No 8. “Ease on Down the Road” (The Wiz, 1975)

THE WIZ (1975). By Charlie Smalls (music and lyrics) and William F. Brown (book). Based On The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. (Additional Songs by George Faison, Timothy Graphenreed, and Luther Vandross)

Broadway was a kinda weird place in the early 1970s. Sondheim-Prince were doing incredible innovative shows, but they weren’t really crowd pleasing hits. In fact, New York City itself wasn’t really pleasing all that many crowds, and most Broadway offerings weren’t enough to inspiring tourism all by themselves. However, musicals with all-Black casts (oftentimes, but not always, from black creators) were thriving, with multiple new predominantly black musicals every season. The Wiz came into town battered by a pre-Broadway tour that saw the director fired and replaced by the costume designer (Geoffrey Holder), and it opened with its closing notice already posted. But a last minute cast infusion from 20th Century Fox, an aggressive television advertising campaign (something that had only been done once before), and enthusiastic word-of-mouth turned The Wiz’s fortunes around. “Ease on Down the Road” proved to be the perfect calling card—the second you hear it you understand exactly how the show will filter the classic Oz tale through a modern urban lens. The Wiz was the exciting, energetic, and broadly appealing show needed to remind audiences that Broadway was relevant and fun. The Wiz proved that both black excellence and imaginative family-friendly fantasy had a place on Broadway. Oddly, the latter part of this legacy has proved much more enduring—it’s hard to imagine Cats, Disney, or any number of childhood-favorite-reboots happening on Broadway had The Wiz not been such a massive success. Meanwhile, black—led musicals opened less frequently in the 1980s and beyond.

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