Producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, and Ambassador Theatre Group announced today that an all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical The Wiz, adapted from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, is easing on down the road toward a national tour before returning to Broadway for a limited engagement in the 2023/24 season. Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), this entirely reimagined revival is directed by Schele Williams (in her Broadway directorial debut), choreographed by Jaquel Knight (in his Broadway debut), additional material by Amber Ruffin, and music supervision, orchestrations, and music arrangements by Joseph Joubert.
The Wiz will launch its national tour in the Fall of 2023 in Baltimore, MD, home of the 1974 world premiere of the musical. Following its run at the Hippodrome Theatre, the tour will slide into Emerald cities across the country before it begins its limited engagement on Broadway in the Spring 2024.
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.