Video: Amber Ruffin Talks THE WIZ's Impact and Wanting to Pay It Back

In a new video from BroadwaySF, Amber Ruffin discussed the personal impact of The Wiz and wanting to pay it back to the next generation.

"The Wiz is like pizza, I have not had a bad Wiz," Ruffin said. "I feel like we all adore The Wiz and I want to pay it back for what it did for me, because it did a lot. It was the only thing little black children could hold onto for a while."

"So I want to protect it, honor it, but also serve it up to these new babies," she said.

The clip is from the BroadwaySF Members-only In Conversation event that was held at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco on October 30, 2023. The event featured Brian Moreland (lead producer), Amber Ruffin (additional material), and Wayne Brady (actor).

Check out the clip below!

The Wiz comes to San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre from January 17–February 11, 2024.

The musical returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Broadway-bound tour, the first one in 40 years. This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway – from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping ‘70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world.

For the first time in decades, The Wiz returns home to the American stage with an all-new Broadway-bound adaptation. The Pre-Broadway National Tour launched this past September in Baltimore, where the beloved musical premiered 50 years ago. 

Conjuring up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before, the creative team is helmed by director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida) and includes choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”), William F. Brown (book), Charlie Smalls (music & lyrics), Amber Ruffin (additional material), Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements), Allen René Louis (vocal & music arrangements), Adam Blackstone (dance arrangements), and Paul Byssainthe Jr. (music direction).  They are joined by Academy Award® winner Hannah Beachler (scenic design), two-time Academy Award® nominee Sharen Davis (costumes), Emmy® and Barrymore Award winner Ryan J. O’Gara (lighting), Jon Weston (sound), Daniel Brodie (projections), Drama Desk Award winner Charles G. LaPointe (wigs), and Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche (makeup).