THE WIZ North American Tour is Coming to The Hobby Center This Spring

The Tony Award-winning Best Musical that took the world by storm is back and coming to Houston.

Producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss, Todd Tucker and NETworks Presentations and Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center announce single tickets for the Houston, TX engagement of The Wiz will go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 31 at 10am for performances April 29 – May 4, 2025 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

The principal cast includes Dana Cimone, making her national tour debut, as Dorothy,  Alan Mingo Jr., returning to the role he originated on the pre-Broadway tour and played on Broadway as The Wiz, also making their national tour debuts Sheherazade as Glinda and  Kyla Jade as Aunt Em/Evillene, D. Jerome (MJ the Musical, Hamilton) as the Tinman,  Mykal Kilgore (Motown The Musical, The Book of Mormon tour) as the Lion and Elijah Ahmad Lewis (Ain't Too Proud, Motown The Musical) as the Scarecrow.

The ensemble features Maati Kheprimeni Angaza, Sai Anthony, Joseph Armon Boyd, Aliyah Caldwell, Lawrence Dandridge, Cyniah Elise, Amitria Fanae’, Kaiyla Gross, Gregory Hamilton, Maya Imani, Jesse Jones, Cal Mitchell, Moriah Perry, Leon Ray, Ephraim Takyi, Josh Walker, Lyn Webber, Kameren Whigham, Mikayla White and Chanse Williams.
Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), award-winning choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Black is King), additional material by Tony-nominated and Emmy-nominated writer and TV host Amber Ruffin (“The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers”), Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements), Allen René Louis (vocal arrangements, music arrangements), and Emmy Award®-winning music director and Grammy Award®-winning writer, Adam Blackstone and Terence Vaughn (Dance Music Arrangers), and Paul Byssainthe Jr. (Music Director), are conjuring up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before.  A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop will bring a whole new groove to easing on down the road.

THE WIZ design team includes scenic design by Academy Award-winning Hannah Beachler (Black Panther, Beyoncé’s Black is King and Lemonade), costume design by Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls), lighting design by Barrymore Award-winning Ryan J. O’Gara (Thoughts of a Colored Man), sound design by Jon Weston (Parade), video and projection design by Daniel Brodie (Motown the Musical), wig design by Charles LaPointe (MJ the Musical) and make-up design by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche (The Piano Lesson). Casting is by TRC Casting Company.
The production also includes ‘Everybody Rejoice’ music and lyrics by Luther Vandross, as well as the ‘Emerald City Ballet’ with music by Timothy Graphenreed.

Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, The Wiz takes one of the world’s most enduring (and enduringly white) American fantasies and transforms it into an all-Black musical extravaganza for the ages.

THE WIZ premiered on Broadway in 1975 and became an instant sensation, going on to win seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Ted Ross), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Dee Dee Bridgewater), Best Choreography (George Faison), and in a Broadway first, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design (Geoffrey Holder). “Ease on Down the Road” became the show’s break-out single, and “Home” has since become a bona fide classic. That original production ran for four years (first at The Majestic Theatre and later at The Broadway Theatre) – and 1,672 performances – on Broadway. A 1978 film adaptation starred Diana Ross, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Richard Pryor and Lena Horne, and marked Quincy Jones’ first collaboration with Michael Jackson.

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