Interview: Broadway Animal Trainer Bill Berloni Is Getting Toto in Top Shape for THE WIZ LIVE!

We are another day closer to NBC's highly-anticipated musical special, THE WIZ LIVE!, which airs Thursday, December 3, at 8PM/7c. The production will star newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy alongside Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Queen Latifah as the Wizard, nine-time Grammy-winner Mary J. Blige as Evillene, original Dorothy, Stephanie Mills, as Auntie Em and David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion.

THE WIZ LIVE! is adapted from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, with a book by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. The production opened on Broadway in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre, starring Mills. It won seven Tonys, including best musical.

BroadwayWorld was on set earlier this month as the company was readying for the big night and we checked in with animal trainer BIll Berloni, who is working with Toto (played by Scooter), to find out how rehearsals have been going so far. Check out the full interview below!

---

So, Bill, why don't you tell us what it's like working with this Toto .

Well actually, I worked on Peter Pan Live last year, so the fear is gone. Last year made me a lot greyer than I was. So, this year we came in knowing that there's nothing to be afraid of. NBC rehearses us so well, they give us everything we need. We're totally prepared for that one night only thing. I just had to make sure I picked the right dog for it... and we did.

You have two of them. There's an understudy right?

Yes. His brother. He and his brother, Ralphie, were both given up for adoption at the same time and both of them were good for the role. All we did was when we first met Shanice Williams, we let her play with them and she just sort of gravitated towards Scooter by a fraction and that's why we picked him for the role.

Animals can be so unpredictable, so how are you gonna do it? Is there like a safety net that night? What's gonna happen?

I have found that animals are much more predictable than humans in my 40 years on Broadway, because when you set a pattern for them they will always follow it for the treat. It's only when something distracts them from the pattern that they get lost. Their goal is to always do the same thing over and over again. So, no, in this particular instance he's in the beginning of the play and the end of the play so, we don't have a lot of contingency's because they've been so on point.

Are we going to see Toto do any tricks in this adaptation?

In The Wiz, Toto doesn't go to Oz. So, what we see is the relationship she has with Dorothy before she goes on her journey and how she comes to her when she ends up back home. So, it's not as complicated as Peter Pan was when Nana was turning the bed down and he was barking and that sort of stuff. So, he's just being the loving dog that Dorothy connects with at home.

Talk about the history of all the rescue dogs.

When I was 19 years old I was asked to find and train a dog for this new musical that was premiering up in CT and it was the original production of Annie. I found Sandy at the CT Humane Society for $7 and a year later the show opened on Broadway and at the age of 20 I became a famous animal trainer. So, I just believed in the karma of rescuing animals so 25 Broadway shows later and 40 years later still rescuing dogs and enjoying a great life with them.

How many animals do you have at this point?

We have 30 dogs living in our house back home. Retired actors, unemployed actors and actors in training. We only adopt a dogs for a role, we don't just use them and give them up. We give them a forever home. So, we have 30 dogs. My wife, daughter and I live in the center of the house and then their are wings off of it. Discovery Family just a reality series on us called "Wags to Riches." Again, you don't see how a lot of animal trainers live because the dogs are in kennels and it's not so pretty, but again we treat them as family so we aren't afraid to open up our home to show people that they're beings, they do deserve love. They do deserve a life and if you just exploit them that's not the right thing to do.

How many shows have you said you've done at this point?

I think I've done 26 Broadway shows.

Are you involved in the touring shows as well?

Yes! Currently we have Annie out and regional theatre. Like, Paper Mill is doing A Christmas Story. Our dogs are there. Wallnut Street is doing A Christmas Story, our dogs are there. So, it's not just the touring companies. Shows like Annie, Wizard of Oz, Legally Blonde all go into regional productions and then ultimately revivals. I was saying to my wife, "I'm 59 years old. My fantasy is to do the 50th anniversary revival of Annie when I'm 70 years old and walk away. Be done." 50 years and done.

Is your daughter involved in the training?

She just started college and she's going to be a sociology major and she watched her Mom and Dad help animals, but I think she's sick of animals. She just wants to work with humans. What I wanted to say to her was that if she works with people, she will probably want to come back and work with us. We are all trainers though. You can't live with those animals and not interact with them. Interacting with them is part of the training process.

Do you know when your show is airing?

We did a series of 5 Discovery Family, which just started. They put us on hiatus while they are premiering another new show. So, hopefully we'll be coming back for a second season. It's on iTunes, it's on Amazon.

Bill could you tell us how you found this dog for Toto and how you trained them.

When NBC called and I spoke with Kenny Leon. In the original production of The Wiz it was a white dog, in MGM it was a black dog. He told me he didn't want either, he wanted a beige dog. So we went looking for beige cairn terriers and I called Cairn Rescue USA, which is the national terrier cairn rescue group and I said, "I need two blonde cairn terriers." They said, "You aren't gonna believe this, but there's a pair in Sacramento that just came up for adoption. They're 10 years old." I was worried they would be too old, but I flew to Chicago where they were being held and they were great! So it was all within 30 days. I got the call, I talked to Kenny, I went online and I met the dogs within the 30 days and I sent Kenny pictures and he said, "I love them." From that point we started teaching them basic obedience. How to stay, how to come, how to do some other tricks. You know, it's like I stand in my training room and click my heels three times while I'm singing 'Home' so he understands there's a note and click and then I run out to you. You have to give me the numbers and it's even funnier when I'm playing a sorority girl training the dogs to do Legally Blonde, that's a site.

You've fulfilled your Broadway career at this point, singing to the dogs?

Singing to the dogs. Yes. I mean they don't like it.

Is this dog up for adoption eventually?

No. No we give them forever homes. That's the point.

Who's the biggest diva dog in all the shows you've worked on?

Chico, the dog from Legally Blonde. He was a severely abused case who takes a lot of time to trust people. Ever since the show, he doesn't like my wife. He bites my wife. He only loves me. Episode 2 of my series is called 'Bad Chico,' because whenever I go on the road, she's always sending Chico with me. So, he's the biggest diva. When I'm home he's a prince, but when I'm not home he's like, "wait on me, get out of my way. I'm gonna bark."

Who misses performing out of all your dogs?

They all do because when we go home it's just my wife, my daughter and I, but here they get loved by everybody. So, it's like when we get the suitcase out everybody is like "Pick me! Pick me!"

---

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron ("The Sound of Music Live!," "Peter Pan Live!") serve as executive producers. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct with Harvey Fiersteinproviding new written material. Fatima Robinson serves as choreographer. THE WIZ LIVE! is produced by Universal Television in association with Cirque Du Soleil Theatrical.

THE WIZ tells the classic story hundreds of millions of people have read in the L. Frank Baum books and then saw in the much-beloved 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," but retold in an African-American/multicultural context. Dorothy, a young woman from Kansas, is swept up in a tornado and relocated to a fantasy world that is inhabited by munchkins, good and bad witches, and, of course, flying monkeys. She eventually takes a path down a yellow brick road to find a wizard who can help her go home and along the way meets a scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion, who all learn to help one another.

Photo Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC