Posted on 11/30/2015 9:29:17 PM PST by TBP
It’s that time again. On Thursday, December 3, NBC will be presenting The Wiz Live (8 PM Eastern). The Wiz is a product of that period in the 1970s when Broadway was producing “all-black†versions of everything. It is an urban, African-American version of The Wizard of Oz. The show gave us the popular song “Ease On Down the Roadâ€.
In a nice casting touch, Stephanie Mills, who originated the role of Dorothy in the 1975 Broadway cast, will be playing Auntie Em. The production will also feature Queen Latifah as the first female Wiz.
By now, the plot should be familiar to most readers. When we first encounter Dorothy, she’s wishing to get out of Kansas and see distant places. Auntie Em is telling her that she has everything she needs right where she is. Then a tornado blows through and suddenly Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves not in Kansas. The house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and freeing the Munchkins from her power.
Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, shows up. Dorothy just wants to get home, and Addaperle suggests that her best bet is to go see the Wizard. She gives Dorothy the Witch of the East’s shoes and tells her not to take them off because they carry a powerful magic.
As she sets off down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City of Oz, she encounters a Scarecrow who is looking for a brain, a Tin Man who is looking for a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who is looking for courage. Eventually, they make their way to the gates of the Emerald City. They are admitted to see the Wiz because Dorothy is wearing the shoes of the Wicked Witch of the East. The Wizard agrees to give them the things they are looking for if they kill the Wicked Witch of the West (named Evilene in this version).
As they approach Evilene’s realm, she sends her Winged Monkeys to kill them. They destroy Scarecrow and Tin Man and they bring Dorothy and the Lion to the castle, where they and Toto are forced to do menial work and Evilene tortures Toto and the Lion in front of Dorothy. Finally, Dorothy throws water at the Wicked Witch and she melts. This frees the Winged Monkeys from the witch’s spell and they restore Scarecrow and Tin Man to their prior states.
They return to the Emerald City, where the Wizard reneges on the promise made. The screen that hides the Wiz is overturned and the Wizard is exposed. The Wiz confesses that he (in this production, she) is just a balloonist from Kansas who drifted to Oz by accident and they made him Wizard. The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and the Lion are given symbols of what they are seeking.
The Wiz takes off for Kansas, but Dorothy misses the balloon. Addaperle appears, suggesting that Dorothy ask Glinda, The good Witch of the South, for help getting home. They are transported to Glinda’s palace. Glinda tells Dorothy that the shoes have always had the power to take her home, but that she had to believe it for it to work. “The magic is in you.†Dorothy bids farewell to her companions, clicks her heels three times, and returns home.
What do we learn from this? Well, for one thing, what you ask for, you get. Dorothy wants to see distant places, and she gets to see Oz. Then she wants to go home, and she winds up back at home in Kansas.
The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion receive symbols that remind them that they had the things they were looking for all along, but didn’t recognize them. They had to be shown that they possessed these qualities. But during their adventure, Scarecrow demonstrates his brains, Tin Man demonstrates his heart, and the Lion demonstrates his courage. All you need and all you’re seeking is already there, waiting to be recognized.
And finally, there is the magic of the shoes. To activate the magic in you, you must believe. But as Dorothy learns, the magic is in you. Will you recognize it? What will you do with that magic? In Dorothy’s case, it takes her home – both physically and in the metaphysical sense of being where you belong, where Divine Order is playing out in your life. And Dorothy recognizes the blessing of home.
And there is no place like home. In every sense of the word.
In fourth grade I played the cowardly lion. Brought the house down with my, “Shucks folks, I’m speechless”.
Definitely the pinnacle of my acting career.
Actually, I think the cultural appropriation thing is OK. But there are a lot of other artists and critics who decry hip-hop artists like Iggy Azalea. Even though Miss Azalea is playing her own original music, and not borrowing someone else's characters, as the authors of "The Wiz" did.
Maybe she's just jealous of her looks?
Iggy Azalea
You couldn’t pay me to watch this.
Well....maybe you could pay me a lot and I would. But....blech.
Looking forward to an all-White country music version of "A Raisin in the Sun".
One can easily imagine the howls of outrage should anyone dare to stage something like that.
Dude, were you this upset when Elvis stole Hound Dog? It happens both ways, and music as a whole benefits from the blending.
Boring every time...
However it is a big topic among leftists right now, so I was just pointing out the hypocrisy of it all.
Example: Breaking Down Cultural Appropriation In Pop Music And More
there’s been an ongoing trend in the music industry of appropriating cultures. What started with Miley Cyrus twerking, Australian Iggy Azalea rapping with the fakest southern-black accent I’ve ever heard, and Vanessa Hudgens wearing bindis to Coachella has now become a trend that doesn’t look like it has an ending-point. If we were all equal and that culture's members were not mocked, ostracized and objectified for wearing the same things, then it would be okay. But, unfortunately, that’s not the case.
The people of these adapted cultures are homogenized when someone not from that culture pettily embraces various elements from it. The history and significance of those elements are stripped away, leaving something that popular chain stores make in mass-production. No one is appreciating the culture by wearing this stuff; in fact they are doing anything but.
Blah, blah, blah.
BTW: It's weird that the broken character thing is still happening. We had FR work fine for about 20 years, and suddenly quote marks create fugly weirdness. I don't get it.
Ughh, who writes that crap. (BTW, I tell my kids that rap music is spelled with a silent c at the front of it.)
I like both versions of this movie however I could not be made to watch the Black version of Annie as I can’t stand Jamie Foxx
My comment is: I love musicals and I can’t afford to go to them and don’t have babysitters so I am crazy about the idea of seeing them live on tv. I really enjoyed The Sound of Music. However, then they did Peter Pan, with the Liar Brian Williams’s daughter playing the boy Peter Pan, and Captain Hook played by a spacy and strange (even moreso than usual) Chris Walken, acting so badly he made his Saturday Night Live skits look like Oscar winners.
And now the Wiz. With one boring song. I will be watching; I just wish they were choosing different plays. I like Queen Latifah’s acting so I will hope it’s decent.
**...What will you do with that magic?...**
Staying away from this tripe... and the flying monkeys.
Wasn’t it The Wiz that started the whole “It’s a black thing and you wouldn’t understand” thing?
Broadway and Hollywood are still doing this.
The 46-track cast album of the new musical Hamilton is going where no other Broadway score has gone before: #1 on the Billboard chart of rap albums. (Playbill 16 Nov 2015)
I know of Iggy Pop (who created his name from his first band, the Iguanas).
From where does she find an odd name like Iggy if not Mr. Pop/Stooge?
Hound Dog was written by two white Jewish guys.
“The people of these adapted cultures are homogenized when someone not from that culture pettily embraces various elements from it.”
These people from the ‘adapted cultures’ are mainstreamed/normalized as they are accepted and integrated into society.
They lose their ‘rare bird’ status but some people in society are more separatist than they may publicly claim.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.