He was great. As creepy as The Wiz was, he was great. I should rent that movie again. Diana Ross was waaaaay too old, but the whole concept was pretty cool.
It IS sad. But I recommend watching GSN and catching him on one of the shows he did on TV. They'll be doing a retrospective soon I bet.
But may I say, from experience and Carlos will back me up on this, time seems to lessen our response to The Wiz in ways it doesn't other films. Don't Look In The Basement, for instance, was rotten and if I saw it for rent I certainly wouldn't. But the music of The Wiz is SO AWESOME one allows oneself to be lead down that primrose and crab-apple path to utter disappointment all over again. The movie sucks like a hoover with herpes. The "concept" has nothing to do with ANY of its source material. Rather, the "concept" was to get every black entertainer together in one vehicle. Well...that, um...happened anyways. It woulda been nice to SEE Ted Ross's FACE during "Mean Ol' Lion" but kiddies, we never do. And we never will. And Michael Jackson's inexplicable replacement song for "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday" called "You Can't Win" should serve as advice for all who think they might give this ubertrash another chance. Please invest in the OCR, if you haven't yet, and listen to it. Get a script of the PLAY and read along. But do not, for the love of GOD, view this film again.
And so you know I'm not crazy, I met William Brown, book-of-the-musical author, while I worked at The York Theatre. I told him what I thought of how they'd butchered his work. His wife SHOUTED "Amen!" and he said "Yes they did, didn't they?"
I've never seen the show, only the movie as a kid. I guess the concept that I liked was probably from the show--the whole idea of Manhattan being Oz, and this incredible fantasy land--and they have to cross over the GW Bridge or something, right? I remember the subway scene (?) being scary--there were some weird intense moments in it--not sure if that's from the show.
Even as a child, though, I didn't buy Diana Ross as this frail young girl. I was like "didn't that girl with the ponytails, Stephanie Mills, do this on Broadway?"
In the '90s, I was doing a rock-and-roll revue at a theme park, and one day during the Elvis segment when we really bopped out, I realized my dance partner looked just like Nipsey Russell--big, black, kind of square face. His name was David Something. I said "I'm dancing with Nipsey Russell!" to him and he laughed (we always traded shit back and forth during the show, as long as we didn't have the hot mikes).
Oh yeah--and that was when MJ was normal! And had his cute, normal nose! That we all loved! He was such a good-looking man back then. Aside from his whole child-molestin' ass, another thing that bothers me so much about him is how he felt he was so ugly before--he was SUCH a good-looking man. Such a sweet smile, and I LOVED his nose back then.
It was my senior musical in high school. We had the actual costumes from the tour as they had been struck at Clowes Memorial Hall which was the closing tour performance venue. We were VERY lucky in that. The play has as much to do with the movie as Diana Ross's NYC teacher character has to do with a little girl from Kansas. The play is about the same in form as the Judy Garland movie but updated and soulified! It's a friggin' HOOT. Pick up the script next time you're in Theatre Circle or somewhere. You won't be sorry.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 06:58 pm (UTC)But may I say, from experience and Carlos will back me up on this, time seems to lessen our response to The Wiz in ways it doesn't other films.
Don't Look In The Basement, for instance, was rotten and if I saw it for rent I certainly wouldn't. But the music of The Wiz is SO AWESOME one allows oneself to be lead down that primrose and crab-apple path to utter disappointment all over again.
The movie sucks like a hoover with herpes. The "concept" has nothing to do with ANY of its source material. Rather, the "concept" was to get every black entertainer together in one vehicle. Well...that, um...happened anyways.
It woulda been nice to SEE Ted Ross's FACE during "Mean Ol' Lion" but kiddies, we never do. And we never will. And Michael Jackson's inexplicable replacement song for "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday" called "You Can't Win" should serve as advice for all who think they might give this ubertrash another chance.
Please invest in the OCR, if you haven't yet, and listen to it. Get a script of the PLAY and read along. But do not, for the love of GOD, view this film again.
And so you know I'm not crazy, I met William Brown, book-of-the-musical author, while I worked at The York Theatre. I told him what I thought of how they'd butchered his work. His wife SHOUTED "Amen!" and he said "Yes they did, didn't they?"
Can't get better proof than that!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 07:17 pm (UTC)Even as a child, though, I didn't buy Diana Ross as this frail young girl. I was like "didn't that girl with the ponytails, Stephanie Mills, do this on Broadway?"
In the '90s, I was doing a rock-and-roll revue at a theme park, and one day during the Elvis segment when we really bopped out, I realized my dance partner looked just like Nipsey Russell--big, black, kind of square face. His name was David Something. I said "I'm dancing with Nipsey Russell!" to him and he laughed (we always traded shit back and forth during the show, as long as we didn't have the hot mikes).
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 07:21 pm (UTC)I was the Scarecrow...have pics to prove it!
Date: 2005-10-04 07:43 pm (UTC)The play has as much to do with the movie as Diana Ross's NYC teacher character has to do with a little girl from Kansas. The play is about the same in form as the Judy Garland movie but updated and soulified! It's a friggin' HOOT. Pick up the script next time you're in Theatre Circle or somewhere. You won't be sorry.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-04 07:14 pm (UTC)Always have.
Diana Ross should not be there. That's clear.
But I always loved that movie. But I should get the original cast recording, you're right.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-05 01:38 am (UTC)