“The Wiz” will ease on down Broadway once again, but this time it will make a stop on NBC for a live broadcast.
The musical — which originally opened on the stage in the mid-1970s and went on to be adapted into the 1978 film starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson — will air live on NBC on Dec. 3, the network announced Monday. Then, the show, whose creative team will feature Harvey Fierstein (“Kinky Boots,” “The Torch Song Trilogy”) and Cirque du Soleil, will become part of the 2016-17 Broadway season.
Kenny Leon, who won a Tony for directing the 2014 production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” will stage the Broadway and television versions of “The Wiz.” Leon also directed a TV version of “A Raisin in the Sun” for ABC in 2008 and a TV adaptation of “Steel Magnolias” in 2012.
“The Wiz” will be the third time NBC has aired a live Broadway favorite in three years. In 2013, the network aired “The Sound of Music Live!” starring Carrie Underwood as Maria. “Peter Pan Live!” aired in December, with Allison Williams in the starring role, but its ratings failed to reach the level of “The Sound of Music.”
“We love this yearly tradition and we’re more excited than ever to not only bring another Broadway musical to America’s living rooms, but also see it land on Broadway as well,” NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a press release.
“The Wiz,” an African-American-themed retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” tells the story of a young woman named Dorothy who is whisked off to the land of Oz. The original Broadway production opened in 1975 and went on to win best musical and six other Tony awards.
Casting for the new production was not disclosed in the announcement Monday.