NBC will debut New Live TV Musical ‘The Wiz’ on Dec. 3

NBC will be bringing the beloved story of the Wizard of Oz through the African/ American musical adaptation of ‘The Wiz’ to televisions all over America in collaboration with the Cirque du Soleil’s team!

NBC will be making a live television production of the broad way musical ‘The Wiz’. NBC and Cirque du Soleil will partnership together to bring the stage production to television across America. The live TV event will be directed by the Tony award winner Lenny Leon.

The musical ‘The Wiz’ will not only be aired on televisions but it will be shown as part of the 2016 to 2017 broad way season. Cirque du Soleil’s team will help bring the musical of a great fantasy imagination to life and give it a modern edge, while keeping the story everyone loves intact.

The entire project will be produced by Universal Television and the process of casting for the NCB and the Broadway show will be announced soon. 

‘The Wiz’ is an adaptation of the book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ and contains the music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. The original Broadway production opened in 1975 and went on to win seven Tony awards.

‘The Wiz’ tells the story of the world of Oz but in an African/American cultural context. Harvey Fierstein will also be joining the team so he can contribute new material to the classic musical ‘The Wiz’.

In 1978 ‘The Wiz’ was adapted into a movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and even contained Michael Jackson in his first movie role as the scarecrow. The film gave rise to the life-long friendship between Jackson and Ross.

‘The Wiz’ is the third live musical production and special by NBC which previously debuted two successful productions ‘The Sound of Music Live!’ and ‘Peter Pan Live!’. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who previously executively produced the two productions, will also be returning to produce ‘The Wiz’.

In a statement to the press the producers shared they are really excited to be bringing another musical production to television as all of America will enjoy another musical from the comfort of their drawing rooms.

According to the NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt ‘The Wiz’ is the natural next step for the network and they are all very pleased to have ventured into a project with an award winning team.