The Best Wizard of Oz Adaptation Ever is Headed to Peacock in March (And It’s Not Wicked)

L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is just one of those stories that is perfect for adaptation. The 1900 book. has been taken from page to stage and screen pretty much since the very beginning, including a popular 1902 musical extravaganza that ultimately ended up on Broadway. Most recently, fans of all things Oz got to delight in Wicked: For Good, the second half of Jon M. Chu’s acclaimed adaptation of another Broadway musical, Wicked. But while there have been seemingly countless takes on the classic over a hundred years, there is one specific adaptation that might just be the best of all of them — and now it’s coming to Peacock.

Starting March 1st, Oz fans will get to ease on down the road to enjoy The Wiz. The 1978 film was directed by Sidney Lumet and adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same name. The story is a reimagination of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this time featuring an African American cast and told through a more urban lens. The film is a masterpiece that every Oz fan should watch, though it didn’t exactly start out that way.

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The Wiz Was a Critical and Box Office Failure (And In Retrospect, Both Audiences and Critics Were Wrong)

The Wiz adapts the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz away from the farms of Kansas to Harlem where it follows Dorothy Gale, a 24-year-old teacher who ends up transported to the magical, urban fantasy Land of Oz on Thanksgiving when her dog, Toto, runs out an open door into a snowstorm. Her arrival in Oz kills the Wicked Witch of the East, Evermean, and sets her on a journey to the Emerald City to seek the powerful Wiz who can help her get back home.

From the jump, The Wiz movie adaptation came with some challenges. Diana Ross, who was 33 at the time, was cast as Dorothy despite Motown Productions founder Berry Gordy feeling that she was too old for the role. Ross’ casting also led to the film losing John Badham as director. Sidney Lumet came on as director instead. Ross’ casting wasn’t the only one that raised eyebrows. Michael Jackson being cast as the Scarecrow also wasn’t necessarily everyone’s first choice — Lumet wanted Jimmie Walker and even Quincy Jones, who was musical supervisor and producer for the film, was skeptical.

When The Wiz hit theaters, critics and audiences shared some of those skeptical feelings, generally. Many critics felt that Ross was horribly miscast, while other criticisms of the film were that it wasn’t as lively as the stage version and ultimately felt flat. The film bombed at the box office, making just $21 million on a budget of $24 million.

However, in the years since people have been rediscovering and reevaluating The Wiz. The film has incredible music and score with some genuinely fantastic performances. While “Ease On Down the Road” might be the most well-known song from the soundtrack, Jackson’s performance of “You Can’t Win” is legendary. The performances in the film are also not nearly as bad as they were initially perceived. Jackson’s Scarecrow is layered, nuanced, and moving while Ross, who may be awkward and a little stiff as Dorothy actually uses that to deepen the character and make her growth over the course of the film more powerful.

The Wiz also is wholly unique, moving the story away from middle America and giving it an Afrofuturist spin. It’s something that gives the classic story expanded representation and offers fresh cultural significance while also delivering some truly incredible visuals and set designs, all rooted in a celebration of Black art and fashion. It’s campy, it’s bold, and it’s so much more than just another take on a well-known and loved story. Where the film was once panned, it’s now celebrated (and rightly so).

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