The Wiz Redux; or, why queer black feminist spectatorship and politically engaged popular entertainment continue to matter (2019)
Article by La Donna L. Forsgren
Author La Donna L. Forsgren gives voice to Black Americans finding themselves represented fully for the first time in American media via the 1975 super soul Broadway smash The Wiz and the 1970 Diana Ross and Michael Jackson lead film. She amplifies a queer black feminist perspective of Dorothy and her cultural pride found in Oz, sharing her own displeasure when she discovered Judy Garland’s version afterwards as a kid as she believed Dorothy could only be a young black girl. La Donna’s examination of The Wiz through her own personal connection and cultural analysis is essential to Oz scholarship and the story’s resonance amongst marginalized communities.
Playbill's How The Wiz Went From Nearly Closing on Opening Night to Becoming a Tony-Winning Hit (1975)
Article by Colette Dowling
When The Wiz opened on Broadway just over 50 years ago, it had every odd against it: a problematic and costly out of town tryout, disastrous (and racist) reviews from mostly white male critics post opening night on Broadway, and a dwindling box office. As Colette notes for Playbill, the show was about to put out its closing notice the same month it opened when instead producer Ken Harper took a leap of faith. Not long after, The Wiz was the recipient of the 1975 Tony Award for Best Musical and open for four more years. The Wiz is significant not only in American musical theatre and celebrating Black joy, but it is also significant in its defiance of the odds and challenge of the traditionally white framework found in elderly fairytales like The Wizard of Oz. The Wiz is also integral to restoring the original color of the slippers back to silver!