“The Wiz Live!” Gets The Cirque Du Soleil Treatment

By Casey Morell ,

Nikole Robinson Carroll

Published December 2, 2015 at 5:14 PM PST

The Wiz Live! premieres tonight on NBC. From left: Amber Riley as Addapearle, Uzo Aduba as Glinda, Mary J. Blige as Evillene — The Wiz Live! premieres tonight on NBC.
From left: Amber Riley as Addapearle, Uzo Aduba as Glinda, Mary J. Blige as Evillene

We all know the story of "The Wizard of Oz."

Stage plays, movies and TV shows have tackled variations on the Oz mythos with varying levels of success.

One – "The Wiz" – has stood out.

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The musical retelling of Dorothy's story with an all-black cast originated in 1974 in Baltimore and hit Broadway in 1975.

It was adapted to film with an all-star cast led by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson in 1978. The film became a cult classic.

Thursday, the show's getting a reboot on live TV with an assist from Cirque du Soleil.

"The Wiz Live!" airs in Las Vegas Thursday at 8 p.m. on KSNV-TV.

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Casey Morell

Casey Morell is the coordinating producer of Nevada Public Radio's flagship broadcast State of Nevada and one of the station's midday newscast announcers. (He's also been interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, whatever that's worth.)

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Nikole Robinson Carroll

Nikole Robinson Carroll is KNPR's Morning Edition host. You can hear her every morning from 5am until 10am on News 889. She also produces segments for KNPR's State of Nevada.

See stories by Nikole Robinson Carroll