Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E09 [THE WIZ (1978)]

Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Paul continued along, and is now easing down, the Yellow Brick Road as he and Corey discuss The Wiz (1978). It's another example of a film adaptation of a hit Broadway show that radically reimagines the book and premise - for good or for ill. Paul and Corey discuss the historic exclusion of Black musicals from Broadway, as well as the conditions that led to a welcome influx of them in the early 1970s. They talk about the somewhat fraught pre-production, and the people (Geoffrey Holder, Stephanie Mills) and events that led to its rousing success. They also talk about how Motown Productions came to produce the film, some of the history of the company, and most especially the involvement of Diana Ross behind and in front of the camera. The Wiz (the film) was a critical and box-office failure at the time of its release; however, it found its audience and has become its own cultural institution. Paul and Corey discuss what works and what doesn't and how much of the blame can and should be attributed to having the film directed by Sydney Lumet(!) and written by Joel Schumacher(!!).