The Wiz Live - Thumbs Down

[Malcolm's Dad]

Started watching the Wiz Live. Don't like it. It seems like a modern day musical rather than an adaptation of the The Wizard of Oz. I liked the older version with Michael Jackson. That wasn't like the original movie but it did follow the plot a little better than this version. What really turned me off was all the commercials. I'm not going to sit and watch 3 to 5 minutes of commercials. So that is it. TV is turned off.

And there aren't many scenes with Cairns either. Very disappointing.

[Sam I Am]

I am there with you. I got so fed up with all the commercials that I landed just shutting off the tv. Never saw a Cairn, and that's why I actually tried to endure this modern version, but couldn't hang in there . Still love the original version the best. Lots if Toto moments.

 

[sanford]

I couldn't agree more withe negative comments above. This show was a travesty and an insult to the original movie and more recent entertaining versions of "The Wiz" as well! Among other things, I was completely turned off by the charmless, sulky, one-note performance of Dorothy and the cheesy, low budget-looking sets as well.

If you tuned in late, you missed Toto, who appeared briefly at the beginning. Perhaps he came back at the end, but I stopped watching before that. 

(Sheesh! To think that for this, I passed up an invitation to join friends at the local tavern for a fun-filled evening of eating, drinking, falling down!)...

[hheldorfer]

43 minutes ago, sanford said:

(Sheesh! To think that for this, I passed up an invitation to join friends at the local tavern for a fun-filled evening of eating, drinking, falling down!)...

That's grounds for suing the production company, the cast, the crew, and the advertisers!

[kjwarnold]

I started watching late and kept wondering where Toto was.  He finally made an appearance right at the end, when he just ran up and jumped into Dorothy's arms when she got back home.  And yes, I agree that there were a LOT of commercials!

[Autumn & Lola]

I didn't even know there was a 'new' Wiz, but I am curious. How on earth can they do any type of adaptation of the Wizard of Oz without tons of Toto scenes?  I don't think I'm out of line to say that Toto was the star of the film.  That dummy Dorothy would have been dead, dead, dead without Toto. Plus, he was in most of the scenes in the movie! So what did Dorothy do with him in this new Wiz - shove him down in her basket the whole time?

 

[eastofeden]

The Wiz has always been Toto Light, I do believe that the original production did not have Toto at all....and IMHO that is the shows biggest faults   

I guess I'm in the minority..but I rather enjoyed the The Wiz.  I thought that the singing was great..a few of the performers were obviously not actors..but every role in this show except for Four Friends was more of a cameo.  And the Four Friends were very well cast. 

I thought the Cirque du Soleil performers were under used (the publicity had built them up...and having recently seen the revival production of Pippin, which uses circus performers to great affect).  And I liked how it was all done on a proscenium type stage (as you would see in a theatre).  The set design was a nice mix of set pieces and projections (Which are the NEW BIG THING in productions right now & according to my budding stage designer can be the lazy way to design a show).  

However, without a live audience the performance seemed sterile at times.   It is amazing how much an audience can influence how the performance of a show goes.  

This show won 7 Tony awards when it debuted and it I think it still holds up. Songs like "The Feeling that We Have" & "Home" still strike a bittersweet sentiment. And of course who can not feel joyful when they hear "A Brand New Day" and "Ease on Down the Road". 

Finally my pet peeve about all versions of WOZ...watch the movie..the only time Toto is ever in a basket is when Miss. Gulch has him on her bicycle.