In an effort to get into the holiday spirit, I began searching the internet and my CD collection for Christmas carols that put me in the spirit and along the way I found so many wonderful renditions of yuletide tunes sung by Broadway performers. Today’s blog invites you to pour a glass of eggnog, curl up by the fire, and share in some of my favorite holiday songs brought to you via the Broadway voice.
The Wiz Live! – A Review
Like the tornado that lifted Dorothy to the Land of Oz, NBC’s presentation of The Wiz Live! blew me away to places I have never been where made-for-TV musicals are concerned. Skeptics be damned! The Wiz and its marvelous score are NOT dated properties and this version of the L. Frank Baum tale makes the best case yet for the musical to be revived on Broadway. In any case, at least it has washed away the stain of the misbegotten 1978 film version that, despite an all-star cast, was bleak and overwrought. This Wiz is magical.
Made-for-TV Musicals Since Gypsy – Ranked from the Worst to Best
With the TV-Live adaptation of The Wiz set to “Ease on Down the Road” tonight, I thought it would be fun to go back and look at the Broadway musicals made into TV productions/movies over the last 25 years. Some of them have been terrific and others have had their problems. Still, we always tune in and give them a chance with the hope that we will be delighted and transported by compelling staging, unique interpretations, spot-on casting and, of course, to support such endeavors so that they will continue to be produced. Here are the TV musical adaptations of the last 25 years, ranked from (in this writer’s opinion) from the worst to the best: