Can you feel a brand new day?
Well, kind of.
Theyre using iPads and eating sushi in Munchkinland.
Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC
The Scarecrows doing the stanky legg.
The Tin Man is dabbing.
Dorothys got squad goals.
Emerald City looks like a fabulous gay club fromParis Is Burning.
And the best live NBC musical yet has an all-black cast.
A lot has changed sinceThe Wizfirst premiered on Broadway in 1975.
Although, judging by all the earnest excitement on Twitter tonight, very little has changed for the superfans.
/ Its like a different way of living now!
In the musical, Dorothy has just killed Evillene, the wicked witch of the West.
And yet, 40 years later, our way of living is both different and the same.
ButThe Wiz Live!also arrives amidst a wave offorehead-slappingly clueless and racist complaintsabout its all-black cast.
Its a hard time to remain as wide-eyed and hopeful as Dorothy.
If any classic musical can speak about race and social justice in 2015, though, itsThe Wiz.
Because of that, NBC was extremely smart to cast Williams to play Dorothy.
Shes from Rahway, N.J., but as far as Broadways concerned, that might as well be Kansas.
And she has the perfect mix of street smarts and childlike wonder for the role.
This was my first real audition!
Of course, the most important thing about Williams is that she can really sing.
And shes not even the best performer in the cast.
Best of all, Mary J. Blige growled the wicked gospel of Dont Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.
Thats not to sayThe Wizwasnt ambitious.
It made Munchkinland look like a Technicolor playground where Russian Oompa Loompas live.
But it was the basics the singing and the dancing that made it shine.
you’re free to blame nostalgia for the original musical.
