With Tuesday’s announcement that Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige will have roles in NBC’s live broadcast of “The Wiz,” the big question remains: Who will play Dorothy?
Judy Garland was iconic in the 1939 MGM musical “The Wizard of Oz,” so can NBC find someone with similar pipes?
A black Dorothy to join Latifah and Blige has precedents. In 2005, singer Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas portrayed Dorothy Gale in the TV movie “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz.” And in 2009, Ashanti was Dorothy again in a revival of “The Wiz.”
One thing we know: It won’t be Beyoncé. Us Weekly reports that she’s in talks to play Glinda the Good Witch.
On Dec. 3, “The Wiz: Live!” premieres on the network, and NBC has been holding a nationwide search for the lead character Dorothy.
In the TV version, Latifah will play the wizard. Fellow music superstar Blige will play Evillene — the Wicked Witch of the West.
Executive producers are Craig Zadan and Neil Meron — who earlier had “The Sound of Music” and “Peter Pan” live productions on NBC.
“We are so happy reuniting with Latifah,” they said in a press release. “We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve had quite a lot of success together. To see her play the iconic role of the Wiz and make it her own is going to be one of the joys of producing this event.”
Latifah starred in earlier Zadan/Meron musicals — film versions of “Hairspray” and “Chicago.”
Queen Latifah Gets Title Role, Mary J. Blige Is the Wicked Witch in NBC’s ‘The Wiz’: A great deal of interest … http://t.co/3a4dCKexgw
— Ononuju T-boy (@Tobenna3) July 29, 2015
Congrats to @IAMQUEENLATIFAH & @maryjblige on news of their casting in NBC’s The Wiz. #EaseOnDownTheRoad
— Orlando Jones (@TheOrlandoJones) July 29, 2015
Oh. MT @EW: Queen Latinas and Mary J. Blige join @NBC‘s #TheWiz: http://t.co/Qvlv1RNlWY pic.twitter.com/kBoHJ4PQZ6
— Sean Campbell (@Melanism) July 28, 2015
Call me crazy, but I could totally hear/see @BrunoMars singing the role of Scarecrow in The Wiz. Hint hint, @nbc!!!!
— Kerri Lynn Slominski (@KLS_Soprano) July 21, 2015