A magical whirlwind made of snow materializes and transports them to the realm of Oz, depicted as a dystopian version of New York City.Īs Dorothy descends from the atmosphere she smashes through an electric 'Oz' sign, which falls upon and kills Evermean, the Wicked Witch of the East who rules Munchkinland. She succeeds in retrieving him but finds herself trapped in the storm. While Dorothy cleans up after the meal, her dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a snowstorm. Extremely introverted, she is teased by Aunt Em for having delayed moving out to start her life as an adult ('Can I Go On?').

Ī crowded Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a small Harlem apartment, where shy, twenty-four-year-old elementary schoolteacher Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ('The Feeling That We Had'). Certain aspects influenced The Wiz Live!, a live television adaptation of the musical, aired on NBC in 2015. Despite its initial failure, it became a cult classic among black audiences, Jackson's fanbase, and Oz enthusiasts. Upon its original theatrical release, the film was a critical and commercial failure, and it marked the end of the resurgence of African-American films that began with the blaxploitation movement of the early 1970s. A handful of new songs, written by Jones and the songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, were added for the project. Brown's Broadway libretto by Joel Schumacher, and Quincy Jones supervised the adaptation of Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross' songs for it. Produced by Rob Cohen and directed by Sidney Lumet, the film stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, in his feature film debut, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor.

Befriended by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion, she travels through the city to seek an audience with the mysterious Wiz, who they say is the only one powerful enough to send her home.įilming took place in Queens, New York from October to December 1977. It follows the adventures of Dorothy, a shy, twenty-four-year-old Harlem schoolteacher who finds herself magically transported to the urban fantasy Land of Oz, which resembles a dream version of New York City. Frank Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an all-Black cast, the film was loosely adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same title. The Wiz is a 1978 American musical adventure fantasy film produced by Universal Pictures and Motown Productions and released by Universal Pictures on October 24, 1978.

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