Following their broadcast of ‘The Sound of Music’ live special last year NBC has announced plans to revamp another classic as a live TV musical. ‘Variety‘ reports that ‘The Wiz’ will be remade by the network and air on Dec 3, 2015.
The special will be co-produced by Cirque du Soleil’s new stage theatrical division. After the television event, the musical will make its Broadway revival for the 2016-17 season, also presented by Cirque du Soleil reported the outlet.
“The Wiz” marks NBC’s third such production, following the success of “The Sound of Music Live!,” starring Carrie Underwood, and “Peter Pan Live!,” in which Allison Williams played the title character. Although casting has not been announced the network did release a statement on the exciting revival.
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to not only produce this as our next live musical for NBC, but to then see it move to Broadway for a new generation to experience,” said Zadan. Meron added, “It will be a joy to work again with Kenny Leon, who did ‘Steel Magnolias’ and ‘Raisin in the Sun’ with us.
‘The Wiz’ is no stranger to Broadway, the show originally opened in 1975 and ran for four years and won seven Tonys, including best musical. It retells the classic story of “The Wizard of Oz” in an African-American context.
Exciting news! We are surely looking forward to this and with a crop of new talent out there we can’t wait to see who they get to take on the roles. Hmm we can already see a few possibles for Scarecrow…Chris Brown anyone?
Who would you cast in the coveted roles of The Wiz?
