The new cast of The Wiz is getting ready to ease on down the road, and Playbill has a first look! Above, see the cast of the show, led by Dana Cimone as Dorothy, sing "Ease on Down the Road" and "Be a Lion." And below, see them perform "He's the Wizard" and "What Would I Do If I Could Feel?."
The show first went toured in 2023 before landing on Broadway in 2024. This second leg of the tour features an almost entirely new cast. The first tour stop will be the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, New York, February 22–28.
Cimone makes her national tour debut as Dorothy, with Alan Mingo Jr. returning from the production's earlier runs to play the title role. The cast will also include Sheherazade as Glinda, Kyla Jade as Aunt Em and Evilene, D. Jerome as the Tinman, Mykal Kilgore as the Lion, and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as the Scarecrow.
The company will also feature Maati Kheprimeni Angaza, Sai Anthony, Joseph Armon Boyd, Aliyah Caldwell, Lawrence Dandridge, Cyniah Elise, Amitria Fanae’, Kaiyla Gross, Gregory Hamilton, Maya Imani, Jesse Jones, Cal Mitchell, Moriah Perry, Leon Ray, Ephraim Takyi, Josh Walker, Lyn Webber, Kameren Whigham, Mikayla White, and Chase Williams.
Directed by Schele Williams and choreographed by JaQuel Knight, this new version of The Wiz features a revised book by Amber Ruffin, working from the original book by William F. Brown, and a score by Charlie Smalls. On Broadway, it was a regular high earner at the box office, making over $1 million every week.
The Wiz first premiered on Broadway in 1975, transforming L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel into an all-Black "super soul musical," as it was originally billed. The musical made the jump to the big screen in 1978 with a film adaptation starring Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson, and, reprising his Broadway performance as the Cowardly Lion, Ted Ross.
Joseph Joubert provides music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements, with dance arrangements by Adam Blackstone and Terence Vaugn, vocal arrangements by Allen René Louis, music direction by Paul Byssainthe Jr., scenic design by Hannah Beachler, costume design by Sharen Davis, lighting design by Ryan J. O'Gara, video and projection design by Daniel Brodie, sound design by Jon Weston, wig design by Charles G. LaPointe, and makeup design by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. Casting is by TRC Casting Company. Justin Myhre serves as production stage manager.
Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss, Todd Tucker, and NETworks Presentations are producing.
Visit WizMusical.com.
