bouncer of Oz
Uzo Aduba is Glinda
Queen Latifah is the Wizard (the Wiz)
Mary J Blige as Evillene, the Wicked Witch
Shanice Williams is Dorothy
Welcome to The Wiz Live! liveblog!
It seems only a moment ago that we were shaking our heads in disbelief at shoddy production values, a giant psychedelic crocodile and Christopher Walken’s Captain Hook, but here we are again ushering in NBC’s annual ‘live event of the year’.
Last time around it was Peter Pan Live! but tonight it’s The Wiz Live! If all this is a meaningless collection of words for you, I’d advise reading Brian Moylan’s primer on all things Wiz. In a nutshell it is:
“It’s NBC’s latest live musical offering. Following the stratospheric success of The Sound of Music Live! in 2013 and the mediocre success of Peter Pan Live! last year, the network is seeing if the third time can be a charm with this Broadway classic.”
We’ve got just under an hour to go before kick off so I’d advise getting in some refreshments (preferably booze) and preparing for a ridiculous three hours.
Toto was killed during the tornado, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.