The Wiz Live! (NBC) - General Discussion

[Spartan Girl]

The third time really was the charm for NBC! The cast is great and so is the music! And I like how they handled the gender switch with the wizard.

I agree that Mary was the best singer, but Shanise/Dorothy is amazing too. I hope this kick starts her career.

I guess in this version Toto doesn't go to Oz with Dorothy. Maybe the producers didn't want to risk him getting hurt with all the pyrotechnics.

[funkopop]

Interesting tidbit, Queen Latifah and David Allen Grier played the aunt and uncle in The Muppets Wizard of Oz.

[Macbeth]

Oh I so wished I got to see this from the beginning.  I came in half way.  I loved the movie.  This is so much better than the last 2 live productions.  The music is really good and it doesn't have to compete against a universally beloved movie that is The Sound of Music.

 

Now I go to  IMDB, to check out who's who.  They don't have a listing of all of the cast members (just a very small #) - but I do see a very white face in the mix.  Somebody from Cirque du Soleil.  Maybe it's a mistake - but I do see him doing a very complicated acrobatic flipping during the "Brand New Day" song.   Apparently that is what he does.

 

God damn it.  White people need to be in everything don't we.

 

Please understand - most of the cast for this show has not been listed on IMDB - basically the main cast - a couple of others - and the 4th acrobat who is white.

[ebk57]

Admittedly, I've only been paying fitful attention.  I've enjoyed this production waaaaay better than the last two.  But damn, that girl just made me cry.  That was amazing.

[Mumbles]

I really liked this. I think of the three live musicals that NBC has done so far, this would have benefited the most from a live audience. I've seen the show live and a lot of numbers are so high-energy (Brand New Day, No Bad News) that the audience response is electric. Plus some of the laugh lines would have benefited from an audience response.

 

Shanice Williams was adorable.

 

Of the three musicals NBC has done, it's been the best. But I must say  I intended to "hate watch" the Carrie Underwood "Sound of Music" but couldn't, because it was earnestly done and had a lot of great Broadway folks in it to give it bona fides.

 

I HATED Peter Pan. Allison Williams did NOT deserve that role and it just pissed me off all throughout the show.

[Macbeth]

Uzo Aduba was amazing as Glinda.  Fantastic.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Brilliant, I loved every minute of it and had tears in my eyes at the end.

 

Great casting to have Stephanie Mills, who originated Dorothy on Broadway, as Aunt Em and the woman is still amazing.  Count me in as another who didn't know David Alan Grier could sing.  I can't find fault with Queen Latifah because I love her so much but the first song was not a good choice for her (or vice versa) and I much preferred her second number. 

 

Shanice Williams-- a deserving star in the making.

[topanga]

Loved it. Shanice Williams was awesome--she sounded a lot like a young Stephanie Mills. I wish her well in her career. 

 

I liked all of the songs--even the new one the group sang at the Wiz's lair, but I didn't like the song Queen Latifah sang before departing. It was one song too many. 

 

Overall, it was amazing. 

[Superpole2000]

I think of the three live musicals that NBC has done so far, this would have benefited the most from a live audience.

Yes, I probably would have enjoyed some form of audience. It almost felt as if I was watching a rehearsal.

[iMonrey]

Let me preface this by saying I saw the original Broadway cast perform this show in the 70s when I was a teenager so I'm certainly partial, but I was disappointed with this production. They basically re-wrote all the dialogue of the script to "update" it which was both unnecessary and unfortunate, because it was no improvement and made the show far less funny and entertaining than the original production.

 

They tried to borrow too many elements from the famous Judy Garland film and even a few from the Diana Ross version of The Wiz, which was a huge mistake and missed the point entirely. The original play didn't have the counterparts in Kansas (like in the MGM movie) or any of this nonsense about Dorothy wanting to run away to her home in Omaha or anything about her dead mother. The Emerald City wasn't a dance club and they changed the Scarecrow's original song, "I was born on the day before yesterday" for some reason. The replacement song with the crows was not an improvement.

 

The musical arrangement wasn't very good either; some of the best  ballads from the show were reduced to community theater quality. The singing was just fine but the orchestration was disappointing.

 

The Scarecrow looked like Leatherface so I don't know what they were thinking with that awful skin mask. And casting a woman as The Wiz was gimmicky and also sort of missed the point of the story I thought. I could probably live with that if it were the most egregious change made to the original play but it was overload at that point.

