However, a Motown singer and personal friend of Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, also wanted the role of Dorothy. Despite her manager Berry Gordy's discouragement, she managed to convince the film's exec producer, Rob Cohen, to arrange a deal where he would produce the film if she was cast as Dorothy.
When Motown star Diana Ross asked Gordy if she could be cast as Dorothy, he declined, saying that Ross—then 33 years old—was too old for the role. Ross went around Gordy and convinced executive producer Rob Cohen at Universal Pictures to arrange a deal where he would produce if Ross was cast as Dorothy.
She embarks on a quest to find The Wiz to help her get home to New York City. Along the way she befriends the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion who join her in her quest.
Stephanie Mills *was* in serious consideration to reprise her Broadway role. This was when it was a lower budgeted production that was being produced by Motown Productions. Miss Ross got wind of it and she contacted Berry Gordy, who told her she was too old for the part.
Original director John Badham stepped down when he objected to 33-year-old Diana Ross being cast as a teenage Dorothy. The character was changed to a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher, but by then Sidney Lumet had already replaced Badham.
Stephanie Mills on Playing Dorothy in OG 'The Wiz', Why Diana Ross Was Cast for the Film (Part 1)
What was the meaning of the subway scene in The Wiz?
The Wiz's metaphors exist beyond an examination of character traits. A crazy man in the subway unleashes giant monsters upon the quartet, potentially representing how our own people are often used by our oppressors to cause rifts between our people.
BET shared a previous interview with V103 where Mills confessed that she and Jackson dated. “I loved Michael,” she said. “I thought that I was going to be Mrs. Michael Jackson, but I was ready at 20 and 21 to get married and he was not even close to getting married or having a girlfriend at the time, but yes we dated.
Baum's classic book-turned-film The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 movie adaptation starred Judy Garland as Dorothy. At the time she made her Broadway debut in 1974, Mills was 17. (For her part, Bailey is not much older, at 23.)
The Wicked Witch of the East was featured in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which she is the sister of the Wicked Witch of the West. As in the book, she is killed when Dorothy's house falls on her.
Who was supposed to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz?
Several actresses were reportedly considered for the part of Dorothy, including Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox, at the time, the most prominent child star; Deanna Durbin, a relative newcomer, with a recognised operatic voice; and Judy Garland, the most experienced of the three.
Dorothy's weaknesses include the fact that she is gullible and not too smart, but she doesn't let these things hold her back. Her strengths include always being kind to others and helping others no matter her problems.
THE WIZ was filmed at Astoria Studios and on location throughout New York City, including the base of the World Trade Center, where the Emerald City sequences were performed, and the Astor Place subway station.
André De Shields reprised his original role as the Wiz; Dee Dee Bridgewater, Tony Award winner for her role as Glinda, reprised this original role; Evelyn Thomas reprised her original role as the Tornado and Ebony Jo-Ann, who played Addaperle in the Broadway revival of the production reprised her role as well.
Phylicia Rashad (then Phylicia Ayers-Allen) appeared in the original Broadway company as a Munchkin and a Field Mouse, while also understudying the role of Glinda. Butterfly McQueen was a standby for Addaperle, and Ken Page was a replacement Lion.
Mills has been married three times: Jeffrey Daniel: (1980–1983), Jeffrey Daniel was from the R&B/soul group Shalamar. Dino Meminger: (1989–1991). Michael Saunders: (1993–2001), Minister Louis Farrakhan officiated the wedding ceremony.
The 1975 Broadway production of The Wiz won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It was an early example of Broadway's mainstream acceptance of works with an all-Black cast. Something Brian Moreland, the lead producer of the show, said is still important to celebrate today.
Michael referred to Diana as his “mother, lover, and sister all rolled into one.” Metaphorically speaking, Diana isn't Michael's mother or sister and she wasn't his lover: it's how he saw her in his head and how he treated her at the time.
Mills claimed that although “his family really liked them being together,” the late entertainer had bigger goals. “Michael wanted so much more is probably why we went our separate ways.”
Stephanie Mills Net Worth ($1.5 Million): American singer Stephanie Mills has a net worth of $1.5 million at present. From her career as an actress as well as a singer-songwriter, she has accumulated a large sum of earnings over the years. To date, she has released 15 studio albums.
While not visually horrifying, the Poppy Girls' attempt to kill Dorothy, Toto and the Lion can get an unsettling light when you really think about it: the Poppies are represented as streetwalkers that begin their attack by throwing a venomous dust at Dorothy and the Lion before guiding them into an opium den-like ...
