In The Wiz, unlike Baum’s original tale, the Yellow Brick Road is not laid out in a clear path that is readily navigable. For the original production, set designer Tom H. John recommended having four dancers personify the road. At times, the dancers provided clear direction; at others, the road wandered off or disappeared completely, leaving its travelers in the lurch. This concept offers an apt metaphor for the show’s sometimes bumpy journey to realization. 

In 1972, Ken Harper, a young radio executive and disc jockey, attended a club version of Cabaret. He was struck by the show’s concept, which featured minimal dialogue, and he decided that the format would be perfect for a television special. Encouraged by the then-current success of Hello, Dolly! with a Black cast, Harper decided to apply the format to material that would actually let him re-imagine an existing work through the lens of a modern, Black experience—something akin to what West Side Story did with Romeo and Juliet. He was drawn to The Wizard of Oz, though he feared having to contend with the 1939 classic film. However, TV networks at that moment were backlogged with TV specials, so that road led to a dead end. 

Or was it? Harper decided to try a new course, one that would bring his idea to life as a Broadway show. He recruited Charlie Smalls, a little-known Black songwriter-musician, to create music and lyrics, and brought on William F. Brown, a White television writer, to create the libretto. Next, Harper secured a $650,000 investment from Twentieth Century-Fox and, in the summer of 1973, enlisted Geoffrey Holder to play the Wiz. Holder, immediately enamored of the project, offered himself as costume designer. His sketches were so imaginative and functional that they influenced the entire style of the show, and he was named director and choreographer as well. However, when financiers grew worried of entrusting so much authority to one person, Holder was replaced as director by Gilbert Moses and as the Wiz by André DeShields. The role of choreographer went to the brilliantly imaginative George Faison, whose “Tornado Ballet” inspired Holder—who remained as costume designer—to create a dazzling costume using 100 yards of black silk streaming from a dancer’s head. 

Even with this progress and such stellar talent, the road to the show’s first performance, in Baltimore, was not a smooth one. Of that first performance, Harper later recalled, “The show was in such a disastrous shape that my general manager suggested that we don’t open.” Tension was high, and no one knew what to expect. But, Harper noted, “Whatever had gone wrong in the afternoon…just fell into place in the evening. And we received a standing ovation that night plus four curtain calls.” Nevertheless, bumps along the road persisted. Songs came and went. Moses was dismissed from the project and Holder reappointed director, guiding the show to its Broadway opening on January 5, 1975. 

However, the closing notice was posted backstage on opening night: during previews, the show was losing money and had no cash in reserve. It featured no name stars recognizable enough to draw large crowds, and its concept was novel. To fill seats, producers distributed free tickets in exchange for radio ads and newspaper stories, and contacted Black church and civic groups. Word of mouth began to spread; the Black community in particular responded. Soon buses were arriving from up and down the East Coast, and ticket sales accelerated at a measurable pace. Fox financed an aggressive television and radio campaign that helped lure more audiences to the theater, and New Yorkers as a whole embraced the show. At last, the winding, pothole-laden road began to straighten and even out. 

The Wiz went on to enjoy an initial Broadway run of 1,672 performances, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and five Drama Desk Awards. Soon, touring versions were playing all over, and by the time it closed the film was underway. It was the first completely Black mainstream musical of the 1970s, at a moment that also saw the rise of Blaxploitation films like Shaft (1971) as well as rock musicals like Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, andGodspell. While it did not reinvent or remake the musical form, The Wiz was both musically and stylistically innovative; it helped to pave the way for subsequent works on stage and screen that draw specifically from African American life, culture, and music.