 

I still appreciate the concept of doing these live shows and I'll be interested to see what the ratings are like. But they didn't basically rewrite the entire book when they did Sound of Music or even Peter Pan so I don't know why they felt the need to do it with The Wiz.

 

Off to listen to my original Broadway cast recording . . . ON EIGHT TRACK.

[crimsongrl]

My family loved this! I was afraid they'd crush my childhood memories but I'll have this saved on the dvr for awhile.

So many beautiful and talented black folks! :)

[Machiabelly]

That was so very enjoyable and entertaining

[ByaNose]

I don't think any musical will top the ratings of The Sound of Musc. That was just an aberration. Although, I think might do better than Peter Pan due to the talen and songs. I'm curios to see what is next. I know Grease will be on FOX (I think) which I think is unnecessary since no one can top Travolta & Newton-John. Yes, I'm looking at you Michelle Pfeiffer & Maxwell Caulfield.

[Neurochick]

Why were there so many commercials? I don't think The Sound of Music had all those commercials.

BTW, I too saw the original cast on Broadway as a teenager, in the 70s, I still have my playbill, and I loved this version. It's forty years later, things have to change. I don't even have an eight track player, those things sucked even then. Thank God for MP3.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Neurochick

[topanga]

 

They tried to borrow too many elements from the famous Judy Garland film and even a few from the Diana Ross version of The Wiz, which was a huge mistake and missed the point entirely. The original play didn't have the counterparts in Kansas (like in the MGM movie) or any of this nonsense about Dorothy wanting to run away to her home in Omaha or anything about her dead mother. The Emerald City wasn't a dance club and they changed the Scarecrow's original song, "I was born on the day before yesterday" for some reason. The replacement song with the crows was not an improvement.

I think the NBC musical wanted to incorporate the best aspects of the original movie, the original Broadway production of the Wiz, and The Wiz movie. It also wanted to capture a young audience, which is why some of the dialogue was updated. I guess this hybridization wouldn't work for everyone, but for me it did. For example. I would have been disappointed if the Scarecrow hadn't sang "You Can't Win." It was one of my favorite songs from the movie. 

 

 

I know Grease will be on FOX (I think) which I think is unnecessary since no one can top Travolta & Newton-John. Yes, I'm looking at you Michelle Pfeiffer & Maxwell Caulfield.

Hey, I liked Grease 2!

Edited December 4, 2015 by topanga

[Enero]

I didn't realize Kenny Leon directed it. He's certainly arrived. Congrats to him.

For the most part all the songs were great. I wish we would've heard more from Stephanie Mills. Love her voice. Like others, I didn't think Queen Latifah's first song worked that well and I thought the actress who played the Good Witch of the South struggled a bit with her song.

Mary J. was way over the top with her role, but up it worked. I too was shocked that DAG could sing. He did really well.

I thought the costumes, sets and choreography was fantastic.

I haven't seen the live productions NBC has done in previous years, mainly because I'm not a big fan of musicals, but I really enjoyed this.

[dcalley]

Aw, the local news just showed the proud mom of castmember James Brown III.

[VCRTracking]

I don't know if I should be thinking this much about Dorothy's legs.

[JessePinkman]

Off to listen to my original Broadway cast recording . . . ON EIGHT TRACK.

 

Okay, grandpa.

 

Just kidding! Valid complaints but I loved it and I think they were smart to reference The Wiz movie and the MGM version to reach the widest audience possible. And they modernized the dialogue for the young people they're trying to attract, like Dorothy calling her friends her "squad". I thought it was welcome and not distracting but I've never seen the original production.

 

NBC has already posted some clips on their Youtube channel:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv-rQ-Z5UlU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPQOD3YtXRM

 

Well I know what I'll be doing tomorrow at work.

 

[avecsans]

I loved this. I watched for DAG, Uzo Adubo and Queen Latifah - and they were great- but I thought Amber Riley and Mary J. Blige knocked it out of the park. And the costumes were stupendous. A couple of minor technical glitches but that's the beauty of live tv. I'm someone who turned off Carrie Underwood after 5 minutes and Allison Williams after 1 minute, but I watched every minute of The Wiz.

[ByaNose]

I didn't notice any glitches. What were they? I'm disappointed that none of these live shows have any mistakes. LOL!! Even, on the soaps they mess up and they edit it out. It's almost like they tape theses shows and say it's live.

