The Wiz was a Broadway smash, a retelling of The Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast and P.O.V. It had a four-year run, won a shelf-full of Tonys® and introduced the world to Stephanie Mills.
The film version was a dumpster fire, swapping the musical’s book for trendy psychobabble, and replacing Mills (17 when The Wiz premiered on Broadway) with 33-year-old Diana Ross.
Out of this debacle, though, came a partnership that forever altered popular music.
Michael Jackson made his film debut as Scarecrow and was singled out by critics as the best thing about a bad flick. Now past his teen idol years, Jackson wanted to restart his solo career and approached the film’s music supervisor for suggestions on a producer.
The music supervisor, Quincy Jones, offered his services. Jackson and Jones’ first effort, 1979’s Off the Wall, was a massive hit. The follow-up, 1982’s Thriller, was, well, you’ve probably heard of that one.
Almost every mention of Jones’ recent passing mentioned Jackson, and why not? Together they created music that touched countless listeners around the globe and sold more copies than McDonald’s sold hamburgers. (Not true, but you get the point.)
Jones’ career would have been remarkable, though, even without the Jackson connection.
His skills as an arranger and musician began to shine when he joined Lionel Hampton’s band at the age of 19. Soon, he was in demand by jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Count Basie. His work with Count Basie led to a long professional and personal relationship with Frank Sinatra.
He was a prolific composer for films and television, moving into TV production with hits such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He moved into film production as well, co-producing 1985’s The Color Purple, for which he also wrote the score.
Broadway, though, wasn’t among his credits, due in part to Jones’ in-demand status among Hollywood’s movie and music elites.
Jones added Broadway to his credits in 2005, co-producing a musical version of The Color Purple. The show had successful tours along with its Broadway run and was revived in 2015 in a retooled version that drew positive reactions from critics who panned the original production.
Compared to his music and film contributions, theater barely makes a blip on Jones’ resume.
Broadway, though, was part of the event chain that brought Jones together with Jackson.
Just think: If The Wiz hadn’t been a hit on Broadway, Hollywood wouldn’t have tried to make a horrible film version of it. And if Hollywood hadn’t made that film, Jackson might have hired a different producer and Thriller might have been his disappointing sophomore effort instead of the biggest album in the world. So, thank you Broadway, for the wonder that was The Wiz. And thank you, Hollywood, for doing almost nothing right with the musical’s film version except putting Jones and Jackson on the same set. Show biz magic works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?
