The Wiz plays its final performance on July 5th at New York City Center. The Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz stars Ashanti, LaChanze, Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, Christian Dante White, Colman Domingo, Tichina Arnold and Dawnn Lewis.
BroadwayWorld gave the talented James Monroe Iglehart a FLIP video camera and sent him on a backstage quest to find one very special member of the cast...
The Wiz, the 1974 rock and soul musical based on the beloved L. Frank Baum story about Dorothy and her adventures in Oz, will be directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler, with music direction by Alex Lacamoire, (the team responsible for the Tony-winning In the Heights). The Wiz has a book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and orchestrations by Harold Wheeler. The original production was directed by Geoffrey Holder and choreographed by George Faison. It won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Choreography.
In addition to Ashanti, Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, Christian Dante White, Tichina Arnold, Dawnn Lewis, Coleman Domingo and LaChanze, the cast includes Raymond Lamar Bennett, Tanya Birl, Darlesia Cearcy, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Angela Grovey, Ebony Haswell, Lauren Lim Jackson, Kevin-Anthony, Carl Lation, Jennifer Locke, Amy McClendon, Kenna Michelle Morris, John Eric Parker,Herman Payne, Ryan Rankine, Levensky Smith, Ephraim Sykes, Adrienne Warren,Daniel J. Watts, Juson Williams and William B. Wingfield.
Colman Domingo replaced Orlando Jones in the title role of The Wiz for the final six performances, June 29 - July 5 at New York City Center. Mr. Jones had to leave the show early in order to shoot his new series "Crash Course" for ABC-TV.
The Wiz is made possible, in part, by Roz and Jerry Meyer, Ruthe and Tony Ponturo and the Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!
Encores! Summer Stars, (Jack Viertel, Artistic Director) now in its third season, is an expanded version of City Center's acclaimed Encores! series. Summer Stars is dedicated to presenting Broadway classics in limited-run productions. The previous Encores! Summer Stars presentations were the critically-acclaimed productions of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone and Damn Yankees starring Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski.