Edited December 4, 2015 by ByaNose

[tom87]

I didn't notice any glitches. What were they? I'm disappointed that none of these live shows have any mistakes. LOL!! Even, on the soaps they mess up and they edit it out. It's almost like they tape theses shows and say it's live.

The only things I notice was the tin man's hat got knock off at one point and Dorthy got it back and a saw  either part of  a camera or boom

 

I didn't get the reason why they had two good witches it seems to negate Glinda to me (even then I do think Amber Riley did a very nice job).   Also there wasn't enough build up to the conformation with the bad witch.  Haven't seen the wiz since I was a kid but only really like maybe 3 songs from it.

 

That said it was better than the other two.  

[Superpole2000]

Did anyone love/hate the use of AAVE/Ebonics in some of the dialogue? It felt a bit strange at times. For instance, I remember the line, "Maybe she don't gotta be..." and someone used the term conversating.

[HighQueenEB]

I really enjoyed this, thought I wasn't paying as close attention to it as I did The Sound of Music.  I hated Peter Pan last year, mostly because Allison Williams was just atrocious.  I can only vaguely recall seeing The Wiz movie when I was a kid.

I really liked the costumes in this production.  I also thought the singing was pretty strong, with the exception of Queen Latifah.  She was the weakest link, by far, but overall, it was easy to overlook that when the rest of the cast was so strong. 

[iscoffy]

I was wary, having only made it through the previous two with the aid of heavy drinking and heavy snark, but this was really delightful.  The costuming and sets were just right, and the pacing and transitions made the lack of audience less cringeworthy than with Sound of Music or Peter Pan (although I still think all of them would benefit from a live audience-- no clapping or response is just awkward for the medium, which is built for audience reaction).  Mary J. Blige also surprised me by being over-the-top and fun; the promos featuring her were not promising, but she was fine.  Drag King Queen Latifah, whatever her singing issues, was unsettlingly attractive as The Wiz. Killer face contouring.  Hope any future productions are more like this and less like the previous.

[EmZeeGee]

The Emerald City wasn't a dance club and they changed the Scarecrow's original song, "I was born on the day before yesterday" for some reason.

 

And casting a woman as The Wiz was gimmicky and also sort of missed the point of the story I thought.

 

 

I loved that Emerald City was changed to an 80s dance club/Paris's Ball. I thought that was an incredibly clever choice to imbue a bit more queerness into the scope of Blackness that The Wiz is as a show. This production covered the range of black dance from stepping to street jazz to West African to hip-hop, where else might have they naturally inserted voguing (and I saw Old Way, New Way and Vogue Femme) if not at a queer dance club in the mode of a late 80s ball in Harlem? That's part of the reason I didn't take the gender swap as gimmicky. After all, as Dorothy said regarding the Wizard, "She got a right to choose the way she wants to live."

 

The point of the Wizard is that people in rights movements, and of course when we talk about The Wiz we mean Civil Rights, is that folks want to elect a leader because they're afraid to do the work and engage in the struggle themselves. Pulling back the curtain on the Wizard is pointing out leaders who try to profit from the movement and that in the end, the Wizard is human and fallible and that We can fight for ourselves. "Y'all got it." I don't think that point was missed at all. 

[phoenix780]

Did anyone love/hate the use of AAVE/Ebonics in some of the dialogue? It felt a bit strange at times. For instance, I remember the line, "Maybe she don't gotta be..." and someone used the term conversating.

I hated conversating, used by Dorothy.  I also hated "what had happened was," because I watch daytime court shows and now that's a phrase I associate with really ignorant, low-quality people.  It was distracting to me, if I'm honest, and it felt a bit...forced/fake in a way I didn't appreciate.  Maybe if it was more consistent?  I dunno. 

 

I also didn't appreciate the number of commercials.

 

That said, this warmed my dark cynical heart.  I never saw the original- saw bits, found it annoying when I was a kid- so I don't have that memory lurking in the back and it could all be fresh.  To me the makeup and costumes were amazing, the casting was pretty great, and the actress playing Dorothy was a real find (and maybe that's the secret- pull in your stars as your supporting cast, find an unknown for the lead).  Their transitions between sets were also really smooth, even without a commercial to give them setup time.  

 

And, unlike the bits of last year's I saw, and even their first one, this had like...warmth.  I don't even have a word for it, it just felt good to watch.

