When I got to the AHC in the spring of 2023, the material that excited me most was our Wizard of Oz related holdings. As a fan of L. Frank Baum’s fantastical novel, Oz and its many adaptations are an archival favorite of mine. Among these is the original script for The Wiz.
The Wiz, an all-Black adaptation of L Frank Baum’s book and the 1939 MGM film, was not popular when it came out. Marred with controversy about racial politics and casting choices, The Wiz did not break even at the box office. Despite this, The Wiz has been solidified in pop culture history for its iconic cast of stars, phenomenal score, and innovative interpretation of Baum’s story.
As discussed in my previous Oz film blogpost, the Wizard of Oz (1939) was not an immediate financial success. Nevertheless, it became the definitive Oz adaptation for a long time. From 1939 to 1978, there had only been a handful of adaptations, and they had mostly been adaptations that played on the 1939 MGM film. Television broadcasts of the 1939 film helped cement its status as an American classic, while animated productions introduced the story to younger audiences.
Meanwhile, stage adaptations kept the story alive in theaters across the United States. These reinterpretations demonstrated the enduring popularity of Oz and laid the groundwork for The Wiz.
Enter The Wiz. The aftermath of the 1960s Civil Rights movement and the explosive popularity of the Motown Music scene increased the demand for Black musical productions on Broadway. The Wiz premiered on Broadway in 1975, featuring a book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and one song by an up-and-coming Luther Vandross, though that’s a blogpost for another day!). Rather than simply retelling Baum’s story, the production reimagined Oz through the lens of African American culture, incorporating soul, gospel, funk, and rhythm and blues into its score while celebrating Black identity and community. In Brown’s Oz, little Dorothy Gale is still a farm girl in a strange land, but she also becomes a liberator for the people around her.
Its initial opening in Baltimore received mixed reviews, and its early Broadway performances struggled to attract audiences. Producer Ken Harper brought in director Geoffrey Holder to redesign the production, along with choreographer George Faison, whose energetic choreography became one of the musical’s defining features.
The Wiz finally opened on Broadway on January 5, 1975, at the Majestic Theatre and eventually ran for more than 1,600 performances. At the 29th Tony Awards, the musical won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Direction of a Musical (presented by none other than Ray Bolger of the 1939 film), and Best Choreography.
Adapting The Wiz into the 1978 film involved major creative decisions that reshaped the story for cinema while preserving its central themes of self-discovery, friendship, and believing in oneself. Universal, along with the newly conceived Motown Pictures, expanded the Broadway production into a large-scale fantasy that could take advantage of film’s visual possibilities, while producers made several high-profile casting choices that significantly influenced the adaptation.
Perhaps the most controversial decision was casting Diana Ross as Dorothy. In the stage musical, Dorothy is a 12-year-old girl, much closer to the character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Ross, however, was 33 years old during filming and had actively campaigned for the role after the success of Lady Sings the Blues. Her persistence for the role is what helped get the film financed; Universal did not believe teenage Broadway actress Stephanie Mills to be a big enough box office draw to fund the film. To make the casting more believable, the screenplay reimagined Dorothy as a shy, 24-year-old Harlem schoolteacher living with her family. This change shifted the story’s focus from childhood innocence to adult insecurity. Dorothy earns her independence rather than simply finding a way home. The early script treatment we hold at the AHC still imagines Dorothy as a child, leading me to believe it may have been written while they were debating between Mills and Ross.
Another major casting decision was selecting Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. Although Jackson was already internationally famous as a musician with his brothers in the Jackson 5, The Wiz marked his first major feature-film acting role. Raised in an abusive household with his siblings, Jackson cited his time working on The Wiz as integral to his career. He lived in New York alone without his father while transitioning from Motown to Epic Records. The Wiz’s musical director Quincy Jones would be so impressed with Jackson that they would collaborate on three albums—Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). This collaboration evolved Jackson from teen heartthrob to pop royalty.
The supporting cast featured some of the most accomplished Black performers of the era. Nipsey Russell portrayed the Tin Man, Ted Ross reprised his Tony Award-winning Broadway role as the Cowardly Lion, and stand-up legend Richard Pryor played the Wiz himself. The film also featured acclaimed performers such as Lena Horne as Glinda and Mabel King as Evillene. Their inclusion reflected the filmmakers’ desire to assemble a cast that celebrated Black excellence across music, theatre, comedy, and film.
For Your Consideration posters for Nipsey Russell (The Tin Man) and Ted Ross (The Lion), respectively. Entertainment Industry collection, 1926–1982, 1979, Coll. No. 10513, Box 2 American Heritage Center.
Beyond casting, the adaptation expanded the visual scale of the story. Rather than relying on theatrical sets, director Sidney Lumet, known primarily for his work on dramatic films shot in and around New York City, transforming familiar urban locations into the fantastical Land of Oz. Lumet employed Quincy Jones to add, reduce, or altogether delete musical sequences to heighten the visual presence of the film.
The film cost $24 million to produce, but only grossed $13.6 million, making the film a massive commercial failure. Critiques against the film from Oz fans who disliked the film’s all Black cast paired with the narrative that Ross has pushed Stephanie Mills out of the role of Dorothy plagued the film’s critical response. Nevertheless, the film’s impact is felt even now. When Beyoncé became the first Black woman to headline Coachella, she opened her set with an altered version of Quincy Jones’ “Emerald City Sequence” from the film. Hip hop fans will remember Kendrick Lamar’s infamous “Euphoria” diss track against Canadian rapper Drake, which opens with Richard Pryor’s voice in reverse shouting, “Everything they say about me is true!” as he admits to Dorothy that he is a fraud.
The Wiz, despite being star studded and bleeding into modern popular culture, is still an under appreciated adaptation of Oz. While working on this post and doing this research, I’ve been fortunate to introduce this film to my friends and family for the first time.
Representing a shift in cinema where Black actors were no longer held back by the all-white studio system the original film was produced in, The Wiz has inspired multiple generations of people to feel a brand new day.
Post contributed by AHC Archives Aide Rhiannon Skye McLean
To learn more, check out The Wiz Was So Much More Than A Failed Wizard of Oz by Janelle Harris.
