A 1978 American musical fantasy film directed by Sidney Lumet, an African-American retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with the action transposed to New York City.
Production
Universal Pictures and Motown Productions released The Wiz in October 1978. Joel Schumacher adapted Charlie Smalls’s stage musical, which had won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Musical. Sidney Lumet directed Diana Ross as Dorothy Gale and Michael Jackson, in his first acting role, as the Scarecrow.
Story
Twenty-four-year-old Harlem schoolteacher Dorothy is swept by a magical snowstorm into the Land of Oz, here rendered as a surreal alternate New York City. She walks the yellow brick road past Coney Island, Hell’s Kitchen, and the World Trade Center toward the Wiz, accompanied by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.
Reception
The Wiz underperformed at the box office but its soundtrack, produced by Quincy Jones, sold well and helped launch Quincy Jones’s collaboration with Michael Jackson on Off the Wall. The film has been re-evaluated in subsequent decades as a culturally significant African-American musical.
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