[BW Manilowe]

Where's the dog?

I read in other comments elsewhere (i.e. posted to--mostly excellent--post-broadcast reviews [3 Stars of 4 from USA Today, for example] I've read online in the last few hours) that this production (mainly) followed the original stage production, as opposed to the movie or any other version.

In the version they (mostly) patterned theirs after, Toto *didn't* go to Oz with Dorothy, he stayed in Kansas (probably because, many people have said, it would be too hard to keep track of the dog during any choreographed songs, which weren't as plentiful in the original Judy Garland movie, for 1 thing). Since Toto stayed in Kansas, that's why he was only seen at the beginning & end of the production.

In case anyone's interested, they've done a soundtrack/cast recording/music from the live event release for the show (not quite sure what the correct name for the genre involved would be, so I used all that could apply).

I heard it mentioned during the show. It's already listed at iTunes (& I assume the Amazon MP3 Store as well). It's under The Wiz Live; if you omit the "Live", I think you'll end up at items connected to the original stage version &/or the movie.

I thought it would be released after the show tonight (last night)/today as 1 of this week's new music releases, but iTunes says the complete album won't be released until next Friday, the 11th.

If you're so inclined, though, they're taking pre-orders for the full recording now & they have released Shanice Williams (Dorothy)'s version of Home from the production as a "single" for immediate purchase.

[Rickster]

I think the show benefited from being in an upbeat music and dance idiom that connects better with today's audiences and through the TV, unlike Peter Pan and even to some extent Sound of Music, which seemed like shows dusted off from a wax museum. Very hard to rejuvenate older shows, especially with the offputting lack of an audience, which drains some of the life out of the production.

I will be a bit of a contrarian and say I thought this production got off to a really slow start and I was worried for the first half hour it was headed down the path of the last two shows, but then it really turned itself around with the group musical numbers.

[jah1986]

So the Emerald City is a dance club from the '80s, where all the residents vogue?

Otherwise, I'm digging this.

I was thinking TRON but your idea works too.

 

I really enjoyed this.  As someone who unreasonably loves the movie version I was kind of holding my breath but let it out when Stephanie Mills started singing, she still has it.

 

I thought everyone did a good job. It was funny seeing the camera early on in one shot and the Tin Man seemed to have difficulty keeping his hat on a few times but that's the beauty of Live.

 

Like others mentioned I thought Queen Latifah was the weakest vocalist but I liked her acting.

 

I don't watch OITNB but thought Uzo Adubo did a good job with Believe even though it seemed her nerves got to her a bit in the middle.

 

I also thought the set design was great and hope NBC continues this quality going forward.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Queen Latifah/Dana Owens is an incredible singer with the right material.  Her version of the old standard "Lush Life" is gorgeous.

 

I wasn't bothered by the many commercial breaks and didn't think it interrupted the flow of the show.  I figured they were needed for stage and/or costume changes, plus it gave me an opportunity to get up and do stuff (empty the dishwasher, fix my lunch for today, etc.) without missing anything.

[JAYJAY1979]

I loved it! Amber Riley and Mary J Blige were the standouts! Queen had the weakest voice, but she sang wrll..but he tried acting as both the disguised Wiz and u disguised wiz were flawless :) Dorothy was a standout..kudos for going with an unknown!

[alexa]

So I confess I didn't watch the whole thing and I don't know much about "the Wiz" in general, but I didn't care for it at all.  I thought the lead character kept just going around looking like she was thinking "I am supposed to look confused and upset", but didn't sell those emotions to me at all.  And I know it is hard to do the production aspects on stage, but I thought many of them looked kind of cheesy.  

 

I am glad many people liked it, and perhaps I missed something great, but this is just another perspective.

[Maire]

I saw Uzo years ago on Broadway in Godspell and she was a standout! I agree that her nerves got to her last night. Overall loved the performance. So much better than the other NBC efforts.

[Notwisconsin]

Aside from the racial aspect, the WIZ is actually closer to the original book than the 1939 movie was. I never saw the play on Broadway or the movie, and this was okay, but kind of rushed.

[KenyaJ]

After The Sound of Music (which I watched purely to snark along with everyone else on Twitter) and Peter Pan (which wasn't even worth that effort), I went into The Wiz hoping for the best but bracing myself for more terribleness. But I loved it. The entire case was great, but Amber Riley and Mary J. Blige shut it down in their roles and musical numbers. And I'll be watching the clip of "Emerald City is Burning" all day long in my office. I loved that scene so much.

 

Ratings haven't come out yet, but Craig Zadan tweeted that the overnight numbers were big, so I can't wait to eventually see them.

[bmoore4026]

Notwisconsin, on 04 Dec 2015 - 08:45 AM, said:Notwisconsin, on 04 Dec 2015 - 08:45 AM, said:

the WIZ is actually closer to the original book than the 1939 movie was.

 

Probably why I like it so much.  The Wizard of OZ is OK, but it pales in comparison to The Wiz's music and story.  I know that sounds like pop culture heresy, but it's how I feel.

 

One big thing The Wiz has over the 1939 movie is that Dorothy isn't as big of a whiner.  She's also more proactive and, most importantly, not a damsel in distress.  That's not saying Judy Garland was a bad actress.  It's just the 1939 Dorothy gave book Dorothy a bad name.

Edited December 4, 2015 by bmoore4026

[miracole]

I really liked this.  It was much better than I thought it would be. Most of the singing was done really well. David Allen Grier surprised me he did a really nice job. Most of the updated dialogue didn't bug too much except for when she said "ya'll was suppose to be my squad". No, just no.

[JessePinkman]

NBC's posted the entire show on their site: http://www.nbc.com/the-wiz-live/video/the-wiz-live/2943548#vc3076=1

 

The whole thing comes in at just under 2 hours and the broadcast was about 2 hours and 40 minutes so they aired a LOT of commercials. 

 

Early ratings look great, not Sound of Music high but much better than Peter Pan. 

[Mountainair]

I haven't actually finished watching this yet (sick kids in the house mean I have to watch in spurts) but only have 30 minutes left and love it! I knew of The Wiz but have never seen it in any form so I came in to this with no bias what so ever and I think that really helped my enjoyment of it.

The production values, costume design, acting, etc were all miles better than the previous two attempts at a musical. Again, this could be because I had no idea what to expect going in where with The Sound of Music and Peter Pan they were both soundtracks of my childhood that I had really high expectations of them that didn't deliver.

I think I'll actually keep this on the DVR and sit down and watch again with my six year old who I just introduced to The Wizard of Oz this year-I really think he'll enjoy This!

[marketdoctor]

Early ratings look great, not Sound of Music high but much better than Peter Pan.

 

I have hopes the +7 will be even stronger.  This is the sort of event people want to keep, and there were enough commericals that time-shifting it was a big time saver.

 

What impressed me with the ratings were that it was that it wasn't just up against "football", but up against a game that had a surprising opening and came down to the final play.  I'm curious about the per-hour ratings; my guess is it grew some as word got out how good it was. 

 

Also, count me in for the "this was incredibly good"--my high expectations for some of the performers were more than met, and DAG knocked it out of the park in the best possible way. 

 

Also:  more faithful to the book--which for a musical that didn't have to be married to the source material--was a nice bonus.

[Ohwell]

I don't like Broadway shows, but this was entertaining.

 

The best part for me was the vogueing.  I loved it!  I would love to see just that part again. 

 

Regarding the singing:

I thought DAG was good, and NeYo was surprisingly good because he usually has a "thin-sounding" voice.  

Also surprised that Uzo Adubo could sing, although as the poster mentioned above, she did sound a little nervous in the middle.  She brought it home at the end though.  

This wasn't Queen Latifah's best singing.  

Amber Riley was good.

Mary J Blige did the best she could , but she will never replace the Evilene in the movie version.

I thought Shanice Williams did a good job as Dorothy, especially for a newbie doing a live show, but she's no Stephanie Mills.  However, I do predict good things for her and I hope she has a successful Broadway career if that's what she wants to do. 

 

I thought Common was pretty useless in his role.  I always thought he was a rather wooden actor, and last night didn't change my mind.

[iscoffy]

I think part of what helped this a lot was that it seemed fairly effortless.  Everyone was talented and rehearsed, and even the weaker links weren't tragically bad.  The previous productions had this very labored feel to them, lots of "I'm trying, look how hard I'm trying!"  There's always suspension of disbelief in theater, but I don't want to be noticing how hard anyone is working, especially if their hard work isn't very good (Allison Williams, poor, miscast Carrie Underwood).

[LAFR]

I didn't get the reason why they had two good witches it seems to negate Glinda to me (even then I do think Amber Riley did a very nice job). Also there wasn't enough build up to the conformation with the bad witch. Haven't seen the wiz since I was a kid but only really like maybe 3 songs from it.

There are two good witches in the original L. Frank Baum book. I came in halfway but there seemed to be several elements that they kept from the original book, including calling the people enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the West the Winkies.

I thought it was quite good. I hope they reair it, and with less commercials. My hope is that they needed the time for set changes and if they re-air it they will shorten the air time.

[tom87]

I didn't get the reason why they had two good witches it seems to negate Glinda to me (even then I do think Amber Riley did a very nice job). Also there wasn't enough build up to the conformation with the bad witch. Haven't seen the wiz since I was a kid but only really like maybe 3 songs from it.

There are two good witches in the original L. Frank Baum book. I came in halfway but there seemed to be several elements that they kept from the original book, including calling the people enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the West the Winkies.

I thought it was quite good. I hope they reair it, and with less commercials. My hope is that they needed the time for set changes and if they re-air it they will shorten the air time.

Yeah I know it was closer to the orignal but it still seemed to lessen the impact of Glinda.   No one even mentioned Glinda in between so it s just seemed unnecessarily to the story.  Heck Addapearl could have come back and cut out Glinda.

Edited December 4, 2015 by tom87

[Kristen]

The show was so good that if I hadn't already been on the couch, I would've had to lie down. When Uzo Aduba came in at the end like a goddamned fucking goddess, I had the biggest, dumbest grin on my face. Third time's a charm for NBC as far as live musicals go, I guess.

[KLovestoShop]

I've never, ever been a fan of the Wizard of Oz, not the show nor the movie.  But I've always loved The Wiz---I still have the original cast album with some of the best cover art ever.  Won't ever forget Michael Jackson in the movie.  I loved Amber, Uzo (I love her in anything she does) and Mary.  Queen was OK.  I did like Shanice but her voice is not even close to Stephanie Mills.  I wanted to hear Home totally belted out, not only because it's one of my favorite songs, but because it is the finale.  I thought Shanice's voice wasn't powerful enough.  And while I didn't expect her to wear the kind of dress Diana Ross wore in the movie, I thought Dorothy's skirt was a bit much----I kept expecting to see her flash everyone.  

 

When you look at the cast of the movie, it was fantastic.  Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, the amazing Lena Horne, Mabel King, Richard Pryor, and Theresa Merritt, I don't think this cast can be beat.  But this newest cast held their own.  

 

As for the other NBC musicals, they finally got it right with this one.  I hated Sound of Music as everyone was totally miscast and hated even more Peter Pan.  

 

What morons are complaining that the show was an all black cast?  You have to be a total idiot to complain about that.  

[Lingo]

I wonder why they ditched Glinda's curly golden wig.

 

This link (that I copied from Previously.TV's twitter feed) has the producers explain why they made the changes they did. It appears that a big motivation is to make the TV special a launching pad for a revived Broadway production.

[starri]

If they move it to Broadway, I hope they keep Shanice Williams. She's a real find.

Amber Riley isn't much of an actress, but good gracious, that girl can sing. As can Mary J. Just in terms of vocal power, I think they were the winners.

They should have changed the key on Latifah's songs. It would have suited her voice better to not be so low in her register.

I was a little disappointed that "Ease on Down the Road" and "Brand New Day" were a little flat compared to some of the solo numbers, but everything else was so good, that didn't bother me so much. The costumes were great, as were the sets, both the physical stuff and the screens.

[iMonrey]

 

BTW, I too saw the original cast on Broadway as a teenager, in the 70s, I still have my playbill, and I loved this version. It's forty years later, things have to change.

 

Why? The original Broadway production was superb, and was neither dated nor offensive in any way. The dialogue in this version was just dreadfully inadequate and not nearly as comical and entertaining as the original production. Sure, make some updates where necessary, but why re-write the entire script if it's going to end much less funny?

 

I think maybe they were afraid of offending big Wizard of Oz fans so they jettisoned a lot of the parody that defined the original production, but unfortunately that left the show toothless. I'd be interested to hear people's reactions to the show if they'd performed the original Broadway script.

 

From what I understand the "book" (the non-musical portion of the script) has been re-written a lot over the years since it was originally performed on Broadway so maybe this production reflected a lot of those recent changes. I just don't know why anything needed to be changed when the original was so brilliant.